So, the last week of Advent, and I must admit that I didn't do much at all to formally recognize it. However, for anyone who might be, the focus of the last Sunday of Advent is on the joy you feel at the end of the period of waiting (and the beginning of a couple weeks of celebrating, visiting with family, and eating waaaay too much).
I have decided, because I love Wavery Fitzgerald's writings so much, that I would re-read through each of her weekly thoughts that I used to subscribe to (I saved almost all of them). For this week, her focus was, naturally, on acknowledging the moments of joy in your life. And if you were having a difficult time feeling any 'joy' amid all the crazy preparations for the Christmas holiday, she had suggested that you ask yourself where you find joy in the holidays, and focus on those times. For me, I'd have to say my moments of 'joy' during the holidays are times when I'm with my family (eating!, ha ha), and especially during those quiet moments, like on Christmas Eve, relaxing by the tree with a baileys in one hand, the fire crackling beside you. Of course opening Christmas stockings are always very fun too (reminder to moi: must go get some stocking stuffers!), and getting together with friends on Christmas night (as well as brunch that day with family) are all highlights of my xmas holiday. Typical, I guess, most involve food or drink of some kind. I also love those days at work, when the festive spirit encourages people to stand around, talking, laughing, and sharing (and in our case, usually drinking some forbidden beverage safely hidden inside cans of coke)... And the days when you go in to work, and no one else is there, so you can listen to some music, or enjoy the silence, and just get things done.. :)
Yes, I do love this season, but for some reason this year, I still can't manage to feel Christmassy!! I look around and barely see any xmas lights up (that's my neighbourhood for you - I'm sure Hull is ablaze with gawdy colour again this year - it was always fantastic for that), and my shopping is pretty well done, the last few things just nagging 'I have to pick something up to add to that present!' types of things...
No, I think for me, the joy of this holiday will be the down time, where I can just sit and do absolutely nothing. :) I'm really tired this week!
Anyway, looking ahead to 2008, I'm happy to see that they're predicting a rise in housing prices - by 3.5%! That's good news for Luc and I, who have our house on the market. It also inspired me to contact my mortgage broker, to see about getting our mortgages straightened out. I'm hoping the interest rates will drop, due the the price increase in the housing market, and then I can perhaps switch our personal mortgage to 25 years, and see about switching our apartment's mortgage to 40 years, over the next few months. This, ideally, would free up some $$ monthly to go toward paying for siding and windows (increasing the value again), and we can then write off the interest charges that will be horrendously high on the apartment's mortgage. I'm starting to feel slightly like I'd like to hold onto the apartments still, as in a way, as long as we can have the tenants paying for the big stuff, we can handle the small stuff as we need to... Dunno, it's something to consider. If we kept them for five or ten years, we'd be able to sell them when we were ready to buy (or build) a new house...
Food for thought, and definitely a potential source of 'joy' if we can do this right... :)