Christmas:

Up late at night with a terrible case of heart burn, so thought I would blog since it's keeping me from sleeping. Of course I have to work tomorrow and here I am, 3am blogging. The only other time I got heart burn was when I was pregnant with Sarah and now that she is 13 I get heart burn again - do you think there is any correlation there? ...

Drinking some cranberry Canada Dry - hoping the bubbles work...

Anyhoo, Christmas. I have been battling a cold also this week so was very happy that it was just our family for Christmas and no big meal to prepare. We actually slept in until around 8:30 - 9 (love having teenagers!) and I was the one that got up first. We got some interesting and fun gifts from each other and friends/family. Here is a pic of some prints my sister bought me for my "collection":

The will go nice in my room with my other prints. Love this type of artwork. I tend to buy postcards or cards with the artwork on it and then frame them. $5 postcard, $50 frame job and I ended up with a beautiful piece of framed artwork.

Gots lots of pretty smelling bath products from my daughters - so now I smell pretty.

We spent the day watching movies, vegging on junk food and laying on the couch. Loved it. I did some reading. Trying to finish off a book so I can read the next book in the series (my gift from my oldest daughter). I think the funniest moment of the day was watching the dog "attack" his new toy - a blue round squeaking ball - the squeak survived a total of about 5 minutes. It was quite hilarious. The kids favorite gift was a Cheerios Recipe Book.

Presently reading: The Englisher by Beverly Lewis (next is The Brethern); The Taking by Dean Koontz

Presently listening to: It's late at night so nothing though I have been listening to Il Divo, Believe and Faith and next up NetherLands by Dan Fogelberg.

Sudoku and Christmas...

Well I achieved my goal. My plan was to have all my shopping done by this weekend and have a stressful free weekend and I think I succeeded :-) Now I admit I did go buy a gift today but only because I had to go out and feed a friends fish and thought I would stop by the chocolate store I had heard about and pick up my sister some chocolate. I hadn't really got her gift yet - a gift certificate for a restaurant but figured I could get it later. But I went into the Willowwisp store first and found this lovely item for her and couldn't help buying it.

Today was housecleaning day which was all done by noon. Kristie has been busy making her bread this afternoon and I have fallen in love withe game Sudoku. Found it on the online games today, figured out how to play it and now I can't stop... I'm addicted!! Guess what I'm doing all week :-)

Though in alot of ways it hasn't felt like Christmas yet (I've had quite a few conversations with people about why) it is finally starting to feel like it. I've had a good week - finished my shopping by Monday night, visited with some friends a couple of evenings, went to a birthday party, tonight the neigbours are coming over for a visit and tomorrow night (Christmas eve) my neice and her husband are coming over.

The photo's are of our Christmas tree's - yes we have two - one for upstairs and one downstairs. I think we will be celebrating Christmas morning downstairs where we have more room and comfortable couches ... the rest of the day will just be the hubby, the girls and me. First time we haven't had a big Christmas meal where we have had to go to it or do it. It will be different but nice.

Missing you versus being Homesick:

People keep asking me if I'm going to miss Kristie when she goes to Western. Somedays I feel like saying "duh yeah!!" but the question has made me think. What about Kristie am I going to miss.

Duirng one of our discussions about her going to Western I told her I was going to miss her because I really like her. I know I love her, I carried her for 8 months inside me, I'd cried buckets when she was in neonatal, I've watched her grow and mature and turn into this beautiful girl that I love dearly. But you know, you can love someone and sometimes not like them, I think sometimes that can be true with teenagers. With Kristie, I like her, I like spending time with her, I enjoy talking to her, hanging out with her, laughing with her. She has such a good sense of humor, loyal and caring nature. We went to a Christmas concert at a local church last night (Calvary Church). A friend of hers from school attends this church and invited Kristie to come watch her int he concert. So Kristie asked if I would go with her. We had a lot of fun sitting in the pew, giggling about the kids, generally talking about stuff afterwards. It was alot of fun and that is what I will miss. Those moments.

I keep teasing Kristie about missing us and missing my morning hugs/kisses, missing her dad teasing her, Wedenday night watching Veronica Mars at the Taylors, etc. She guiltly admitted that she wasn't going to be homesick. I told her that was good. If she misses us but isn't "homesick" then we have done our jobs as parents. It means she misses the time with us, the safe comfortable haven where she can be herself...but it won't stop her from enjoying her time at Western, from soaking up every experience there, or stopping her from participating in activities because it might mean she can't come home to see us. It means she is independent and can function without us... but will still miss us.

Sigh, I will miss her...

But I also know that going to Western is another great experience for her that will help her mature more, grow more, be more challenged, more independent and she will get a more solid spiritual influence. That's all a parent can ask for.

Christmas baking:

Well we all seem in the christmas baking mood - even I have finally got off my butt and done some baking. Last night I did my cinnamon twists - doesn't seem to make as many as before so I will most likely cave and make another batch. Made eatmore bars this morning. Made my cream cheese cookies early in the week along with my puff wheat choco squares. Still need to make our wild rice braid bread that we are hoping turns out nice enough to give to the neighbours. Our neighbour on one side has been so wonderful with snow blowing our city sidewalk and up our sidewalk, he even did most of the driveway one day. Sarah wants banana bread - didn't even know she liked it - go figure.

Almost finished the shopping too - life is glorious. My aim is to not have to do anything the weekend before Christmas except a few groceries items. Otherewise I want to stay away from the stores. Wish me luck folks! We have been hunting for Season Gas Season 3 with no luck for Murray. He finally told them what he wanted for Christmas - tickets to the NHL Hockey games coming in September. Unfortunately you don't actually get the tickets until next year...so not sure how the girls want to "buy" the tickets as he went down already and ordered them.

I'm thankful for beautiful soft white snow, for my black dog that is easily spotted in all that snow, for the good behavior of my dog who follows you out to the front yard but stays with you and doesn't run away, for a good rest last night, medication that clears out the congestion in my nose and helps me breath with the hopes it works on balancing the pressure in my ears (I'm really tired of my one ear popping at the most inconvenient times - it does that loud high pitched makes you want to shake your head pop) and I'm thankful for my familyas always.

Loss of internet and cable service :-(

Well we have been without both of these since this weekend - Sasktel will be in on Friday to hopefully fix it. I have noticed a few things since this has happened:

1. Youngest daughter is going to bed earlier.
2. I suspect to read, which is a "good thing" as Martha would say.
3. I have all my Christmas cards and out of country gifts either sent or ready to be sent.
4. I have baked 3 doz muffins
5. Was able to prepare for my Wed night class without being rushed
6. Caught my family playing Yahtzee yesterday (wow interacting with each other!!)
7. Oldest daughter invited friends to go to her school play with her.
8. I've had more access to the computer to get my Christmas letter written and printed, notes to my small group written and printed, been able to play my computer game - all of this without kicking someone else off the computer and listening to them whine about it.
9. My oldest daughter cleaned her room (including everything off the floor).

I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should delay Sasktel fixing the problem ???? Mind you I don't think I can handle the "crying" fits of my youngest who is going into serious withdrawals...

I'm thankful for interior car warmers, warm boots, a beautiful moon this morning, candles, interesting inservices that I get sent to, a car that starts every morning, family and friends, and Christmas sweaters that were given to me.