Friends and Family

At Christmas dinner, Jonathan asked all of us what we were most thankful for this Christmas (I did tell him that was a Thanksgiving question, but I got shot down). My answer was simple...I was really worried about spending Christmas in NB this year, but we have some great friends that we spent it with and that helped me to enjoy my time.
This is the first year since 2002 that I have not gone back to BC for Christmastime. I did look into it...I had this wonderful daydream of picking up Jonathan from work last Friday and driving him down to the Moncton airport and surprising the heck out of him for Christmas...then I looked into the details. First, I'm borderline as far as flying goes...technically, I could fly there, but probably not fly back...too pregnant. Second, the cost. This would be the first time that we'd have to pay for a seat for Elijah...and you know how much airlines want to put on seat sales at Christmastime don't you? We could fly to England for less than we could fly across our own country! Long story short, both of us were kinda dreading not being with family.
We really did have a nice Christmas. We do have some great friends here that are becoming more like family to us than just friends. This is really cool to me because I had these kind of family/friends growing up. In fact one of them introduced herself at our wedding open mike with "Hi, I'm Karrie, I'm Kris' big sister by default". So thank you David and Janet, Debbie and Christy and the Ransons!

Do you think this is true?

Jonathan heard a radio stat the other day that women are more stressed out by Christmas than men. Do you think that's true? From talking to some friends and reading their blogs, and my own experience, I think we do do more of the preparation generally. In the past month I wrote the Christmas cards and letter, did the decorating, baked, shopped for everyone (except myself, Jonathan does that), wrapped the gifts (well, I'm almost done that, I still have Elijah's to wrap...you'd think a 2 year old would give me a moment to myself! He's sitting on my knee as I write this), did all the posting of parcels...but the truth is I like it. I enjoy decorating. I enjoy baking. I enjoy choosing and wrapping gifts. Jonathan really couldn't be bothered. He likes the tree being up and all, but I don't think he'd put it up if it was just him. I also get certain rights in the house as the official Christmas preparer person. For instance...I write the cards, I get to open the cards that arrive (I love opening mail that isn't bills!). I do the baking...I get to choose what gets baked (this year, holiday rice krispie squares, shortbread cookies and nanaimo bars and pumpkin pie). I do consult as well, I ask if there are any requests...that's how brussel sprouts ended up on tomorrow night's menu. I did find something out about Jonathan I didn't know until last night. He asked what kind of stuffing we're having. Now, I'm a big believer in Stove Top because it tastes good and is easy...I didn't realise that Jonathan wanted homemade. I guess his mom always had 2 kinds of stuffing (sage and onion and chestnut). They are really good too, we've eaten them at his sister's the past 2 years, I just wouldn't think to make them myself...Carole, I guess I'll have to get the recipes one day. So tomorrow is still Stove Top (unless I, or Jonathan get otherwise inspired). But really, I think I've only had 2 stresses this holiday season...the biggest was the Christmas (excuse me, Winter) Concert at work. Which went great after a near nervous breakdown by me on dress rehearsal day last Monday. And the other was at the post office in Shopper's. After waiting in line for 1/2 an hour (with a 2 year old in tow...and remembering that I'm 7 months pregnant here)...I get told that I'm sorry, they haven't unloaded the truck with my package on it yet. Well, I know it's not the fault of the lady who is the only one working (why they would only schedule one worker during the Christmas rush is beyond me), but then why would my little parcel ticket say my package would be there when it isn't...argh! But if that is the most I have to stress about, I guess I'm doing all right. So Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Relax. Enjoy your egg nog latte (if you are in BC, where you can get those delicious things, I'll probably have another holiday spice smoothie from Tim's because it's the closest I can get here in SJ). I'll be enjoying the Christmas Eve service tonight at Stone. (It's my second favorite service of the year...my favorite is Easter Morning...what joy!). And hopefully, I won't be up too late afterwards getting Elijah's gifts wrapped!

My unofficial tutor

I have a new addition to my blog...that little counter there in the bottom corner showing where my blog visitors are from. I'm kinda a mini-stats geek that way. (my favorite part of YouthWorker magazine has always been the stats and quotes pages). Who do I have to thank for introducing me to this latest blog toy? Chris of course. Chris has become my unofficial blog tutor (though he may not know it). He has all kinds of additions and modifications to his site and sometimes it inspires me, like it did this morning. He has also very patiently attempted to teach me how to add video to my site (which I will do one day successfully). Unfortunately, I am one of those people that blogger has denied access to blogger beta (temporarily, I'm told) for some bizarre reason, my blog won't transfer over. Anyway, just a little thank you Chris, you huge cyber geek! You inspire me. (odd, isn't it?)

Curious?

Elijah has recently discovered the world of Curious George. I didn't think he'd be into these stories quite this early on in life, but he loves them. I love them too, which is why we have them in the house...but they are very, very long to read!

So I was thinking that there's a few strange things in these books (and no, I'm not talking about the Ether...that's a whole other post).

First: In the original Curious George book, the man in the yellow hat takes George to live in the zoo and George is very happy at the end of the story...how then is it that in every other book George lives with the man in the yellow hat? This is never explained. There is a missing story here! Did George get kicked out of the zoo? Did the man in the yellow hat secretly take him away one night? What happened exactly?

Second: Does the man in the yellow hat have a name?

Third: How does George know that the hat is yellow? It seems to me that this little monkey from the African jungle has an amazing grasp of the English language!

Forth: Did you ever notice the responsibilities that the humans in these stories put onto George, a monkey and then get really, really overly reactive when he messes up? He's a monkey! Why does he need to be locked up in jail? Or, chased by angry farmers? Why does the paper boy just hand off his paper route to him?

Fifth: Did you ever notice the conditional forgiveness in Curious George Gets a Medal: All will be forgiven, if you go on our space experiment!

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

For some reason I found this the most interesting question on the Christmas Fun survey...here's what some people said:

Nigel: Have you seen the young, "Hip" Santa in the Fido commercial? If that's Santa, he doesn't do any work, probably IMs his elves on this "Blackberry" while sitting by the fire with "sexy" Ms. Clause and an Egg Nog Late.

Lisa: Just sit them under the tree

Jill: does Santa exist?

Sarah: Wraps everything.

Carole: He wraps them and disguises them.

Tammy: He does both

Taryn: Santa always left fully assembled unwrapped gifts. Mrs. Claus, however, has a flair for packaging.

Jaclyn: They're wrapped in blue shiny paper (That's how you know they're from Santa. He doesn't have time to write tags).

What do you say?

Christmas Fun

Thank you Nigel for a variant of "getting to know your friends!"- you know I'm a sucker for it!...and Jaclyn, I can't believe you posted this faster than I did!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Both

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We've got multicoloured on the tree, and white in the window

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Not this year, but have in the past

5. When do you put your decorations up? The weekend after Jeff's birthday (Dec. 3)

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding desert)? Turkey Dinner

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? waking up and seeing Santa in our house when I was about 6 or 7 (we can thank one of Dad's friends for that one!)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember when I knew, but I knew long before I told my parents I knew...I remember overhearing Jeff asking Mom and Dad one day and I thought "NO! Jeff, you're going to ruin it for us!"

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Jeff always wanted to growing up, but I don't think we did. Now, we've started a Christmas pajamas tradition with Elijah, where he opens up a new pair of PJ's on Christmas eve that he wears that night.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Usually shortbread growing up

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Snow in BC was very exciting. Snow in New Brunswick is fun and pretty the first day...not so fun and pretty when you've had 4 plus months straight of it!

12. Can you ice skate? Yep!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I got a magic kit when I was 7 that I was really excited about...and I remember the Christmas that Jeff and I both got phones hooked up in our rooms,that was pretty exciting...probably the best though was being able to fly back to BC for Christmas the last couple of years

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin Pie

15. What is your favorite holiday tradition? We had so many growing up that I loved (going on a Christmas lights drive, eating at White Spot on Christmas eve, opening up stockings first, one at a time, picking a present passer...), but I really loved Dad reading to us on Christmas Eve. He would read, The Night Before Christmas, and The Christmas Story from Luke. Now, it's been fun to combine traditions with Jonathan and create new ones.

16. What tops your tree? A star

17. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? I love watching people open up gifts I've chosen for them (I know that sounds like the cheesy"right" answer, but it's true!)

18. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? O Holy Night

19. Favorite Candy? Not really a candy, but I have to have Nanaimo Bars at Christmas time

A week in the life of a 2 year old boy

Monday - went to Walmart for mittens...Mommy bought us a Twix bar to share...had to eat the chocolate off first!















Monday night - played with Daddy in my new PJ's, love to touch the ceiling















Tuesday -went to the Church Army Christmas dinner...Daddy helped me take pictures...here's my godparents, David and Janet















Wednesday - fixing the walls in the kitchen















Thursday morning - decided to eat breakfast in Mommy's chair instead of my booster seat. Look how cute and charming I can be when I want something.















Thursday night - helped Mommy with the Christmas tree. Daddy thinks she is really brave for putting it up.





















Saturday - helped Mommy make cookies...I ate 5 later















Saturday night - took my teddy's for a spin in the laundry basket















later Saturday night - decided not to wear pyjamas and not sleep in my bedroom. Made a bed of pillows on the couch instead.

Do all boys have stories like this?

Yesterday afternoon, I was trying to have a nap. I say trying because I actually did get about 20 minutes of sleep in before Elijah pulled one over on Jonathan and ran into our bedroom asking me where his hat was. I ignored him with the big "fake sleep" and then overheard Jonathan's little talk to Elijah about not waking sleeping Mommy. The damage was done really, I am not a person who finds it easy to fall back to sleep...particularily when Elijah's next brilliant idea is to get Daddy to chase him, including running into the bathroom and shutting the door repeatedly. Apparently, playing in the basement had lost its appeal for the afternoon.

As I laid there willing sleep to come I started to hear a giggling...not just a giggling, but a real intense belly laugh from my son, I was curious, but stayed where I was still hoping to sleep...that is until I heard the words "up your nose". What? What has he done? The dream of sleep now truly gone, I went to see what was going on. What I saw was Jonathan demonstrating to Elijah how to blow air out of his nose and Elijah in hysterics unable to do it. Elijah had put a button up his nose. I could just see us now, at the Regional waiting for a button extraction from a doctor on a busy Saturday. Now both of us are demonstrating and encouraging him to do the same...blow your nose...no, don't sniff! And trying not to laugh, because it's pretty funny at the same time. Thank goodness Elijah sneezed and we got the button out.

I think this a rite of passage for a boy. My brother's was a pea and Jonathan's was a piece of corn, probably both around the age of 2 or 3. (personal side note: However; Christian, this doesn't explain your recent incident, aren't you a little old for this kind of thing?)

Thank you

Thank you to all of your book suggestions...I'll be searching out at the library for sure. Book suggestions are always welcome for me so anytime you read something really wonderful, please let me know!