A Wonderful Christmas

Special time with Grandpa Bill

We spent Christmas eve with the MacNeill / Brady clans and had a wonderful time with all the cousins together. Fantastic food, company and games were some of the highlights of the evening and we were very thankful that the forecasted freezing rain held off so the drive to and from was safe. We arrived home after 10:30 and Sid was still wired awake. We left milk and cookies for Santa and got Sid in bed.

Once again the pets are baffled by how He did it, but Santa made his special delivery Christmas eve. He seemed to enjoy the cookies and milk and ate all the brownies! We hope the reindeer enjoyed the carrots, we left one out for each of them.

Santa brought some wonderful gifts including a new tiger book for Benny, Sid's tiger. Sid was treated to an exciting morning of very thoughtful gifts from Santa, friends and family. The look in her eye and smile on her face as she opened each package was priceless.

It was a busy morning but the day was not complete until the Christmas dinner which turned out just perfectly. A well cooked turkey, dressing, cranberries, roast veggies, salad, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, buns, apple pie and ice cream oh my! It was so nice hosting Christmas dinner, we wish you all could have been here. Christmas for us is about having family around and just enjoying the day.

Boxing day was sleepy day here. With dishes still piled up a bit in the kitchen, we spent much of the day in our jammies just stretched out on the couches.

Lots of leftovers means lots of resting and relaxing. NO cooking here for a few days! We hope everyone had a nice Christmas filled with laughter, good food, good company and lots of love.

Yipppeeee Skating!

Saturday Dad discovered that we had a natural skating rink in the back. He shoveled a large section of snow where we usually get standing water and presto, an instant skating rink. Sid took skating lessons last year so I was very excited to see how she was going to do. When we told her Dad built a rink she was ready to get out there and skate! Without any hesitation she started taking strides. She would fall to the ground and just push herself back up. After about 20 minutes Sid was skating lengths of the ice (about 15ft) and turning in circles. Anytime her feet would go out from under her, she would smile and get right back up. We are starting lessons again the first week of January so I was really pleased to see her smiling and enjoying it.
Once back inside we warmed up with hot chocolate and the Caillou Holiday Movie. It was a great afternoon. A little later on, Dr Sid decided Maggie was a bit sick but she was fixed up in no time.
The house is decorated and we have made all our card and presents and started wrapping the gifts for the pets. Now we wait for the big night. Here is an awesome video that is in the holiday spirit and worth watching!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMwnRo

Santa Clause is Going to Town

World Junior Team Canada inter-squad game

Sidney got a Santa hat on Friday as part of her advent calendar. She has been talking about wanting a Santa suit so the advent calendar fairies (!!!???) brought her the hat. We went to see the team Canada Juniors inter-squad game on Friday night so she wore her jersey and new hat. Late last night while coming home Sid was still talking about Santa bringing her a Santa suit so I told her she had one now that she had the hat. She didn't believe me so this morning I put together her Santa Suit. Sid helped me make the beard.

We had hours of fun, especially delivering presents to the dogs over and over again. We had to go into town (to Chapters) and Santa came along. Talk about getting a lot of looks. We arrived in Chapters, Santa Sid stripped off her coat and went right to the kids section. The first book she saw with Santa on the front she shouted "Look it's ME!". Fortunately I had convinced her to leave the beard in the car so it was just the red outfit with black belt and Santa hat. One person said "Oh you are so cute! What is your name?" She answered "I am Santa!!!" almost defensively. She is currently trying to convince me that she needs to have milk and cookies before bed, she makes me laugh so hard every single day.


In this clip she is checking to see if the dogs have been naughty or nice

Groovy says - never naughty, ALWAYS nice!

Snowshoeing Season is here

We had a big storm yesterday dumping 35cm of snow then some freezing rain with a little more snow on top. Today was the perfect first day for the snowshoes to come out of the shed. Sid got hers from Granny and Grandpa last year and was a pro the first time out on them this year. She did well in the snowshoes last year but would tire out and want to be carried. This year there is no stopping her!

We spent 2 hours out in the yard today snowshoeing and then sledding down the hill on the side of our house. Sid had a great time and Mom got a great work out walking down the hill and pulling Sid back up, over and over again!

Tis The Season

We are gearing up for the holiday season. Decorations are slowly starting to pop up and the tree will go up next weekend. For the first time since moving here we strung Christmas lights outside on our pine tree in the front and on the little one way in the back yard by the train tracks. We bought the Noma solar powered lights and I really like them. No extension cords and no increase in the hydro bill either.



Sid is right into the festivities this year and her favorite activity is our new advent calendar from Auntie Shae, Uncle Greg and baby Addison. It is the most beautiful and creative gift and I am floored by Aunt Shae's talent. We are deeply thankful for the thoughtfulness and joy it is bringing. Siddy is convinced that every night fairies come and fill the cups with treats. I explained that it was Mom and Dad and thought it was a good explanation until she told her Dad that only the Mom and Dad fairies bring treats, the baby fairies stay home (lol). Every other day we put a couple starbursts or skittles in and then on the other days I draw basic maps and have her search for little gifts like a new toothbrush, stickers and books. It has been so much fun and a family heirloom in the making.

We heard that Santa was going to be in town last week so we made the special trip to a mall in the west end and can you believe our luck? Sid got to meet Santa (who she now calls The Big Guy). This was the first year Sid sat on his lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. She even brought her Rudolph for the visit because he probably was missing Santa.

Today we wrote Santa a letter and hope to get it in the mail later today. We think it will make it to the North Pole in time!

The snow and winter chill has hit us and unfortunately for the dogs they finally got their fall haircuts which will carry them through until March. With the temperature -22 (-29 with the windchill) they need some protection outside so I have pulled out the dog coats. They were pretty happy to see them once they realized the purpose. The only problem is that Maggie keeps ripping Groovy's coat off then sitting on it. Sibling rivalry between dogs????

Santa is coming!

Saturday night we went into town and saw the local parade. What a hoot! Lots of floats and some very over the top. My favorite was the antique fire engine pumping out so much fake smoke that you couldn't actually see the musicians playing on top. Of course the hit of the evening was the big guy himself, Santa. He arrived about 45 minutes after the start of the parade and it was just in time because we were starting to get a bit chilled. The family center was open for hot chocolate afterwards so we warmed up quickly.

Despite all the promising and swearing that I was NOT going to bake this year (because I eat it all!) I caved and made a batch of the most delicious spice cookies. I added the candied ginger this time and it was a really nice touch. It isn't the holiday season without at least one batch of spice cookies. Sid was a huge help this year and was the official pourer and ball maker. She actually made her cookie dough balls without licking anything. I had bribed her with the privilege of licking the bowl at the end though!

1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup white sugar for decoration
DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; stir into the molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball in white sugar(I skip this part) before placing 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.Bake for 8 minutes in preheated oven, or until center is firm. Cool on wire racks.
*** 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger can be added for extra flavour***
Bowl licker available free of charge upon request.

Tonight we hit a huge milestone in family life. We played our very first card game! Mom, Dad and Sid played Go Fish with Sid's alphabet flash cards and she completely got the game. She actually won twice too! It was such a cool moment for me to see the three of us sitting around the table playing cards. Ahhhh the things to come!