Christmas

I now find myself in full Christmas spirit. Working on the holiday issues of Women on the Move and Deeper helped me to transition from the busyness of marking and report cards!

The Christmas lights are up on the house, we put up our Christmas tree last night, and Christmas music has been playing on the radio and on the piano as my girls learn them in their piano lessons, and we've been having fun playing duets! There's even snow on the ground (as I write, we'll see how long that lasts...). It doesn't feel like Christmas without snow for this Northern girl so I'm loving the "light dusting" we just got!

Christmas is a beautiful time of year when people come together, regardless of their backgrounds and interestingly regardless of their beliefs too. Love, giving and compassion abound as we exchange gifts and seem to go out of our way to do kind things for others, "in the spirit of Christmas."

At least for this season, many of us stop to look beyond our own busy lives and consider those around us, our family, friends, coworkers and the less fortunate in our communities and around the world. If only it was a more common practice to be more giving and selfless throughout the year... that is how Jesus lived His life everyday isn't it? A friend to all - the rich, the poor, those hated by society - the prostitutes, the lepers and tax-collectors... and caring for them in real tangible ways: feeding crowds, healing the sick, raising the dead, forgiving the burdened, taking the time to really listen to their stories and answering their questions, in essence: serving others. I love that the world still stops to celebrate Jesus, over 2000 after his birth... amazing.

For this season, all of us, in the church and amazingly beyond the church walls, are challenged to love, serve and help others. That's a beautiful thing!

I'm not stressing about the list of things to do that often comes with Christmas... I'm just excited for time off from work so that I can spend more quality time with my family near and far. I'm also enjoying taking time out with the girls to stop to consider the true reason for season. So many wonderful opportunities to deepen faith in our kids in the weeks leading up to Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! May this be a season rich in quality time with loved ones, and one where we all reach beyond our little bubbles to show love to others and to help those in need.

Here are a few songs that are sure to get you in the Christmas spirit if you too have been struggling to make the transition.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus

Deck the Halls - my absolute favourite jazzy version of this song from "Count Your Blessings" with Holly Cole

A Holy Thing (Who is this Child) from "Count Your Blessings" with Victoria Williams

March Already

Wow, I can't believe my last post was February 2nd! I've had a couple of posts running in my head that I'd love to sit down and write when I have a bit more time... I am proud of myself for having been off the computer this month though! We enjoyed family day weekend (a lovely new statutory holiday in Ontario giving us a long weekend in the middle of cold February!) Except it wasn't cold. My hopes of tobagganing and skating outdoors with our visiting family didn't quite materialize as we had a warm spell the week before that melted all the snow! Despite not getting to enjoy the winter sports with the kids, it was just great to see them have a blast together. We've been singing a lot of ABBA since then as my sister's daughter LOVES Mamma Mia... now my girls are hooked and are singing ABBA non stop! Poor daddy who is so outnumbered with all these girls! Now February is gone, I thought the sickness would go with it... but I woke up to a little one with the sniffles and congestion this morning... here we go again!! It deceivingly looks like spring outside with the snow mostly melted away and the blue sky and sunshine, but is that glacial wind (not to mention the sub-zero temperatures) ever COLD!! Looking forward to the warmth now... I'm a Northern girl... I like winter to come and stay... when the thaw comes, you know spring is here... these fluctuations in temperature all winter long make it tough on the psyche to get through the next cold spell (and I could do without the ice from the thawing and freezing)!! I'll be back soon I hope to write those posts I haven't had a chance to yet!!

A Snowy New Year's Eve

As a follow up to yesterday's post... December 31st...

We went tobogganing today. It was apparently -20 degrees Celcius with the wind... thankfully didn't feel quite so frigid, but what a change from yesterday's mild walk in the new snow! This is just the beginning of much more snow to come! I don't think I've ever seen such a fluctuation in snow conditions in the span of 7 days! (see my last post!)

Happy New Year!

What's with the weather?

This has been the weirdest couple of weeks in terms of the weather... we've had over a week solid of blizzards and cold winds, then it got milder out and the kids got out to play with the perfect snow to make a snowman...

Dec. 24th - Snowman is built

It rained that night on our way to our family Christmas Eve party, then switched to a crazy blizzard (zero visibility on the roads!) on the way home just a few hours later...

Dec. 28th - What's left of Snowman after it rained all day on the 27th

Dec. 30th - And it begins again!

Big beautiful fluffy snowflakes fell today covering the earth with a blanket of snow again - no wind - just a mild awesome day for a peaceful walk in the snow with the girls! Looked like the first snow of the year though with the crazy thaw we had a couple of days ago!

More snow is to come this week... Who knows what my backyard will look like a week from now... it seems to be changing drastically on a daily basis! One thing is certain - I'm sure we'll have a lot more shovelling to do in the driveway before winter is out! This is just the beginning! (It's a good thing I'm a good Northern girl who loves the snow and I don't even mind the shovelling! The kids get out to play while we get a good workout!)

Globe-trotting at Christmas

I just realized that my family is spread literally in the 4 corners of the globe this Christmas! I have a brother living and working in Australia with his wife, celebrating their 2nd summery Christmas down under. I have another brother coming off an oil rig on the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan, then meeting up with his girlfriend in Frankfurt, Germany to head down to Zambia where they'll spend Christmas with my cousin just before her African wedding next month (last year they were in Australia for Christmas!). Then there's my mother-in-law in South America for the month of December working with Corina at El Jordan in Santa Cruz, Bolivia as they do regularly, helping young people and their families to get off the streets and working with the boys orphanage up the road. In the intense heat, they are helping to prepare and deliver the Christmas hampers for the El Jordan students and other needy families as well as the meals that will get delivered to over 1000 people all over the city for the annual "Christmas on the Streets".

One day, I would love to join my mother-in-law on one of their trips to Bolivia to help in the work down there and to meet some of the people I've heard so much about over the years... I have dreamed of visiting my brother in Australia before they move back home (we miss them dearly!) ... and it would be amazing to visit my cousin in Lusaka, Zambia where she has created a life and home for herself working in sports & rec... But for now, I am thankful for my cozy home in our snowy corner of Canada. I love my white Christmas and all my globe-trotting family members are in my prayers as they travel over the holidays! I'll miss them all this Christmas! Merry Christmas and safe travels! Here's a taste of what you're missing!




(okay, that picture is from last December, but its looking just like that today... we've got quite the storm blowing in! Just couldn't be bothered to get out to take a picture just now!!)

School Christmas Fun!

We just had a different kind of Christmas party at my daughter's school yesterday afternoon. The grade 1 class invited their parents (and younger sibblings) to the school for an afternoon of tobogganing, hot chocolate and cookies, a brief performance by the students and a craft. We had a blast! What a change from the regular Christmas recital that the entire school has put on in the past where parents are fighting for parking (which is nonexistant), fighting for seats (which are limited in the hot and overcrowded gym) and as a result fighting to see our dear wee ones at the front when it's their class' turn to perform their two songs...

Instead, this year we got to enjoy a relaxing and fun afternoon, had fun in the snow, got to see Julia sing up close in the classroom as the class performed their two songs - her shy and proud looks all wrapped into one as she did the actions to the songs... (you can't see that from the back of the packed gym!) Then we had fun doing the craft as family team work, with Emma cutting the pieces to be glued, Julia enjoying painting the glue on and me holding the snowman and dealing with the glue gun (a first for this non artsy girl!) - Daddy at home allowing the baby to have her afternoon nap! (See our craft below... ours is the colourful one on the right!)



All and all, a great afternoon and a welcome change from the school's past Christmas celebrations, this being more focussed on quality time with our kids instead of the distracting stresses of there being a lack of parking, seats and patience (evident everywhere)! Wonderfully refreshing and something that I hope to do more of in the new year... focussing more on not letting those special moments with my family slip by instead of letting the stresses and "to-do lists" of my days keeping me too busy that they so easily get crowded out... I must constantly be intentional about how I spend my minutes and hours in my days! I'm excited about a relaxing Christmas break at home and a New Year with a few more changes to our busy family schedule to further simplify life!

Many blessings to you and your family this Christmas and in the New Year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love this time of year! I have to admit, that I wasn't quite ready to start decorating as early as my daughters were with so many other loose ends I was hoping to wrap up first... which led to a not as "magical" gingerbread house experience... I was in the middle of something else, but this COULDN'T wait!!!! The walls weren't staying up with all the little hands in there... the icing wasn't cooperating too well... my frustration levels were up and I could hear a little voice telling me that this isn't quite how this moment is supposed to be!! It's supposed to be a wonderfully fun loving bonding experience with the kids! Well, I blew it with my impatience on that one last weekend... but now that I've knocked many things off my list that had my head spinning, I've regrouped and am back in the swing of things!



We came back to the gingerbread house to decorate it - much more pleasant experience! We got the lights up on the house and the tree up... This has always been one of my favourite parts of Christmas! As a Northern Ontario girl, I grew up going out in the ski-doo (snowmobile) or on snow shoes with my sibblings to find the "perfect" Charlie Brown tree in the bush to bring home... (you see, not too many trees out in the actual forest look perfect... there were always big bald spots in the trees leaving extra room for dangling decorations... or we'd have to hide that side in the corner to hide it... but we (the kids and my dad anyway) loved our trees! We were mad the first year my mom bought one, well at least I was!) Regardless, the smell, the sticky sap, trimming it down to fit in the house, then trying to get it to stand straight, first stringing the lights, then the mish mash of ornaments we'd collected over the years - home made and bought ... I've always loved every bit of putting up the Christmas tree! My parents used to wait until the last few days before Christmas for us to come home from school to take part in the tradition each year! It brings back fond memories with my sibblings (and many ski-doos stuck in the snow!)




Unsure of whether we were staying put or heading off to visit family this year... up went the artificial pre-lit tree ... (tough for this northern girl to admit... but to my surprise it looks pretty good!) It's decorated with our own mish mash of ornaments collected over the years - some gifts, some bought, some made by the kids - or by us as kids!... Julia would get annoyed at her younger sister for putting 3 ornaments on the same branch, but for some reason, no fighting could get to me that day... (unlike the gingerbread house experience... which is foreign to me growing up!)... this is different... I just soaked it in and enjoyed doing that with the girls - bringing back lots of memories... I do look forward to having a real tree in the house again! (I miss the smell! I guess I'll have to light candles this year - not the same... I know...), regardless, the tradition lives on in our family (minus the heading off into the bush... I don't think it'll ever be quite like that again! Tree farms with their perfectly manicured trees just aren't the same - even if you do get to cut it down yourself! - and no, I've never felt guilty about cutting down a tree for Christmas... I've planted thousands upon thousands of trees during my university years as a summer job!)


I always find such a void in January when all the decorations are gone... the house looks so EMPTY! For now, it's warm and awesome! Still a work in progress, but it's coming and I love it ;)

Skating Life Lessons

So my dreams of making skating our family bonding activity for the winter were fast fading away... nearly crashed and burned to be honest... Julia was HATING skating. I guess I wouldn't like it either if the other kids my size (and smaller) were zipping around me on the ice! I wish we had started her sooner... (like her sister who just turned 3 and is starting to move around okay out there! She just gets tired quickly...) We had many pep talks about how we don't quit and give up... we just need to keep trying, even when something is difficult, with practice, it will come and will even seem easy one day (ie. getting up when she fell was the first hurdle... got over that one! But still wasn't convinced that the rest would get any easier or any more fun...). So it was a fight. We took the girls for a family skate one Saturday, and she wouldn't even get ON the ice with us... GREAT! Didn't turn out to be quite the happy family time I had envisioned...


But we still held on, praying that she'd turn the corner and just "get it" one day - (how could she not skate? Her Northern parents have been in skates their entire lives!! It's unthinkable!). I prayed that this whole ordeal would turn into a nice life lesson on perseverance... I was starting to lose hope however... and then last week, it happened! She started working with a teacher one-on-one for a bit at the start of the lesson, and it made ALL the difference in the world! It boosted her confidence, she started to try more and didn't reach out for the teen helpers anymore. This past Saturday she was all too eager to go to the rink for a family skate and this time she didn't want to get off the ice, an hour and a half later! She was so excited when skating night came this week... it's been amazing to see her start to improve a lot now that she believes she can do it. Her attitude has changed, she's having fun, has more confidence and is actually starting to skate a bit!


Phew! I'm glad this has become a bit more of a positive experience... Now we can enjoy the family bonding times on the ice for family skates like I had hoped all along ;)