Evan and I have been in our new home since October and started wondering about our mysterious neighbor, Melanie. Her love for gardening, especially her plants along the side of her apartment, made us fall in love with this house right away and we’ve been looking forward to meeting her. We finally got to meet her in the week before Christmas. We found out that she has been hit by a car and spent all this time in the hospital 🙁 She is still recovering and wheel-chair bound for a while. So, to keep her spirits bright, we brought her bacon for breakfast (something I have learned from Ainsley, who used to knock on our door with the most delicious food). We delivered groceries. We baked gingerbread cookies together. We had her back when she took her first steps outside of the hospital. We pretended that we’ve known each other for 10 years.

Make homemade gifts.

Spend time with each other. Share experiences rather than presents.

Play reverse Christmas (rather than getting presents, give some of your stuff away).

Learn to play Christmas songs on your instruments.

Visit your neighbour.

Eat well. Play games. Laugh a lot.