December 2014

Another Christmas season has come and gone.  What a whirl wind!!!  We spent lots of time with family, ate way too much everyday and got spoiled rotten.  The grandkids re-enacted the Nativity for us while Opa read and treated us to ‘Away in a Manger’.  We went for a walk to the beach in +14 degree weather.  We did a puzzle.  We ate too much.  I feel like I picked up in the living room every five minutes.  Hannah took her sweet time opening her gifts, she had some left under the tree on Boxing Day yet!  Too funny, that girl – she does it every year!

I can see this is turning into a random post….just a bunch of things jammed into one post.  Things I think you should know but might not necessarily deserve a full post themselves.  Sigh….I’m tired and can’t really pull a full thought together.

Every year I tell myself that I am not going to be running around right before Christmas delivering gifts and cards.  And again this year, the day before Christmas I was running around delivering gifts and cards.  I was also delivering some awesome secret projects I’ve been working on in the studio!  I’m excited to be able to share what some of those projects were now that they have been gifted!

My parents gifted all of us a trip to Pier 21 in Halifax.  What a wonderful, thoughtful gift.  Both of them arrived in Canada there and I know it will be an emotional day.  I was outside the building with my cousin and his family this summer and even that was emotional for me!!  I’ll be a basket case the day we all go as a family!!  They also gave us a chocolate letter like they do every year.  This year I got an ‘L’…..:)  We don’t always get the right letter, just depends on what’s left at the store the day Mom shops.

This year the weather was great if you wanted to travel or run but not so much if you wanted to snowshoe.  And I love to get out with friends and family over the holiday break to snowshoe.  I did manage to get out for a few runs on the mountain.  I’m hoping to get out regularly and work off some of the extra eating I’ve been doing. I think I mentioned I ate too much?

I bought a few ornaments on clearance today.  A few more wooden snowflakes, a canoe, a moose and an outhouse.  Every tree needs an outhouse, right?  I figured it ties in with the rustic, woodland thing I’ve got going on!  We were also given a whole family of owls this year, too.  They look great on the tree, along with all my new gnomes.  I’m going to hate to have to take our tree down.  The living room always feels so bare and empty after the decorations come down.  Maybe I’ll finally hang the curtains.  Maybe I’ll even go really crazy and paint the hallway!!!

When do you take down Christmas?  Do you want until after the New Year?  Do you pack it up on Boxing Day?  I like to leave it, especially since I’m usually pretty late in getting it all put up!  There are still a few things I planned on doing for decorations this year that I haven’t quite gotten to yet!

To be continued,

Lori

Wow – has it really been that long since I blogged!?!?!  Oh my!!  Christmas will be here and gone before I know it!  Let me fill you in on the progress over here and you can all tell me that you’ve had all this stuff done for weeks! No? You are still shopping, decorating and still have to mail cards, just like me?  Awesome!  I knew I liked you!!

We had two Christmas concerts in the family again this year.  Lena had her school concert and I was so super proud of her!  She has joined the school choir which meant she was on stage a lot this year.  If you know my Lena – this is something!!  She did so well  – makes me teary to even think about it!  And her dress….reminds me of a certain wedding dress from this year….. It was fun to hear her practising her songs around the house, in the car, or with her pretend class in her bedroom.  I’m proud of her for stepping out of her normal and committing to this.  Sure makes this mom proud!

Hannah lost her first tooth at Lena’s Christmas concert, too, which added some excitement while we waited for the concert to start!  Mrs. Hardie, a retired Primary teacher and notorious tooth-puller, offered to wiggle it for Hannah and then pull it and Hannah went for it!  She was hilarious, proudly showing everyone the new hole, even people she didn’t really know!  She was so brave!!

Hannah had her concert for preschool where she played the roles of both Mrs. Claus and Mary, as she is the only girl this year!  All those boys!!  But she had a blast!  And they all are so funny up on stage – some know the words and belt them out, some don’t and it doesn’t seem to bother them either way!  They also always do a gift exchange with their friends of gently loved toys, too.  That always gets interesting, too! { No pictures of that – too blurry!! Those kids move fast! }

We also went with my sister’s family to get our tree.  We did last year, too, (you can read about it here) and loved it so much that we did the exact same thing again – we start at Sugar Moon Farm { a family favourite, for sure! } and once properly fueled, headed up to Spiddle Hill to search for the perfect tree.  Thankfully, the weather was much better than last year!  It didn’t take us long, I look for a lean tree with just the right amount of height!  It doesn’t have to be perfectly even or full but it has to catch my eye!!

It is currently in a state of undress.  It’s in the stand, it has lights on it….but that’s it!!  I did buy some pretty burlap garland for it today so once I get that on and the ornaments sorted, then I’ll let the girls go at it!!  They’ve been asking if I decorated it yet, they really, really want to do it again this year!  I will give them a selection of ornaments this year, I feel the urge to have a theme.  Woodland, of course!  Makes up for not having the antler tree that one of my children requested….

Christmas pictures are taken, cards are bought…..now to make the two of those things come together and end up in mailboxes….

To be continued,

Lori