December: Christmas Day

The presents piled high...

The stockings filled...

Opening Canadian gifts...

Uncle Daniel...

Our gift to the kids - a paddle pool...

Gord with a vintage Jets cap from Sharon, holding a picture of the three kids (all around 9 months)...

More gifts!

My beautiful necklace from Sharon...


The after-math...

Christmas lunch, consumed at 7pm! (What can I say, it was a real laid-back day!)

Apple pie for dessert...

Bedtime (and a new footy!)...

Christmas Day (belatedly!)

Christmas Day 2008 for me was:

~ waking at 6.22am, just naturally, leaving me just the right amount of time to finish knitting Gord's present (a wristband with a beaded design on it, like one he lost a couple of years ago, which I had also knitted for him! Betta not lose this one!).

~ cream in my coffee from the top of a fresh bottle of milk.

~ sitting outside in the glorious sun.

~ scanning Supper of the Lamb (read this book, everyone!) for ideas of what to do with our leg of lamb.

~ home made sweet chocolate bread. I was very happy with how these turned out, just wished the chocolate inside was a bit sweeter!

~ eating Minties and other treats with Pippa and Poppa.

~ hand drawn books by Piper, the story of Finding Nemo for Poppa (see pics here on my Dad's blog), and the story of Beauty and the Beast, with assorted lions thrown in, for Pippa.

~ a gift exchange between the kids, a felted mermaid for Piper from Jasper, and a monkey for Jasper from Piper, both from Local and Global, a fairtrade shop in Belgrave.

~ a very leisurely opening-presents space. Typical Ackland style!

~ Piper's favourite gift, a jewellery box. Yes, with Disney princesses on it. From my Uncle Mon. (Piper's outfit: top from St Vinnies, a thrift store; skirt by me, inspired by the top, made on Christmas Eve!)

~ handmade (but not by me) ornate Christmas stocking for the kids, filled with lovely things from Pippa and Poppa. (Dad blogged more about these here.)

~ a feast!

~ my attempt at carving the leg of lamb!

~ a pear tree with no partridge.

~ crowns from the bon bons, of course.

~ children oogling the ornate gingerbread house, made by a friend of my parents. (More about it here.)

~ feeling overwhelmed by all the sugar on the table at dessert time. The gingerbread house was actually full of more lollies inside! (This is Piper's photo).

~ a spontaneous trip to Kurth Kiln Regional Park (about ten minutes drive away), just the four of us, while Mum and Dad relaxed at home. The kids had a splash in the creek and Gord was relieved to be doing something!

~ relaxing on the couch after Mum and Dad had left and after the kids were in bed, and watching not one, but TWO movies! Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Burn After Reading.

A very good Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve: a day of errands and activity and anticipation. Last minute sewing - a Christmas skirt for Piper, and a rainbow headband. Last minute knitting - in secret in the library. Actually, a whole hour at the library, to faciliate said secret knitting, but also finding a whole pile of Christmas books to faciliate getting into the spirit of things. Cleaning up the house. Much gift wrapping, of course.

Making time for a treat, a Christmas movie - it was going to be Rudolph, but Gord accidentally downloaded a German version. So instead, Home Alone, a movie I enjoyed when I was younger - some quotes were still there in my head: "keep the change, you filthy animal!" A bit over the kids' heads, but Piper enjoyed the goofy get-the-baddies scenes. Laundry to be dealt with.

Buttery popcorn.

And then the arrival of Pippa and Poppa in the evening, right when the movie had finished. Very exciting, calling for some spinning about!

A Christmas pear tree, hopefully the first of an orchard in the front yard. A growing pile of gifts below, causing much anticipation. And finally to bed.

No internet

Hiya all, just a note to say that we still don't have our own internet connection here, despite Gord organising it before we left. This is because the Telstra equivalent, MTS, is just totally totally totally PATHETIC. Basically they just can't get it together enough to mail us a router. The first one they tried to send us ended up in Portage la Prairie, and the second one has apparently been in the post for two weeks. Just to get something from Winnipeg to here. Yesterday when Gord rang for the bazillionth time, they said they'd ring back in an hour when they'd sorted it out, but they didn't even do that! Very very frustrating, to the point where it doesn't bear thinking about - hate that feeling of bashing your head against a giant corporation, whose workers couldn't give a shit about the service they're supposed to be providing.

Anyway, long way of saying, I haven't really been able to upload photos and stuff to this blog, cos even though we're 'borrowing' a neighbour's unsecured wireless network, my laptop doesn't pick it up very well. I can at least put up text though...

Today we're off to Gord's uncle and aunt's cabin with Pat, Darlene and Matthew (cousins). It's near the Manitoba/Ontario border. Yesterday I was feeling somewhat peopled out, cos we've been doing lots of socialising - it has been Christmas, after all. But feel a bit more up to it today. I've been tired cos I haven't wanted to go to bed before midnight or later (which works well when Aussie friends ring without calculating the time difference!), but last night when I did go to bed earlier, I just lay there awake - frustrating!

We had a lovely Christmas with Gord's immediate family on Christmas Day. Lots of yummy food. Good spacing of the day - the kids opened their presents, then we had lunch, then we played outside in the snow. Jeff gave me three, I repeat three, snow washes, as payback for the night we went carolling and Sheila and I got him twice. This is basically where someone wrestles you to the ground and shoves snow in your face! I hadn't realised there was an element of asphyxiation to the snow wash! Let's just say I was glad to come away with my life! It certainly wakes you up!! The kids has lots of fun on the sled pulled along by Gord's Dad's four-wheeler across the yard. Then back inside, movie for the kids while the adults opened their gifts. More talk, more food! Good time....

Oh yeah, and I bit the bullet and bought a sewing machine. I feel better and better the more I have my creative tools around me. Gord and I have also been enjoying reading Pat's back issues of Geez magazine, a Mennonite social justice/eco/faith zine. We're also keen to check out a new movie by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who did Supersize Me and the 30days episodes, called What Would Jesus Buy? Should be good. Anyway, better go and get ready to head to the cabin. Love to all.

Snow play

It's a busy time of year, eh. I just finished Gord's present last night, and vaguely wondered if there was a point wrapping it up if we're going to open presents tomorrow. But hey, I'm always up for the packaging! Just finished some other presents tonight too - might blog about that on my craft blog if I get around to it.

Anyway, we are going well. Settling in. There's a few more photos of the fridge, we've seen a few more friends, a few friends have been to our place. I'm getting used to the cold, to the point where, when it was only -1 to -5 during some of the days this week, I felt like it was WARM!

We had the Wiebe Christmas gathering last night - that's Anne's side of the family. Good fun. Piper loved her pet shop present from Grandma & Grandpa Wiebe. I uploaded a whole whack of photos - you can see them here.

(Here I am throwing Piper into the snowbank in our front yard.)

Piper and I were out shovelling snow today, and while I was hard at work, Gord pushed me right into the snow bank. I could hardly get myself out, it was so deep. This was payback for a bit of a snow fight that happened when we went carolling (again with the Wiebe side of the family). And then, as if he felt bad or something, he took a running leap and threw himself in as well - crazy man!

Jasper's been waking up a fair bit at night. Sometimes every two hours, which is rather tedious. So I'm feeling run down, somewhat, and yet I value the space late at night where Gord and I talk (yes, talk! well, most of the time!). It's the only space in the day we have to ourselves!