Our Chistmas

Christmas Eve had us throwing our annual street party, which is always tonnes of fun. There is food, drink, dancing, laughing and of course the highlight is Santa coming down the road. This year Santa (wink wink) had a bit of a British accent, and perhaps grew a couple inches.... to bad Mike wasn't in the house to see him (wink, wink, again) because I'm sure he would have thought Santa resembled someone we know. When I was able to talk to Santa he told me how popular his trip around our subdivison is. I guess people drive from their homes into our subdivision just to see the big guy in red. And those of us lucky enough to live here have house full of people just like we do. Santa was asked to give hugs, get pictures and even hold newborn babies!! I lauged at that one, he doesn't even like holding his own kids until they are over 6 motnhs.

Back at our house the kids were excited for Santa. So excited I think next year we should stand on the deck as I think one of them might crash right through the window. We are cautious about how close the kids get to Santa, because as I mentioned he resembles someone we know and would hate to have Santa get busted. But at the same time I don't want my front window busted so we'll have to look for a happy medium somewhere. This year we added a new trick to Santa's trip. One of the dad's went to say 'hello' to Santa and came back with a package. Inside were pajama's for each of the kids at the party. Funny how Santa manages stuff like that, it is a true marriage. Mrs. Clause does the work and who gets the credit? yes the man!

The pajama's worked like a charm, they all wanted to put them on. Great they are 1/2 way ready for bed! And now that the kids are a bit older they can play downstairs, and even watch TV while us grown ups visit, eat, drink, and even dance to the Mull River Shuffle. But don't worry this is still my house and there is always something for the kids, like a pass the parcel which was a hit.

Christmas morning came finally. The first one up was Mary-Anne at 6am and the party animals (Charlotte and Robbie) woke at 7am. That is when the fun began. Present after present was opened. Charlotte got an Easy Bake oven, a jewerly holder, an art easle, paints, books, clothes, a bean bag chair, a new movie... Wow! Robbie got a weed wacker, a guitar, a construction truck, cars, some clothes, a bean bag chair, new tools. Wow! Mae got a reasonable amount, a new sleep sack, a sledge, a dress and a bean bag chair. Then all the kids got a new play kitchen. That was an after thought as theirs broke the week before Christmas. They didn't need it by any stretch, but it is soemthing they all play with lots and already it proved to be a good choice. Plus Mike found a good deal on it.

This Christmas was the first year we stayed home for Christmas dinner. My mom had flown out to Sasktchewan earlier in the day so we didn't even have compay for supper. It was a tough thing for me to accept, but given how crazy these kids have been lately it is a good thing that we stayed home. We did the entire spread, from turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoe, etc. And just as Mike and I were about to put the kids at the table there was a huge crash!! Yes the tree fell down!! And I tell you my heart leapt becasue it landed right on Mae's legs. I actually don't think she did anything to make the tree fall. I really think it just fell. And if you can believe it, she wasn't even upset. Charlotte's favorite ornament got broken so by the time we picked the tree up, and consoled Charlotte supper was cold. Rotten! But it was still tasty.

Today is boxing day. We went for a walk, something we seem to always do and it is turning into a tradition for us. But realistically we go for walks weekly so it isn't just a Christmas thing. A Christmas tradition is to definitly go to Billy's house for the start of the World Juniors, and eat the best, most tasty, Lobster Chowder known to man.

Tomorrow is the Bower's after Christmas party, which is a fantastic day/night, and we are all looking forward to it.

Here are some photo's.

First these are some other pre-Christmas pics.

Nine of my 48 Rudolph cupcakes. They were for the Christmas party at daycare.

Cookie decorating with friends.

Baking something. I honestly can't remember what, Christmas baking all just blurs together.

Snow FINALLY Snow! The snow only lasted about 1 to 2 hours so I am glad I left work early to go home and play with the kids.

Christmas Eve

Robbie and Danny

 Charlotte and Victoria

 Me and Mae

 Beautiful Girl!

 SANTA!!! SANTA!!! is outside. Hi SANTA!!!

 Robbie and Drake in their new pj's

 Pass the parcel

 Kids getting ready to watch the Grinch. Apparently they all wanted a front row seat .

 Robbie looking to see if Santa is coming.

 Sleepy girl leaving carrots and oatmeal for the reindeer and milk and cookies for Santa.

The grown ups don't have to go to bed yet. We had a house full again, just the way we like it!

 

Christmas morning.

First one up... gets first dibs on the new toys.

 Everyone is up now. This is the only photo I have of all of them in their pj's. They would simply not pose for me.

Surprise Face Awards

# 3 - Robbie with his guitar

 #2 - Charltote with a new Fancy Nancy book

 and the winner is.......

#1 - Grandma with her GPS running watch

Trying out the new toys.

 The tree is down.

Funny story

I forgot to share this story with you. The day we went to get Santa photos done, Mike and I decided to take the kids to a restaurant in the mall. It was decided that he’d go down the elevator with Mae and the bags etc. while I took Charlotte and Robbie down the escalator. Robbie needs a bit of help getting on, but Charlotte is an old pro… or so she was and old pro. I stood at the top with both kids, let go of Charlotte’s hand to help Robbie on, usually she just hops on right behind Robbie but this time she froze. So I had one kid going down, and another at the top and I literally one foot on and one foot off. I could see that Robbie was about to panic to I tried to grab him back up and suddenly we were both going down. Now Charlotte is not the type of kid who responds to hollering or shouting. But I had very little time to coax her on, so I hollered, big mistake! Frozen Stiff! Oh Crap! This is when your brain goes into overdrive and you process things in warp speed. Can I run to the UP escalator, nope? I would have lost sight of her because it was on the other side. Oh maybe another mom will help her on? Double Crap! The person who was indenting to go down the escalator next was a 20 yr old man who has obviously very little experience with kids and in my mind zero personality. I could run up and grab her? negative, Robbie is now rattled and hanging onto my leg. I look back up hopeful, and I notice the 2nd person in ‘line’ is another man. Where are all the mom’s in this mall!?! So my only option is to pick up Robbie and march back up.

At this point we were about ½ way down and I start trekking...

up...
up...up...
okay this isn’t so bad…
WhooHoo I’m getting there…
..only 4 more steps to go…
...wow did someone speed this thing up…
.....why can’t I make these last 4 steps…
..........oh yeah, the 40lbs kid I’m carrying…
...............oh gosh I think I dropped a lung somewhere…
....................what the ?%*$ there 20 people lined up behind her…
........................please Charlotte, honey, please...
...........................need more air… breath...
..............................is it getting dark in here...
...............................put the kid down before you pass out…
..................................okay Robbie your going to have to run!...
.....................................run Robbie… come on …
......................................keep going buddy…
.......................................nope he’s fading… we can’t do this…
...............................................air… need… air…
.................. “WOULD SOMEONE HELP HER!!!!!!!!!”

Finally after I screamed at the guy next to her, he stepped up to the plate… well done (you *d*ot)… thanks for the help.


I got Charlotte, Robbie and myself safely off the escalator when suddenly a round of applause broke out. Yes not only were people queuing up at the top to watch the crazy woman and her kids, but a group had formed at the bottom. Charlotte was completely horrified. I just laughed, still in between my gasps of air, but now that we were off the escalator I could see how hilarious we must have looked. One guy remarked, you lasted 3 minutes longer than I though you would!!!

Christmas is upon us…Hooray!

I am not one to get too worked up about the craziness of the holidays. Mike may argue me on that statement, but honestly I don’t. I should tell you that for me Christmas’s always were crazy. I came from a large extended family, and when I was young it seemed that relatives would climb mountains and jump through fiery hoops just to get home to my grandparents which was house stuck in the middle of the prairies, with nearly nothing around it but snow. I can remember my mom racing from work, throwing me into the car and sometimes driving through brutal weather to get to our destination. I also recall year after year, my uncle driving from Alberta through the night and walking into the house in the wee hours of the morning, no worries he wasn’t going to wake anyone, because we were all still up! The number of relatives who bused, and even hitch-hiked back in the day, all taught me that Christmas is about family and togetherness. Not only was the travelling crazy at times, the true chaos occurred when we all arrived. When you have 30-ish people squeezed into a 1000sq ft home with one bathroom. craziness it bound to happen. Laughing, fighting, crying, sleeping on couches, floors, and not to mention the food! Some years it would be -30 outside and we’d have the doors and windows open simply because the heat from the oven running constantly was stifling.

Being the oldest grandchild I was lucky to have seen the most Christmases. Holidays when all my aunts and uncles were still young enough to party all night. Holidays when card games lasted for hours. Holiday when we’d crowd around a tiny TV trying to watch whatever was on one of the 2 channels. The holidays when it seemed like there was always a new baby (or two) marking their first Christmas. Of course there was the midnight mass service, the gift openings, the big Christmas day turkey, us kids all being kicked outside to burn off our energy. Then sadly the first Christmas came when someone ‘just couldn’t make it’. That suddenly became the norm and because I knew how hard people worked to get home year after year, I knew it wasn’t easy for people to miss Christmas at home. But as people married, families grew, and bodies aged to the point that sleeping on a couch just wasn’t as appealing our Christmases changed. I wished I was mature enough to see the inevitable happening, but it was always a secret wish that one day we’d all gather again, one day I’d get to sit under the tree granted the job of handing out the piles presents that were spread over the living room table and across the floor. Then, sadly in the blink of an eye grandpa was gone, and only two Christmases later Grandma moved into the city making no more holidays in the house we drove miles to get to. And then hardest one of all… was the year ‘I just couldn’t make it’. Since we’ve moved east, I’ve yet to make it home for a Christmas. It is a wish of mine to swap gifts with my cousins again, and watch my kids do the same with their cousins. But I know it will be different, the numbers will be fewer and the chaos a little less crazy. So perhaps this is why Christmas doesn’t get me worked up. Crazy is good, Crazy means people are close by, Crazy means love surrounds you, Crazy to me is Christmas. So as I start my home stretch into Christmas with the continued potlucks, lunches out, oh yeah and I need to make 7 dozen cookies this week too. Not to mention all the fun I want to do with the kids on the weekend, wrap presents, bake even more cookies for our cookie decorating party, perhaps take in a Christmas puppet show, I'm sure watch another episode or two of the Grinch in (they LOVE it) we also want to go for a drive to look at the lights on all the houses. I do love Christmas!
Okay I'm done the endless blabbing...we have already been up to some fun, here are the pics...


Gingerbread houses. I was surprised that Robbie actually did this. I imagined he’d put one or two candies on and be done with it. But he stayed at the table longer than I’m used to and decorated the entire thing. As for our other crafty, decorating times, he was true to his character and lasted a couple minutes. Charlotte though loves crafts, so she’s been busy! With her glue, paint and glitter!

We’ve decorated the house(inside and out) and a tree. Charlotte was very meticulous about where the ornaments were hung, and that things were done ‘right’. Once the tree was decorated I gave them the Candy Canes for the final touch, Robbie liked that part. But apparently they weren’t done. Some how in the mind of a 4 yr old and a 3 yr old the idea of carrots on a tree was born. They took all the mini carrots from the fridge and carefully placed them on the branches of the tree. It was bizarre and funny all at the same time. For the remainder of the day they would go to the tree, pick a carrot and eat it. By bedtime all the carrots were gone! They ate almost 2lbs of carrots in an afternoon! And strangely… all the Candy Canes were still on the tree!

Nothing says Christmas like a carrot in a tree!

Robbie has also become a bit of a nudist... a common phrase in our house is often. "Robbie put your clothes on" or "Robbie pull up your pants"

Grandma Margaret knitted each kid a stocking with their names on them. The kids are pretty excited about the new stockings from England.

We also went to see Santa. Robbie was very excited and asked for a guitar and a roller (construction truck). Mae was indifferent, just another place and just another person to her. Charlotte was terrified. She has always been terrified of Santa, our previous photos either have Charlotte crying, kicking, or attempting to escape from the big guy in red. This year she decided she wasn’t even going to go near him. She stood way back and if I even looked in her direction she started to scream. When it was time to leave, Robbie leaned over and gave Santa the biggest, most sincere hug. I think even Santa was caught off guard, Santa stayed true to himself and gave a jolly laugh and hugged Robbie back. It was perfect! In order to leave Charlotte had to walk past Santa, to the exit. She did so very cautiously and made sure to keep a close and suspicious eye on him the whole time.

Also I've come back from Vegas. It was a whirl wind trip. It took me 13 hours to get there, ran Sunday, shopped a bit Monday and flew out mid afternoon, to spend 8 hours overnight in the airport and arrive the next day around lunch. I spent nearly as much time travelling as I spent in Vegas. But and it is a big But... I was with my girlfriends and that made it all worth it!!!!! As for the run I did really well. I ran 1:51:36 and felt pretty good, I am proud of the run, especailly considering how few chances I get to go for a proper run. Here a few photos.


Saturday, Off to the race expo and supper...

Sunday, Post Race (Astrid was still running the full marathon... way to go girl!)

 Sunday night out... off to supper

 going dancing...

 some gamblings (I lost a total of 10 bucks, not bad)