Moose Jaw for New Years

We celebrated Christmas here with my Mom, and then headed down to Moose Jaw on the 30th for a gathering at Trevor's Dad and Carol's home. Joel and Jeannette came down on the 31st, and we had a belated Christmas on New Years Eve. It was great to see them all again, and the kids had fun soaking up all the attention. It all went well until...Trevor came down with the stomach flu at 3am on New Years day. You may remember the last time we got the stomach flu while travelling - it was in Moose Jaw as well. Hmmmm.

Anyhow, poor Trev lay about on New Years Day trying to gather his strength, and then about 6pm we put everything in the van and headed home. We left late because it had been a very long drive down due to road conditions, and we reasoned this way if it took longer it wouldn't bug the kids because they were sleeping. It wasn't a fun drive, lots of blowing snow and poor road conditions, but no one complained, and Trev slept better in his own bed once we got home. We were extra glad that we had driven home that night when the next morning, Adara started getting sick. It caught me last night, so I'm huddled on the couch today while Trev has taken the kidlets on an adventure somewhere. Con seems to be fine so far, I guess we'll see if that lasts or not.

I had one very special positive happen while in Moose Jaw: Trev's Dad mentioned casually that he was looking to get rid of all of his and Sharon's old photo albums. He's not much of a sentimentalist, and he kept a few small albums of pictures that were important to him, but he didn't want the rest. So I grabbed them!! We're going to buy a photo scanner, and I'll scan all of the old pictures in and hopefully someday be able to do them up nicely with notes and dates and stuff. I'm very excited to have this piece of Trevor's history to preserve for our kids and their kids.

Back to lying on the couch for me - going from Trev and Adara's recoveries, I should be feeling much better tomorrow.

One of the Busiest Weeks of the Year

I know this time of year is busy for everyone, but with our anniversary on the 16th and Connor's birthday on the 21st, it's been extra busy here! Here's a brief photo summary of some of the events of the week.

The Suncor children's Christmas party was on the 14th, and the kids had a blast. It was just right, lots to do but not too much, three inflated bouncy castles divided into age groups, and free gifts for all the boys and girls. The face painters were enormously talented; this was Adara's first time getting her face painted, and she looked awesome:


We finally got around to doing our annual gingerbread house on the 20th. Trev and Adara worked together and did a great job:


We didn't do too much for Connor's birthday, as he's really too little to understand the whole concept anyway. His biggest delight was the mylar birthday balloon, with the dessert of gingerbread cookies (he doesn't like cake much) and mango sorbet coming in a close second. This was his first time eating anything like ice cream (he's still lactose intolerant) and he loved it. He liked the presents too, even if he wasn't too sure why he was getting them. *grin*


We've gotten a few other things done too. Adara and I did up the gift bags of cookies for Trev's coworkers, which was fun. I've managed to get my papers sorted out, as well as my craft supplies. And I finished one of the two homemade gifts I had left to do - the other one will have to be finished in the New Year sometime, I've given up on finishing it on time. We'll be using some of Trevor's days off organizing what's left in the garage, and doing other odd jobs. I've figured out why I'm so driven to organize and simplify, but I'll go on at length about that another time.

Hard to believe tomorrow's Christmas Eve...for whatever reason, I haven't gotten into the spirit of the season much this year. Hope you have a great Christmas, wherever you are and whoever you're with.

Not Entirely Heartless

I was determined this year to winnow down our Christmas stuff - only stuff we use and love, no extras. But today I came across a little box of ornaments from Trev and my very first Christmas together, just after our wedding and just before he left for Bosnia. We didn't have much money, so I'd gone to a little craft store that was having a big sale, got two dozen of the clear glass balls, and filled them with different glittery decorations. They looked so pretty to me...now of course, they look pretty cheesy. But I've never been able to throw them out, even if we haven't used them for years. This time I was determined to do it - again - until I looked in the box. Somehow they seem to embody all of those fragile hopes new couples have when they start their journey. And I know that, as long as I see that when I look at them, they're going to be shipped from house to house with us. 'Cause I'm just not that practical.

Making a List, Checking It Twice

Nope, no Saint Nick here, but the listmaker in me is at it's strongest during the holidays. Especially with our anniversary, Connor's birthday, and Christmas all within days of each other. So far?

Christmas newsletter printed? Check.
Christmas cards written, addressed, stamped, and ready? Check.
Christmas packages to Ontario ready? Check.
Christmas and birthday presents purchased for the kids? Check.

What's left? Let's see, there's the cookies to bake and package up for Trev's coworkers, two homemade presents to finish (thankfully they don't need to be sent, so I have some time yet), presents to wrap, the tree to put up, and a gingerbread house to assemble (as a family). Busy, but not overwhelming.

I'm also looking forward to seeing some of the many holiday sights around here. The Zoo does a big light display (Zoolights) which we've seen in the past and loved; Airdrie (a town just outside of Calgary) has a walk-through light display that's phenomenal and well worth the drive; downtown Calgary has a light display; and Heritage Park has an 'Old-Fashioned Christmas' setup where all of the old buildings are decorated, the little chapel has choirs singing, and there's sleigh rides and games for the kids. The Suncor kids' Christmas party is a week tomorrow, and that should be fun despite the heavy emphasis on the big guy in red. It's all going to go by so fast!

Of Fall and Holiday Preparations

We're looking at going to a corn maze tomorrow - should be a fun time. They have a petting zoo for the kids, and we might even pick a little pumpkin from their pumpkin patch to help with the household autumn decor.

It's a little scary to think of the Christmas prep work yet to do. It seems like I panic every year about this time, but at least this year I knew we'd be moving in the fall and I didn't get overambitious with the craft projects.

Other than that, the whole having a schedule and a detailed meal plan up and running again is really helping my week go smoothly. The kids are much more relaxed too, probably because I'm not stressing as much. *smile*