Christmas

I can't believe tomorrow we will be doing the annual "Wow, it's New Year's Eve... what should we do? Where should we go? Can we just stay home??" We always leave the planning of this ridiculously over-rated evening until the very last second. My vote is to stay home, invite a couple of friends who have also not made plans yet, eat lots, drink lots and play a rousing game of Clue.

We've had a busy Christmas, and today is the first day where we have no agenda. We're all in our PJ's, I'm drinking a pot of coffee and making a grocery list of much-needed stuff.





Mom and Dad came for Christmas this year, which was great. They've done it once before, when Cameron was 5 months old. We didn't really do much while they were here, but I'm hoping that's what they wanted to do? The weather was terrible... rainy, windy...typical. But they wandered through Sidney, checking out the Thrift Stores and the used book stores, we took them to the Chinese food buffet, and looked at the beautiful Christmas lights at Butchart Gardens in monsoon weather. The kids loved the carousel ride... and my dad loved hearing "Time to go home."

My mom and I played countless games of Scrabble and I taught her, Rodger and Simon the game of "Clue" which our family got for Christmas. And of course we ate alot. A perfectly relaxing Christmas.

Caramels

After reading my sister's post today about making homemade caramel, I started to think about Christmas memories from my childhood. Every year, I remember our family receiving the most fabulous gift from our sweet neighbor, Mrs. Barton... homemade caramel individually wrapped in tin foil. Oh my word, that was the BEST caramel I have ever tasted, and to this day I have yet to find anything that comes close to that magical taste. Each time we were allowed a caramel, my brothers and sisters carefully picked through the batch of pieces, making sure that we got the biggest, fattest one that was available. They didn't last long in our house. I'm sure my mom's memory of the caramels is slightly different... I'm pretty sure all she remembers is the horrendously messy kitchen where these delectable treats came from and was amazed we didn't have tummy issues when we ate something that was created in that home. Sigh... I miss those caramels!

Maybe I'll try that recipe my sister used and see how they measure up. Nah... why bother? They won't.

Bah Hum Bug

Ruby's supposedly having a nap right now but I can hear her door opening and closing. That's fine, she can wait a few more minutes while I have a cup of coffee and rant for a bit. it's been a frustrating time for me lately and I think yesterday was the "final straw" kind of day... today I'm slowly easing out of my stress but it's still there. It's hard to put into words exactly why I feel so stressed, anxious and frustrated these days.

But take yesterday for example.... there was a serious monsoon going on outside and inside the house as well. Yup, we've got a leak in the roof and now when it rains hard, it drips quite rapidly straight into the house by the front door. Nice. Does anyone have $12K kicking around for us?? Obviously this is a stressful situation because we don't have the money to fix our roof right now, not to mention you can't fix a roof during monsoon season. So out come the towels and a heater to try to save the hardwood floor from ruin. It's going to be a long winter. Rain, rain... go away!!!

Add to the frustration: Sunday School and the upcoming Christmas programs. it's amazing to me how in the dark I am when it comes to the program and what is expected of me and the kids... and I also had no clue that I am not part of the decision-making process, I am just told what to do. But I wasn't actually aware of this fact until yesterday when I tried to make a decision on behalf of Sunday School. Again, final straw for me. I'm done. By the end of June, I will have put in 3 years and it's time for someone else to take on the challenge. Let someone else "live and breath it" for awhile. I long for the day when I can just show up for church and be spiritually fed again... what a concept. Or better yet, if I want to skip out one Sunday I CAN! I cannot wait.

Then there's the upcoming Grade 1 sleepover next Thursday night... yes, a school night! Seriously?? Excuse me, but according to my calendar it's an instructional day on Friday and it's supposed to be "business as usual." The teachers are encouraging parents to pick up their child at 8:30 am Friday morning because they will be very tired. So I guess Cameron will be one of the only kids in his class on Friday morning. Oh, I'm sure he won't even notice or feel left out when all his buddies pass him in the doorway with their jammies on, waving "nighty night", as Cameron heads into school for a regular school day. Yesterday my letter to the Principal was met with "I understand your perspective on all of this, but too bad." And here I thought school was for learning?? Maybe I'm just old-school that way. Silly me.

Rodger's dealing with a parking ticket that I got a couple of weeks ago, while dropping the family off at the ferry terminal. we pulled into the drop-off zone, got 3 carseats, various baggage and 3 kids out of the car, and then proceeded to a large lineup of people at the walk-on terminal. After several minutes we finally paid for our tickets, then spent a few more minutes checking in their baggage & car seats (which had to be put into plastic bags and tied up.) By the time I headed back to the drop-off zone where the car was parked, I had a $59 ticket on my windshield because I "left the car unattended for more than 3 minutes". Oh my word. I can't even go on any more about this because just thinking about it makes my blood boil. So yeah, add that to Rodger's list of things to deal with.

Tomorrow's going to be a better day. We're going to chop down a tree at the Christmas Tree farm, then try to have fun while we decorate it. Then on Sunday we're spending a big chunk of time practicing our songs with Sunday School. Then we're working on a combined craft with all of the kids, followed by hot chocolate and treats. I can feel the Sunday headache coming on already.

I'm looking forward to Sunday afternoon, when I will be taking a very long nap. Because I deserve it. Wah.

My Play Date

This morning was a rare treat... I had a 2 hour play date with a fellow stampin' addict while Rodger took Ruby skating with the Grade 1 class. It was such fun!

Mi Ran and I swapped Christmas card workshop cards today... we each had extra card "kits" so it was super easy to put together. And it's always interesting to me how everyone can have such completely different ideas, or styles.

So everything turned out great except for the fact that she thought I was a Big Shot - I mean, she thought I owned a Big Shot! So I wasn't able to finish 2 of the cards which required embossing. (Doesn't this wreath card look awesome?) But lucky for me, I have a friend with Big Shot toys, so I'm sure "she" will let me use her machine to finish the cards next week sometime, if I walk in the door bearing treats or a meal! :-)