Holiday season

 The holiday season is upon us. 

Last week I submitted a grant proposal. It is for a relatively small grant, but it was a big deal for me to finish. I am catching up with my other work, but as soon as the grant application was done I felt much more jolly and bright. 

Thursday was just a regular day here, but we celebrated American Thanksgiving on Saturday. I made an apple pie which was a bit of an experiment for me (a vegan crust that is substantially different from a butter crust) but it turned out very well. I have some notes for what I might do differently next time, but I was pleasantly surprised by how buttery it tasted.

We have very nearly finished putting up our Christmas lights (all that’s left is a light up squirrel that needs a little TLC before it can go outside). This is the earliest we have ever had our lights up, but based on how many people already had lights up on our street and in our neighborhood, it felt like we were late. Our neighbours a few houses down and put up Christmas lights the day after Halloween.

We have been taking walks (I ride my trike) almost every night after dinner, and we are very much enjoying all the festive decorations.

Today we put up our Christmas tree (a fake tree – there aren’t enough trees in Saskatchewan for real trees to be sustainable) and unfortunately the cats immediately climbed it. Maren put up one ornament and the cats climbed the tree specifically to knock it down. We are hoping they will habituate to the tree after couple of days and we can decorate 😊