Family Book Exchange 2019 This year’s Advent Family Book Exchange shall henceforth be known as “The Hardcover Edition.” Go big or go home. Everyone’s going to pick a name from a hat and buy that person a real “traysure” in the form of a hardcover book, new or used. We’ll also grab a book for […]
Festive Streaming-Service Binge It’s Friday. We’re going to chill on the couch with some Fish and Chips from our local and have a proper binge of a new-to-us series of shows or films. A few years ago, we watched The Crown. Will we go for Season 3? Should we revisit Derry Girls Seasons 1&2 back […]
Carols, Cocktails, and Cookies a.k.a. Winterize the Song of the Summer Last year, our carol-off consisted of a day of writing punk-rock Christmas songs. This year, we’re back on a family classic: winterize the Song of the Summer. And by “Winterize,” I mean, “Chrismassify.” This year’s Song of the Summer is insanely easy to identify: […]
Concert & Pinochle Today’s the Saint Michael’s Choir School Christmas Concert at Roy Thomson Hall. It’s going to be an afternoon of rehearsals, dress up, performances, and dress-down. After the concert is over, we’ll set up by the fire for a 4-person Pinochle tournament.
Make Block-Printed Tea Towels Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with tea-towels, especially calendar tea towels. If we’re going to have a good time this afternoon, DIY calendars may be beyond us. However, we can easily get in on the magic by creating a few simple block-printed tea towels. How are we going to […]
Donate to Forests Ontario Let’s flight climate change, dozens of trees at at time!Today, we’re making a contribution to Forests Ontario. How will you make a difference today?
Make Fried Chicken Last year’s Advent Calendar started us off on a Fried Chicken tour of the city. This week in conquering our “Fear of Frying,” we’ll be frying chicken at home. We’ll do this by following Bon Appetit’s Skillet-Fried Chicken Recipe. I’ve provided a reprint below.
Mail Christmas Cards Gone are the family photo cards. We’ll be handwriting a select few Christmas cards this year and sending them out as we go. Formerly broken hands need rest. So, yes, this does take time…. But, good news! The first batch sails today! I can’t wait to hear the slam of our local […]
Spooky Santa Lucia Hold onto your stockings and ignite your candle crowns! It’s the Feast of Santa Lucia AND Friday the 13th! Jinx! You can darn well bet we’re going to have a scary movie situation tonight. I freaked myself out just looking for movie recommendations! Should we try Krampus? Revisit Gremlins? Black Christmas? The […]
It’s Christmas Canning Day And, last minute UPDATE, we’ve got a friend coming over who’s never made jam before! So, grab your cross-back aprons, folks. It’s going to be a banner day! Rather than run a marathon, however, we’ll keep it simple by making one or both of these recipes: Date Chestnut Spread with Orange Flower […]
Perform and Record a Classic Radio Play We did it in 2017, and we’ll do it again….Tonight, we’re going to perform and record a classic radio play. We’ll choose a script, take a few minutes to divvy up the parts and rehearse our characters’ voices, and then we’ll hit record on all of our devices. […]
Glam Cans 2019 Back when the kids were young, we took part in Well Preserved’s Pimp Your Preserves Holiday Contests! We designed our own canning labels and really dolled up our jars with ribbons, bells, and even colourful rulers for the kids’ teachers. Well, Glam Cans are back, baby. Today, we’re going to do some […]
Food is a human right, yet 1 in 7 people struggle to find adequate sustenance in our own city. Today, the family will be putting food in the Daily Bread Food Bank box at our local grocery. And we’ll be donating funds directly at https://www.dailybread.ca/.
Kringlewood Tour Tonight, we’ll take our annual tour of the 50+ giant inflatable Santas along Inglewood Drive in Toronto. You can read more about the annual tradition here. Kringlewood, here we come!
Toronto Christmas Market Today, the ladies are heading out to Toronto’s Distillery District for our annual luncheon and a loop around the Ferris Wheel. We’ll also tour the booths and shops and pick up last minute Christmas Gifts and Stocking Stuffers. Check out the Toronto Christmas Market for hours and prime-time-only admission rates.
Dinner and Star Wars I can’t believe they’re still making these films…..And, since there’s always a new hope, we’re still grabbing tickets months in advance. Tonight’s the final installment, or so we think, the 9th film in the 3rd of 3 Star Wars trilogies! Between the last piano lessons of 2019 and the movie, we’ll […]
Sketch a Winter Window Scene Last winter, Bea sketched the snowy view from her bedroom window. Today, we’ll all sit down to sketch a winter window scene, whether that’s a view from one of our own windows or some other building in the city (the museum, perhaps?)….or a view into another window, a toy store, […]
The United Bakers on Spadina in Toronto. Great Canadian Holiday Cookie Bake Off Last year we had a few rounds of Holiday Cookie Wars, wherein we tested our favourite recipes up against other recipes we wanted to try. Today, we’re going to do a Holiday Cookie Bake Off in three rounds, similar to the Great […]
Reinvent the Bûche de Noël Oh, look at sweet sweet Julia throwing icing sugar on her classic yule log cake, which has already been covered in meringue-mushrooms and lain in a manger of festive laurels. Over the past 7 years, I’ve made all sorts of Bûches de Noēl: Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Malt, Chocolate Hazelnut, Cannoli, […]
Christmas Eve Checklist 2019 □ START THE BRISKET: For a change, this year, we’re skipping the Feast of the Seven Fishes and Making Bon Appetit’s Red-Wine Braised Brisket □ SUPPORT CYSTIC FIBROSIS CANADA □ BRISK MORNING WALK WITH THE DOG! □ HOT CHOCOLATE & MORNING HOT TODDIES □ COOL AND REFRIGERATE THE BRISKET □ […]
WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! STAY TUNED FOR OUR NEW YEAR’S EVE MOVIE MARATHON POST! IN THE MEANTIME, HAVE A BROWSE OF ADVENT 2019! Advent Calendar 2019 Advent Love-To-Do List 2019 50 Holiday Gift Ideas for 2019 The Posts of Christmas Past: The Lunchbox Season’s 2011-2016 Advent Calendars The Posts of Christmas Past: Smelling […]
After last year’s exceeds-even-our-wildest-expectations Train Movie Marathon, it took a long time to come up with a theme for this year’s New Year’s Eve Film Fest. Since we’re looking towards 2020, we thought about roaring-twenties films. But, Gatsby? Sorry, no. Then, we considered movies in which hindsight was less than 20/20, i.e. films about memory loss or […]
IT’S TIME FOR OUR ANNUAL TREE TRIMMING PARTY! Take a look at the post for our Cookie-of-the-Party and our newest Favourite Photo Ornaments!
SSJ’S ADVENT LOVE-TO-DO LIST 2020 IS LIVE! Check out the full deets here! AND BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS! SSJ’S OFFICIAL ADVENT COUNTDOWN LAUNCHES TOMORROW, DECEMBER 1ST! FOLLOW ALONG DAILY BY ACCESSING THIS 2020 ADVENT CALENDAR MONTHLY VIEW OR BY CHECKING THE SMELLING SALTS JOURNAL HOME PAGE. IN THE MEANTIME FEEL FREE TO TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE […]
It’s Giving Tuesday! And SSJ’s Official Countdown to Christmas begins with a contribution to the Daily Bread Food Bank. View the official Advent Calendar Post for all the details: Advent Day 1: Contribute to the Daily Bread Food Bank. FOLLOW SSJ’S 2020 ADVENT CALENDAR DAILY BY CHECKING THE SMELLING SALTS JOURNAL HOME PAGE OR BY ACCESSING […]
Today, we’ll be testing two candy-cane-shaped retro bakes from my childhood: Candy Cane Coffee Cake & Candy Cane Cookies. FIND THE FULL POST AND ALL OF THE RECIPES HERE.
Tonight, we’ll clear the tables out of the living room and play old-school card games on the carpet, with music, funny paper hats, and some DIY Holiday Bridge Mix. View the Post in full!
Tonight, everyone will choose a Shakespeare sonnet and draw a picture inspired by that sonnet . View the full post!
Today’s Advent TBD? Photography this very changed city. Then, come home to a batch of warm cookies. Get all the details here: Advent Day Five
Tonight’s plan is a retro pyjama party with as many Rankin Bass Christmas specials as we can possibly stomach! To go with, we’ll introduce the kids to Jiffy Pop, and we’ll make “High-End” TV dinners by placing fancy restaurant take-out into divided plates. View the Full Post Here!
Today, we’ll mail out all of the Christmas Cards. Then, we’ll curl up with a pile of cookbooks, a pot of coffee, a notebook, and a pen, and we’ll plan Christmas Eve Dinner. View the Post!
Today, we’ll lend our support to Forests Ontario by making a donation in memory of the many loved ones we have lost in the last decade. View the Post
It’s Our Annual Advent Family Book Exchange! This year’s theme? “The Classics.” What does that mean? View the Post
Today, we’ll make Clementine’s Crullers, Skillet Fried Chicken and Deep Fried Candy Bars for Sharing. Recipes in Post
Tonight, we’re watching Film Noir set over the Christmas Holidays. And we’re making Black-and-White Cookies. View the Post
Today we’re going to identify the “Song of the Summer” was for each one of us, rewrite the lyrics as a holiday tune, and change the tune itself into whatever we identify we mean by a “classic.” View the Post!
Today, we’re going to design, bake, and build a gingbread structure… What kind? View the post!
Today’s we’re making labels for the canned goods we made this year and for those we’ll whip up today for festive giving. What’s in today’s jam pan? READ THE POST HERE!
Today, we’re going out for a winter walk and making a donation to Cystic Fibrosis Canada. View the Post
Today, we’ll be sketching our house with or without real or imagined Christmas decor. Read the Post!