And we move forward...

... with hope for 2011. It starts with a bang. My father-in-law has been through his triple bypass and is more and more himself daily. He should be discharged around New Year's so we'll all be taking shifts helping out.

The silver lining, in addition to him being alright and back to himself, is that going to the edge of mortality really does put things in perspective. Family is tight - even in-laws. All differences are put aside and the importance of time spent with each other is renewed. We help, in any way we can offer and no tally is kept. Giving is more important than receiving as we have so much more than we need. We are blessed this Christmas.

We ended up dividing and conquering over Christmas. It had to be done as our families are 7 hours apart and we needed to be with both. Having the traditional Christmas merriment helped me and the kids celebrate despite all the challenges at home. I had a great time with my sister, brother, parents and cousins. It was with the comfort and joy it has been for years and we loved it. We celebrated more when we got home and had fun again.

The next year also begins with a big celebration for my parents and their 50th wedding anniversary. Wow, 50 years! They are an inspiration and it is wonderful to celebrate these milestones with such a joyful occasion.

My "That's not what I expected!" Christmas break

"The best laid plans of mice and men (and Christmas) often go awry.", as my bro Robert Burns would say. Alas, 'tis not exactly the Christmas we were planning.

My Father in Law is in the heart institute, scheduled for triple-bypass surgery on Tuesday. This is the guy who was doing spinning classes at the age of 80 and went to aquafit class last week. We are a little in shock. If you are the prayers and positive thoughts type, please include Bob.

I had the joy of telling my husband as he flew home, not having slept for 40 hours. He is taking it all well and we are now juggling plans to deal with our holidays. We were to travel to my parents to celebrate their 50th anniversary (who gets married at Christmas?!) and Christmas this year. I don't want to be apart as a family through all this. I suppose we can wait and see.

On the plus side, Owen won tickets to see a Sens game. "Sparty" the mascot came to the school and Owen's obsessive knowledge of all things hockey paid off. He is one very happy fan right now.

So no real brilliant point to this post, just sharing/venting/blithering. Thanks for listening!

Wordless Wednesday - Thrilled

Laura was absolutely delighted to get a medal for participating in her Irish Dancing event. I love the expression on her face. Bliss.

Merry Stressmas

Ack! I'm overwhelmed, yet again. I set aside a bunch of time to get things done today and instead, feel like I am running around in circles. Maybe if I could just go through the to-do list for today...

Done:
- shower (very important if I want anyone to talk to me)
- make little brownie things ( to feel I am doing some festive baking)
- clean up kitchen (bahahahaha! That never really gets done! But it is presentable and that will do)
-spend time on the computer doing nothing productive
-???

To Do:
- find and wrap gift for music teacher before the music lesson that my son hasn't practiced for ( I have been looking for the thing for 20 minutes! What the heck did I do with it?! Going on to emergency back-up present as I am out of time.)
- fold laundry and carefully put it away. (ROFLOL! Everyone can fend for themselves! I'm SO tired of trying to stay ahead of the laundry monster. )
- write Christmas cards (who am I kidding!)
- clean up the house and vacuum everything. (I'll get right on that.)

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear from my husband who is still away, I am trying to figure out what to do to help my in-laws as my father-in-law is back at the heart institute again and I'm fielding RSVPs for my parent's 50th anniversary.

If anyone has seen my sanity, would you kindly return it. I'm checking out.

Christmas Cake

This one has been around for a while but it still makes me giggle.  (Yep, I’m easily amused.) 

 

----- Christmas Cake Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 stick butter

1 cup of water

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup of brown sugar

Lemon juice

4 large eggs

Nuts

1 bottle Rum(151 Proof)

2 cups of dried fruit

Sample the rum to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the rum again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the rum is still OK. Try another cup... Just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit up off floor.

Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the rum to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Check the rum. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or some fink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window.

Finish the rum and wipe counter with the cat.

Bingle Jells!

* I couldn’t the original author for this.  No copyright infringement intended!*

Lost in translation

Chatting with hubby while he works in Middle East.

Me: Getting more complicated? Sounds like you could use an "Easy" button.

DH: Yes, but written in Arabic

Me: How do you say "easy" in Arabic?

DH: I don't think there is a word for it.

Bahahaha! Maybe you had to be there. I could use an "easy" button right about now too.

Unusual Decoration

Holiday challenge time! I know you need a game to help keep your peppermint scented, mall-brawling and gingerbread over indulging self from going insane. So here you go.

Spot the ornament that is not like the others. It's so nice to have help with the Christmas decorating. The tree hasn't tipped yet but I expect to hear a crash any time now.

Did you say;

a) candy canes ('cause it just isn't right to have that much candy within reach of the free-range tykes)

b) a duck ornament ('cause that really has nothing to do with a traditional Christmas story but is there due to my husband's waterfowl fetish)

c) a furry feline in the artificial tree.

The correct answer is c), but I'll accept any answer really. I say "pshaw!" to them Martha Stewart look-alike, colour coordinated trees! Ours if full of unnique crap and I'm proud of it! Every little homemade festive thing is prized as are the ones we get while travelling. It all looks awesome after a wee bit o' Christmas cheer anyway.

Of books and rituals

"So... what's up for you on today?", I ask, thinking it will be something about playground day or a hockey game to watch.

Owen's eyes shine. " I go to the library TWICE today! At school and then we go too!" My happy, booky kid.

He is not typical in his love of books. It is definitely a non-fiction bias for him. His latest obsession is sports related books. We went through an "Eyewitness" series phase after the everything trains phase. Sports is easy to handle. It gives him something to talk to the others at school about.

Reading fiction is like pulling teeth. His realist mindset can't stand fake situations and characters. He is very sensitive to conflict and stresses about it so we look for humour or a detective story, just not too ridiculous. I'll convert him yet!

Laura is torn between fairies and books about crafts or cooking. Reading aloud is hard for her but we try to have fun with it, when I have the patience. I'm gently pulling her to more chapter books, reading together bit by bit. Something is working because she loves to create her own books all the time now.

We've been going to the library weekly since they were babies. Through "tales for twos" and many story time programmes, the kids are quite at home in any library. I love the ritual. We all feel peaceful there. No matter how busy our week, we always make time for our journey to the land of books.