I love this season of the year, as busy as it is. Shopping, baking, decorating, wrapping.  It’s all good!

This year is particularly busy and exciting because all of kids and grandkids will be spending the holiday at our home.  Normally, it’s just the two of us in the house, which is, admittedly a bit large for two people. But the location is pretty much ideal for us, so ten years ago, we renovated the place to be what we needed for a retirement home.  Of the three bedrooms on the ground floor, one became my office, one my husband’s office, and the third is the master suite.  The two bedrooms upstairs are used only as guest rooms now (and extra storage) so we don’t keep them heated or cooled except when they’re being used.

So technically we have room for the seven extra people who will be coming, although it makes the place feel a little crowded. But the interesting thing is that one of the visitors is a baby and two others are toddlers.  It’s been a long time since our house was child-proofed, but I’m doing what I can.  I’m sure the kids will quickly show us everything we missed.  But we’ll have plenty of adults around as well to keep an eye on what’s happening.