Just for fun

I thought I'd just post this little video. I took it last night - it is a bit dark - but I think you can see, mostly.


We are all recovering. The tree came down today - Gavin has been begging me to take the ornaments off. He loves playing with the long beady garland things. So the Christmas spirit has officially left our house.

Christmas fun

We made it through another Christmas. It was actually a lot of fun this year. Gavin really enjoyed all the presents. I struggle with a bit of a socialist conscience at this time of year. No matter how simple we try to keep things it still seems a bit overwhelming. But we are extremely grateful to friends and family who love and value our kids.

The biggest Christmas miracle this year is that we actually payed for a tree this year. It was half price and if we had waited one more day it likely would have been free (this choked Wes). But, Saturday was the only availlable day we had to get the tree dressed so we took the plunge.

We had a wonderful day. Uncle Brad and his girlfriend, Cindy, came over for waffles and a gift exchange. Then we all trucked out to Mom and Dad's and had a wonderful day with family and friends. We stayed over night so I could get the kids to bed at a still decent hour. It worked for Bronwyn, but Gavin was up to the bitter end. I was laying him down at 11:30ish. Wow - where do they get the energy.

Uncle Tom and family win the award for noisiest gift of the year award - an electric drum set for Gavin. I think that is a bit of payback for all the inappropriate gifts I have given over the years.

I won the award for most breakable gift. The little Ikea tea set I got for Bronwyn has already suffered a casualty. Oh, well at least I didn't pay a lot for it! Wes wins the award for most gracious gift. He got me a Celine Dion CD even though he doesn't like her at all and gave it to me on the condition that he NEVER has to hear it! OK - I can do that. We still have most of the ornaments still on the tree but I have promised Gavin he can strip it bare tomorrow - he can't wait!

We keep Christmas pretty simple around here. A few gifts, lots of food, a lot of fun with family, and a heck of a lot of thanksgiving for the gifts God has given us. We still are quite overwhelmed with how well Bronwyn continues to do. Our lives are rich and full and God has been very very good to us.

We hope and pray you all had a great Christmas. May God bless and keep you in the Year ahead.

Christmas Card

I did this last year and it was a great deal of fun - well for me at least. Here is our family picture and Christmas wish for the year. If you have been checking in on our progress and would like to say a quick hi and Christmas greeting, please comment. We'd love to hear from you.

It's a sort of virtual Christmas card.

God Bless you all in the new Year.

Happy Birthday Wes

Yup it is Wes' birthday. So congrats to the best hubby and best daddy EVER (of course excluding the spouse or father of whomever is reading this - naturally they are also the best ever).

Word to the wise - post for Bonnie

OK - so I confessed I had issues with Santa. So the other day in an attempt to explain Santa to Gavin, in away that still allows him the enjoyment but doesn't violate my personal sensibilities, I explained that Santa was like Diego. Diego is a cartoon, not real, and he is still really fun to watch and enjoy. OK - so just in case you are ever tempted to do this - DON'T!!! Apparently saying that Diego isn't real is WAY worse than saying Santa isn't real. Yowsers!! So if any of you ask me - Diego is real and he rescues animals all day long! Oh, and Jaguars make great house pets - its the truth.

Next is the tooth fairy - as you can see in the picture of Gavin (that is floss all over the floor) we are going to need the tooth fairy's help so we can afford to buy more floss.

Ice cream dream

So Wes took Gavin out this afternoon to pick up an ice cream cake. (Mom and Dad were coming over this evening as it is Mom's birthday today). Wes told me when he got home from their trip that he had a hard time getting Gavin into the car at the Dairy Queen. Apparently Gavin announced that this was his home, that they were his friends and they liked him.

Well, really maybe the Dairy Queen really is his true home - deep down in the ice creamy part of his soul.

It is hard to argue with logic like that!

Tis the Season

I must admit that I often feel the responsibility to write something a little bit more weighty than just our ramblings and small family events. I don't know why - I guess I have a sense of needing to contribute to the greater good somewhere - you know out there (ya I never found it either). But I often find myself at a loss. This is primarily because I am not much of a thinker these days. Some might say I never was - but they would just be rude!

So I sat down to write something that could uplift and encourage. But something happened (aside from the lack of activity upstairs). I read a bunch of blogs and discovered all sorts of pictures of Santa with little sweeties sitting on his lap. Wow that guy gets around. So as a result this blog is going to be more of a confession.

I don't know what to do with Santa.

I just can't get my head wrapped around it. We were brought up to not believe in Santa. We still got gifts from Santa and watched all the shows etc. but we were told it was Mom and Dad. I still remember sleeping on the living room floor in front of the stockings determined to be awake when they got filled up. I never did get a glimpse - sleep always came first.

Wes is fairly pro Santa but I just don't even know what to do with it. If I could I'd just go along with it - but somehow I just don't like lying to my kid. I know that this isn't considered lying by most people because it is a societal ritual, but I didn't grow up believing in it so to me its lying.

My problem becomes more substantial because my kids don't live in a bubble. All of the kids they know believe in Santa. I assure you I am the only person I know who has these hangups. So how do I teach my kid what I believe without violating the customs and traditions of others?

I want to be very clear that I have absolutely no problem with the decision of 99.9% of our friends and family and society who do choose to foster a belief in Santa. I truly believe it is important to honour your traditions and to pass on to your kids the things that had value to you as a child. For me it is just a very personal dilemma.

I do however, have absolutely no hang ups in wishing you all the happiest of Christmas seasons.

Snow much fun

OK so lame title. But we were at Mom and Dad's after church yesterday as usual. Claudia and Shibu and family were also there (along with Jon and Cindy and the usual suspects). The kids all went out to slide on the little hill in Mom and Dad's front yard. They had lots of fun. Connor from across the street came over and joined in too. Gavin was so thrilled to see him.

The kids are doing great - we have all been pretty healthy for a week or so - yeah!! We had a seriously lazy day as we were running around all weekend.

Gavin had a melt down today because he wanted to go visit Max but I said we could check tomorrow. I just wanted the kids to have a really slow low energy day today. Tomorrow is just a very long wait!! It is so great having a playmate for Gavin right across the street. He just loves it.

I have included a little picture of Bronwyn's Sunday school class. I usually don't stay because they are in the capable hands of Fiona and Ellen. But I found Mel doing the class and elected to stay and help for a bit. They sure are sweet. I understand Fiona has been spending a great deal of time with her Mom. We have been thinking a lot of Ellen and our hearts and prayers are with the Davies family.

Winter is here

The Christmas festivities have started, the snow is here, the cold is here too (yuck). Gavin keeps saying he wants to go to Chrismes (Christmas). I am a bit of a humbug and would probably rather go right past Christmas. But we all do things we don't like for our kids right!

We had a very busy weekend. On Saturday we went to Joan's in Airdrie for their Festival of Lights celebration. There was fireworks and a train ride for Gavin. Val, Rick and Megan joined us. It was great fun. Joan even had a gingerbread house for the kids to build. Very sweet - ha ha.

When we got home the house was really cold. Wes realized that he had accidentally turned the heat way down. So he turned it up and we went to bed. In the morning the house was actually colder. For those of you who are not in Calgary right now it was around -23c Sunday morning. He realized that the pipes that go under the addition he just added were frozen. Yeah! So we went off to church and to Mom's after for dinner. Wes went home and worked on the heat. He got it up and running but at 8 pm the temp in the house was still only 15c. So we stayed at Mom and Dad's for the night. It made for a long commute for Wes but it also allowed the house to heat up again and we are home thankful for warm houses!

You know we forget how lucky we are. My Grandmother's people settled in Southwest Saskatchewan and it would have been very very cold in their homes. You'd have to keep a fire going all the time just to make the house livable. That means collecting and chopping lots and lots and lots of wood by hand. Can you imagine?

It is funny - when we were at the graveside where Grandma was buried - I was completely awestruck by the landscape. Grandma was buried beside her people. It was neat to see the tombstones of our ancestors, but the land was truly the most barren I have ever seen. It was early August and HOT. It was dry as a bone. As you stepped little puffs of dust rose from the ground. There were hills as far as the eye could see - few or no trees - and just rugged shrubby bushes and grasses. Wow! This was where her family had come to farm? I was shaken.

It was so surprising to me because of the way Grandma spoke of her family's home. She talked of her childhood home as the most amazing place. She knew they were poor but didn't care.

I guess we all feel that way about our growing up years. They really are a magical time. I truly hope my kids feel that way - although they won't be able to talk about the prairie winds and the prairie storms. For now they are city bound - but hopefully they will love their memories too.