Friday, December 21st - better write this quickly as the world is supposed to end today!

It's been a couple of really busy days. I arrived on schedule on Wednesday morning, actually a little ahead of schedule so Patti and I were both pulling up to the gates at the airport at almost the very same time. We had no trouble connecting and making our way home. The kids were still here and very welcoming - lots of hugs and kisses going around.
First order of business - drive James to school. He opted to have his grandma drive him instead of taking the bus. After getting back home I drove with Patti to take the other 2 to school. She still had lots of last minute touches to complete on some of the costumes so we started right in after getting back. Pretty much the entire day was spent on costumes. We were still sewing at 5:00 but managed to get everything done in the nick of time. I have to say that Patti totally outdid herself with the costumes this year. I really don't know where she finds the time or the ideas. I know she said this was the toughest one as it hadn't been done before but I think she did a totally amazing job. I can't wait for the video to come out in January.

Grandma adding trim to Belle's dress

Getting everyone organized and dressed

One of the waitresses

 

 

A very handsome waiter

A beyond too cute towns person and waiter

A very debonairre baker

The evil and nasty Gaston

The handsome prince (what would a Disney movie be without one)

 

Mrs Potts, the teapot

Just one of the three very proud grandmas in attendance, with Tristen, James and Chip the teacup

Townsfolk Tristen with Chip

Cogsworth, the clock - by far,  the fan favorite costume

Cogsworth up close and personal

Gaston, Cogsworth, Mrs Potts, Belle and Chip

The brilliant Lumiere

The Beast, Gaston,and  Lumiere

The evening was a great time for some old friends to spend time catching up

 

The show was another huge success and everyone was blown away with this years production. One of the teachers painted the backdrop and did an absolutely amazing job.

Once again, congratulation to all the staff, students and parents for a job well done.

So now that the show was over, Patti could finally turn her attention to the next upcoming event, which happens to be Christmas! We spent Thursday morning getting the car serviced and finishing off the last little bits of shopping. All that's left now is clean up her house, which has been a sewing centre for weeks, and pack up the car.

She had to work on Thursday night so I took Tristen to his Karate class, where he was becoming a member of the Black Belt Club. He was given his black belt, which will now be hung on the wall at the studio with the date he expects to complete his training to be able to wear it. He had a new uniform that he was very proud to wear.

A fierce Karate Kid



Proudly receiving his black belt


 

Besides taking Tristen to karate, I also took Meghan to dance class. They were having a bit of a holiday party and were allowed to dress up as they wished. Meghan got herself all together and did a great job.

She did learn a valuable lesson about mirror images. She wrote HO HO HO on her face with face paint but didn't realize that it's backwards in real life. So her face said:

On our way home we took a side trip through Riverside Park to enjoy "Sparkles in the Park".

 

 

Monday, December 17th - winter has arrived for a short time

This morning it's a milder -2' and we should reach a high of +2' later on. The weekend certainly seemed a bit more seasonal. It snowed off and on all day Saturday and was fairly blustery on Sunday as well but it looks like we'll loose the little bit of snow we currently have. Not to worry, I'm sure more will replace sooner rather than later. On the other hand, we are little more than a week away from Christmas and every year that the kids have come down for the holidays it's been mild and rainy and totally messes up any chances of outdoor fun. Hopefully that won't be the case this year. But it would be nice if it waited till we get back to the island.

It was a pretty productive weekend. Friday night we enjoyed some supper with the Van Gaals. A delicious new soup recipe and homemade biscuits followed by an apple rhubarb crumble with ice cream. Comfort foods at their very best! Of course the company, as always, was the best part. With the holidays coming we won't get many of those nice quiet evenings for a while.

Saturday I worked and watched the ever changing weather. One minute it was like a blizzard outside and 20 minutes later, the sun was shining. The another 20 minutes or so would pass and it would be heavy snow once more. Strange day.  Lloyd called me when I was there to advise that he'd been invited to join some local fellows for a few drinks around the pot belly stove in a friend's garage.  I remember this particular party from last year and it started out innocently enough at 3:00 pm and stretched out quite late. I knew this year was likely to be the same. So I called Brenda and we planned to get together to bake some cookies and have nachos and wine.   And that's precisely what we did. After she left I headed off to bed around 10:30 and was wakened by the "Honey, come and get me" phone call a little after 11:00. So everyone was finally home safe and sound.

 Sunday was a work day. I spent the day getting all the beds ready for company, and doing some little last minute chores. One of those was to wrap the Christmas presents. I thought the kids might find it fun that I went with a green wrapping. I had earlier stamped some Christmas characters onto sheets of newspaper with water based poster paint and let it dry. Once the presents are unwrapped we can use the  paper for starting fires. The essence of reduce, reuse and recycle. I know their school does a lot of green initiatives with the kids and I thought they would like the idea. Then I recently saw an article somewhere on how to make a bow out of paper so I used more newspaper to make bows. They actually turned out not too badly.  Some day they will either remember this grandma as the forward thinking one or the absolutely crazy one! 

One of the other jobs I completed on the weekend was a Christmas stocking someone at work commissioned me to sew. She did supply me with a black and white photo of what she was looking for and my job was to recreate it. I think it turned out okay. It's meant to look like a boot but the toe seems a bit elf-like, but that's how it looked in the photo so hopefully it will be acceptable. Of course, now that it's done I've come up with some ideas to improve it so I'll get her to give it back to me after the holidays and I'll make some adjustments to it. Check back in the new year for the new and improved 'boot'.

Friday, December 14th - just a few more days to get ready

It's a cool -3' this morning with a few clouds but we should warm up to +3' later with some sun so not a bad day in store again today. The last couple of days have been beautiful - cool but very sunny and bright. Perfect weather for getting out there and getting the last bits of shopping done. I'm doing what I can a lunch times but the stores are busier now so I can't accomplish as much in an hour as I did a month ago - too much time standing in checkout lines. But it's getting there. I'm hopeful to have another productive weekend. I've even asked if I can take this Saturday off but the jury's still out on that one. Hopefully I'll find out today.

Lloyd is still quite under the weather with a really bad cold but hopefully he'll feel a little better today. He did eat some supper last night so it looks like he might be on the mend. Better to be sick now than over the holidays I suppose.

The other night when I got home from work, the outside Christmas lights were up as I mentioned earlier. It's the first year we've had lights outside since moving here. As I drove down the road, it looked so nice and bright. When I got inside I thanked him for putting them up for me and his response was "I think we need some candles in the upstairs windows".  I was slightly taken aback at that comment because he's always been somewhat of a Bah Humbug kind of guy! Did I just hear those words come from you?  Sure enough. So not to be discouraging of this new found Christmas spirit, I picked up an electric candle the next day. Only trouble was I forgot that the window upstairs at the front of the house is actually two together so I needed another candle. I picked up a second one yesterday so it's all starting to come together.

I stopped at Brenda's last night to drops off some things to her and she has a new candy cane decoration that's made by a fellow who lives closer to town. It's wooden with Christmas light on it and it's painted red and white. It's really nice and looks great at their place. Now that I've really had a good look at it, I'm surprised at how many of them there are around. The fellow who makes them does a really fine job and it's nice to see that his efforts are being supported. It's quite an ingenious design that can be hung on a wall or put onto a stake in the ground. I'll have to get some pictures of it one day when I'm over there.

Wednesday, December 12th - one more week

At 6:00 am it's a chilly -5' heading for a sunny high of -2 later on. What a strange few days of weather we've had. Monday it started snowing in the morning and by the time we left to go home it was freezing rain. Needless to say the roads were a little slick. Then it changed to rain and rose to 12' overnight. No a speck of snow on Tuesday morning and mild temperatures. Then Tuesday it stayed mild most of the day but did cool off a bit in the afternoon but it was still hovering around 5'. It's a little hard to determine these days just how to dress when you leave in the morning.

Monday night I baked a couple of batches of cookies to add to the freezer. They need to be kept frozen so some people don't eat them all! It's can hardly be called Christmas baking if it's all gone before Christmas gets here.   Lloyd took advantage of the nice weather on Tuesday and put up the Christmas lights outside. It was looking ever so festive when I got home. Unfortunately he's come down with a bad cold so is feeling a little under the weather. So being as he went to bed early last night, Brenda came over and we finished off a bottle of Dubonnet that was hanging around  in her cupboard. There was just enough left for two drinks. We had a couple of laughs over silly things and  watched a program I had taped from the BBC called Victorian Farm Christmas. It's an interesting program about three modern day people who are sent to live in the country on a farm in the same way the Victorian's did.  They had spent a year there previously but then returned to modern life. Now a year later, they are returning once again, several months before Christmas, to prepare for a Victorian Christmas feast. I'm going to save it for the kids to watch because it's taking place sometime after the War of 1812, which James is quite intrigued with. It will be interesting for him to see how farmers at that time lived. Check out this link for more information on the program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Farm

I still have boxes of Christmas decorations sitting in a heap in the living room that need sorting. I think I'll make that my priority tonight. Then we'll be ready to decorate the tree when we get back. One week from today, if all goes as planned, I should be on a plane heading for Toronto. In a perfect world, Patti, who is flying the night before, will arrive in Toronto around the same time I get there and we can drive home together.

Yesterday I agreed to sew a Christmas stocking for someone at work.It's fairly intricate and Brenda thinks I'm slightly mad for taking on yet another project but as Patti and I texted yesterday, sometimes we are our own worst enemies, as she struggles with designing and implementing the costumes for "Beauty and The Beast". I'm sure they will be great, as usual. They haven't done this production before so it's the first time for these particular costumes. On previous shows, they were doing it for the second or third time so had some previous efforts to work from - what worked and what didn't and what needs changing. This time she's starting from scratch so it's quite a challenge. But I know she'll do a great job and everyone will be thrilled with them. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Monday, December 10th - everyone made it safely home

It's currently -4' at 5:15 am. The weather forecast according to the internet is looking a little wonky. It's showing us gradually getting warmer throughout the next 24 hours with it going up to 9' overnight and 10' by morning but at the same time it's also saying we could get between 15 and 20 mm of rain and up  5 to 10 cm of snow. Not sure how that's possible with 9' temperatures so it looks like the next 24 hours are anybodies guess!

Fairly productive weekend. Friday evening we had a dinner at the Rec Centre but we were finished by 9:00 followed by tea at Brenda's before heading home. Saturday morning I worked but left at 1:00. I had a couple of stops to make on the way home and had to get ready for the Christmas Party and back into town by 6:00. I finished off the last of my Christmas cards and got those in the mail on my way home so I'm pretty happy about that.

The party went well although I'm actually glad that Lloyd wasn't here to go with me. It was a very noisy space so he would have had to turn off his hearing aids, so it would have been impossible for him to carry on any kind of conversation with anyone. After dinner there was a bit of a trivia contest. Our team didn't win but we finished a respectable third so that was okay as well. The meal was a buffet and it was pretty good. I sat with Mike (from the parts department) and his wife Willow, along with two other couples. It was a pleasant evening and I was home by 10:45.

Sunday was also not so bad. I baked my fruit cake, two cherry loaves and some gumdrop cookies. I'll try to baked a few more batches of cookies through out the week. I figure if I get one done per night I should be in pretty good shape by the time the family gets here.  I also got out the rest of the Christmas decorations that are now piled in boxes in the living room. That will also be one of my jobs this week - to sort through those, check the lights, etc in preparation for decorating the tree on Christmas eve.





Last weekend Brenda and I went into the woods in search of greenery and whatever else we could find to make an outdoor arrangement. It's amazing what you can find when you look at dead foliage with a different attitude. Here's the results of my efforts.
The bucket everything is in, is inside a PEI Rutabaga burlap sack, courtesy of the Van Gaals.



I received a call from Brenda yesterday afternoon telling me they were in Hartland NB and wondering where Lloyd and Frank were. I called Lloyd but they were about an hour away from there so that wasn't going to happen. No travelling together this time. He expected they should be home around 11:00 but it was about 11:45 by the time I heard the car roll into the driveway. They still made pretty good time driving. I'll get details of the trip later on this morning. Hopefully the weather will be just as cooperative when Patti and I drive down in a couple of weeks.

Friday, December 7th - a nice relaxing evening

It's a calm -3' this morning but we should go up to 2' later with sun. Not a bad day. We were expecting 2 to 4 cm of snow yesterday but we really never got more than just a light covering. Brenda had called me a little before 7:00 to advise that there was freezing rain out there and I did have to clean some of it off my car. But by the time I was leaving it had turned to snow and the roads were actually not so bad. Of course by the time I got to work there was no snow. It did come a little later but really didn't amount to much. Just to be prepared I had my winter tires installed yesterday afternoon but I really didn't need them, however one of these days really soon, I will.

Yesterday morning the radio was mentioning it was  the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre in 1989.  Then when I got to work, Canada AM was on the TV and Jeff, one of the hosts, was broadcasting from Disney World in Florida. For me that was a really weird thing to have happen. The morning that the news broke about the massacre back in 1989, was the morning we were driving to Florida to visit Disney World. A really strange coincidence.

Last night was a relaxing evening. I came across a recipe for a warm Southwest Spinach Dip that I wanted to try. So I called my partner in crime, Brenda, and suggested that if I picked up a bottle of wine, she could come over and we could give it a whirl. It had good flavour but I think I left it in the oven too long. It wasn't as creamy as I would have expected but it still tasted pretty good. I'll watch it a little closer next time. So we had that with some nacho chips and a Yellow Tail wine that I hadn't tried before. It was really quite good and we totally enjoyed it. It's a white with just a hint of sparkly bubbles and it almost has a bit of an ice wine flavour to it. It was called Moscato (and I say WAS because we drank the whole thing!) I will definitely buy that one again. So we sat and ate and drank and watched a couple of programs on TV and it was a very enjoyable evening. We had to do it last night as we have a dinner at the Rec Centre tonight. Besides I was ready for a night off from working around the house. I can make up some time on the weekend.

Just found out yesterday that we are closed on Christmas Eve. So I'll switch my vacation day on the 24th and use it on the 31st. That will mean I'm off from the 19th right up until the 2nd of January! That's a full two weeks off. The last time I as off work for more than a week was when we went to Australia, and that was MANY years ago. Looking forward to spending that time with the kids.

Wednesday, December 5th - and the mild weather continues

It's a balmy 4' at 5:00 am and it's the 5th of December. We should reach a rainy 9' later this afternoon. That's nothing compared to the rainy 16' they experienced in southern Ontario yesterday. It's unusual but not totally unheard of to have unseasonable temperatures this time of year. I remember the year that James was either one or two, and Patti and I went to a shopping mall in Mississauga to do some Christmas shopping. It was mid December but all we needed was a light sweater for strolling around outside. We thought it was pretty amazing as it was the first time we'd ever experienced that, but it has certainly been happening more in the past 10 or 11 years.

Lloyd is keeping busy in Ontario but it sounds like most of his activity involves food! He's having a great time reconnecting with all his old friends. But he's also getting some work done on his plane. He needs to send me a photo I can post so we can see that it definitely is starting to look somewhat like an airplane. James is going to the hangar with him on Saturday morning. He's really enjoying sharing this experience with his Papa.  Brenda and I were talking about it last night over a cup of tea and she commented that it would have been nice if James had been the age he is now, when Lloyd started building the plane. It would have been quite the experience for him to witness the rising of the plane from the pile of metal pieces that it once was and to have a hand in the whole project. But at least he's old enough now to appreciate it somewhat while it gets finished and taken for it's first flight.

Lloyd's expecting to be home sometime on Monday. Our weather forecast is predicting some snow for Monday but it's early yet. The weather for Toronto for the same time is mild so hopefully he won't be following the snow as it travels east, although it's looking like they might get some in the Ottawa area. We'll just have to wait and see. He may end up having to stay a day or two to wait it out if it's not looking too great. That's the trouble with traveling this time of year - the weather can be so unpredictable.  But it is Canada and it is December so what else can we expect?

My cleaning jobs are moving along. Monday night was pretty exciting - I emptied everything out of the fridge and took it all apart and scrubbed all the inside parts. It's a thing of beauty now. It's almost a shame to put food in there and mess it up! Last night I worked on the linen closet area. I underestimated how long it would take but it's pretty much done. A few more jobs to be done but I should be finished by the end of the weekend. I'm hoping to spend all day Sunday doing some baking, then that job will be out of the way as well.  Then I still have another 10 days or so before I leave so I think I'm in pretty good shape.

Other than that not much is new around here. It's pretty quiet but productive.

Monday, December 3rd - back to rain

It's 8' this morning and raining. We will see the rain end this afternoon but the temperature will go down to 4' later. Needless to say there is very little remaining of our weekend snow. Saturday morning it was snowing when I got up and by the time I left at 8:00 the roads were quite snow covered. There was quite a bit on the ground but I bravely broke the trail into the Van Gaal residence before heading into town. I had a couple of things to drop off and wasn't it just my good fortune that there was hot coffee and warm cinnamon rolls upon my arrival. Does it get any better on a snowy morning?  I think not! Of course, when I got to town the sun was shining and there was virtually no snow on the ground. Figures.

After work I did a couple of errands in town then headed home. It was a very quiet day at work so I was able to complete most of my Christmas cards. I was missing a few addresses as they were in my long gone Blackberry, so an email to a few people has resulted in the remaining addresses being received throughout the weekend. Now I can get my cards done and in the mail. Cross that one off the list.

The list is one I made on Saturday  of all the things I would like to, or need to finish before I leave on the 19th. I have to admit some of them are things that have needed doing for a couple of year but I'm going to do my best to complete as many items as possible. For instance, the closet in the mud room has been a dumping ground for quite some time and now with Lloyd here, we have a lot more shoes and boots than before. What to do with them all. Some were put away for the winter, such as sandals, but I spent the time to empty out the closet and now the boots are all in there. Amazing how much space you have when you use it efficiently (or at least as it was meant to be used!). A lot of the things on my list are like that - take time to accomplish but on the surface you won't notice a thing but it will make life a little less complicated.

So the bulk of my weekend was doing just that - slowly working my way through the jobs. There are still lots to do but I'm hoping to have the majority of them done by the end of the week. I've taken some of the tasks and assigned them each to a night of the week so that I can do one job a night instead of stressing over what to do next. Break it down into little pieces will make the list much more manageable.  So I'm feeling quite good about the weekend in spite of the fact it was short. I did manage to enjoy myself a little. Some wine and nachos with Brenda on Saturday night and on Sunday a trip to the woods to gather some vegetation to put into our Christmas greenery.  I need to find something to put mine into so that's my goal for lunchtime today.  We found all sorts of things that will make our displays  a little more interesting. It's really quite remarkable what's out there when you really look. I took the dog with me and he really enjoyed his romp through the fields. Although at one point he wandered off and then couldn't find us. We don't have to worry about him ever getting lost in the woods because he began his howling like a wolf  routine he does whenever you leave him alone. This time it continued on until I called him and he could follow the sound of my voice repeatedly shouting his name. After a couple of minutes he came bounding down the lane. What a dog. He happily spent the afternoon at home in front of the wood stove picking at the snowballs that were stuck to the long hair on his feet.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working away before sitting down to watch a movie I had taped a while ago.  All in all, a pretty productive weekend. Of course it's also keeping me busy till Lloyd gets back. They had a good trip to Toronto and all went well. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for the trip back. Looking ahead to the rest of the week, we should see increasingly milder days with maybe some rain. But that's days away so we'll just have to see.