A Festive Feeling

With Mr. K and I remaining in the UK for Christmas by ourselves, I have been attempting to keep the festive feeling alive. Christmas has always been about traditions for me, but I suppose it is time to make some new ones.
Last night Mr. K and I sat down to build a gingerbread house. This was something we did the first year we started dating. I thought it would be a fun way to walk down memory lane, while being festive. Tenie had picked up the kit for us before she left and even though I thought the package appeared a bit flat, or void of stuff, when she handed it to me, I just assumed gingerbread house kits were different here. Weren't we surprised when I busted the plastic off and all there was inside were the cookie pieces. Mr. K and I had a good laugh and had dessert. We have plenty of house left and have been slowly munching on walls, windows, roofs and chimneys.
For me, music has always been a huge part of my life. I used to perform when I was really young and miss singing in that capacity. Around Christmas time, I am always humming a Christmas tune or blaring it out of some kind of speaker. Last night, while we were in the tent with Fiona and Gus, we played Christmas carols on my Iphone for entertainment.
The selecting and giving of gifts always gives me great pleasure at this time of year as well. I have finished all of my Christmas shopping, finishing it off this afternoon with Glacier and Roscoe's present. I have wrapped some presents already, but the rest of them will wait for when Mr. K and I wrap our gifts for one another in front of each other.
Along the same line of gift giving, Mr. K and I thought it would be nice to make little gift bags for the other flats in our building. I picked up Christmas themed gift bags on an outing with Carmen and spent a good part of last night making Cinnamon Apple foot soaks and T-tree, olive and peppermint oil hand  soap. Mr. K added red flowers to the surface of each bar to make them a bit more festive. The soaps need to sit and solidify, so I spent part of this morning wrapping them in Christmas paper and adding ribbon as a finishing touch. Tomorrow Mr. K and I are going to make peanut butter fudge, which is a tradition in his family, and add that to the bags as well. We've already written up a list of ingredients that will go in each bag just in case people have allergies.
Gifts for us have been arriving as well. My parents bought gifts online and had them shipped directly to us. Most of them have been gift wrapped, but I've had to wrap up two already and stuck them under the tree. A box from Mr. K's mom also arrived today, filled with goodies that we can't purchase over here, such as Ranch salad dressing and my favourite Cinnamint lip gloss. It's these small things that makes having to be apart from our families for Christmas that much more tolerable.
Christmas Eve is only four days away and even though this Holiday season is going to be very different for both Mr. K and I, we will keep doing little things to stay in the festive spirit, with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer needing to be watched and a few other Christmas classics. Not to mention, we are not completely alone; we have Glacier, Roscoe, Gus and Fiona all to keep us company and entertain us on Christmas morning. :)