Friday, December 26, 2014

Joyful and Triumphant

This morning when I stepped out of my bedroom, the house was quiet.  The sun was shining.  The trees outside were winter perfect covered in frosting.  The living room, that had all things in perfect order just two days ago, was a happy disaster.  I tiptoed across the cold kitchen floor, past the kitchen table that had been pushed aside to make room for scooter riding, and made my way to the coffee pot. I considered having chocolates and cookies for breakfast with my coffee but I resisted.

This is what things looked like on Christmas Eve.  We celebrated at home.  We took pictures in front of the tree.  Our friends came over.  Grandma and Papa came over too.  We ate yummy food.  We listened to Christmas music.  We had candles glowing.  And since Santa got Callie's letter, he knew exactly where to find us this Christmas Eve!



















We missed our usual Christmas Eve get together this year but technology is a wonderful thing and we were able to share the night via FaceTime with our family in Palm Springs.

And in the morning we sat back and let all that is Christmas unfold in front of us.







I don't even know what to say about it all.  We are just so. so, so blessed with all good things.
We are healthy.
We are happy.
Our hearts are full.
Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Let's Get Caught Up

So here's what's been happening the past few weeks...

1.   Little sister participated in her final preschool Christmas concert.  I wasn't sure if she wanted to go this year since she is a big kindergarten kid but I was wrong.  She absolutely wanted to go.  These are her little school friends and she didn't want to miss out.  One of my colleagues asked me if I was sad about attending my last potluck preschool concert.  And usually I am a bit sentimental about change and moving on but this time not so much.  Maybe it's because this concert is at at the most inconvenient time of day or maybe it was because of the realization that this may be her last preschool concert but that the next week would see her first big school concert and someday she will have her first piano concert.  And maybe I'm finally getting used to the idea that the last of one thing means the beginning of another new adventure.

 



2.  Look at these cousins!  They have fun together.  A little early Christmas celebration was in order this year to accommodate travel plans.  We may have had pizza instead of turkey for supper but all the rest was as Christmas as it gets.  Presents, Yuletide fireplace,  and some ornament painting. We will miss them on Christmas day this year but we had a great night in attempt to make up for it.






3. Cookie making.  Not much to say here other than besides making the dough I'm not much needed here anymore.  The girls have got this one handled.  I did eat my fair share though. And I decorated them for hours after the girls lost interest. I really like decorating cookies.  I would never be able to do it for a living but I did stay up late making snowflake cookies for the girls' class parties.  



 4.  Annual Christmas parties.  We see a few Santas over the holidays but Callie told me that this was the real one.  "This is the Santa that come on Christmas Eve," she said.  Callie wrote Santa a letter telling him that we wouldn't be at the hotel this year on Christmas Eve and could he please come to our house instead because we will be at home.  We put that letter in the mail and she got a letter back from Santa but it didn't say if he was going to be able to stop by or not.  And believe it or not, Santa phoned her yesterday to tell her that he got her letter!  That Santa is pretty amazing.  She felt so special.   She was jumping around, ecstatic about her conversation with the one and only guy in red. When she was writing the letter, she asked me if she could text Santa.  We didn't know how to text him but getting a phone call trumps texting any day!




5.  Big school Christmas concert.  I sat in the audience at the school Christmas concert with Jon beside me and no one on my knee.  Lexi wore the same dress Callie wore for her kindergarten concert.  All the other kids were dressed up as toys under the Christmas tree.  Little sister had us grinning from ear to ear as we watched her sorta sing and sorta lip sync the words to Vive le Vent.  And big sister is an old pro at this gig now.  She was completely thrilled that she got to dress up as a wizard instead of wearing a fancy Christmas dress.  She was in charge of playing the bells in her class's version of Bonne AnneĆ©.






6.  More singing.  Callie's class went to the Manor to sing for the seniors and not a one of them cared that the songs the kids sang were French.  These kids sang their hearts out to Petit Papa Noel and the seniors rocked out in their chairs.  We also had a nice visit with our grandma.  She looked so nice in her red snowflake sweater.  We gave her some chocolates to satisfy her sweet tooth and gave her lots of Christmas love.



7.  Last night we had our fourth annual pyjama party with our friends.  I had to look back to see how the kids looked the first year.  I was debating about whether or not to get the reindeer food making stuff out thinking that this idea may have been played just a few too many times already as multiple little bags of oats have been brought home from various places this season.  I asked Callie if we should include the reindeer food on the to do list for the party and she said, "yes mom, it's a tradition!"  Who am I to argue with tradition?  So reindeer food, pyjamas, a movie and great friends were all left on the list for another year.





Now we are all caught up.  Just two more days of great anticipation left to go! I'll say Merry Christmas to everyone in blog world now since I don't know if I'll be back here before the big day.
Merry, Merry Everything!

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Deck the Halls

I just sat down for what feels like the first time in two weeks.  So here I sit with snacks that aren't so healthy and a drink that is not lemon water and a camera roll full of pictures from the last two weeks. The tree lights are on and my feet are up on the coffee table and as as I sift through my photos it's hard to believe that there is still more good to come.

Tonight we attended our final, official holiday commitment...Callie's Christmas piano recital.  I enjoyed the evening immensely.  Yes, I really did.  I loved seeing the impressive growth from just a few months ago and of course it was all Christmas carols.  The students got to choose any Christmas song they wanted to play.  Now since I have absolutely zilch for a music background, I kinda wondered about this "choose your own tune" business because I would have assumed that some songs would be more advanced and difficult than others.  Are there not beginner carols and expert carols? So when Callie said she wanted to play Deck The Halls and her piano teacher said. "great choice" I assumed she picked a beginner carol.  But tonight, what I heard was several versions of Deck the Halls right from beginner to advanced and all were equally impressive.

Callie was so much more relaxed this time. She knew what to expect.  She has been practising for weeks.  Sister was ready to go.  When we pulled into the church parking lot full of vehicles, Callie said, "my legs are shaking !"  A bit of nerves but no where near the anxiety that was there six months ago.  After she rocked her version of Deck the Halls sister was all smiles.  When I tucked her into bed tonight I asked her what she liked best, playing the piano, playing the bells, or singing Little Drummer Boy.  She said playing the piano was her favorite.









There was a lot more singing this week including two school concerts and singing for the seniors. There were Christmas parties and visits from Santa, playdates with friends and cookies to bake.  But before I get to those, sleep is calling  my name.  I must get a good nights rest to prepare for tomorrow... the first day of Christmas vacation!