Dec 18, 2009

Snapshots of a friend....



Charlie would smile when you rubbed her tummy or her jowls...she was such a sociable piggy...sitting round the firepit will never be the same - she would always come and sit by us and warm her but by the fire and we made jokes about Mmmmm the smell or bacon ;)   Awww poor Charlie Barley :(

She was a free range piggy but never EVER went far from the house - although ooccasionally she would come for a walk with us - like down to the bus stop to meet the children from the school bus.....and once mid summer Charlie came on a LONG walk with us ona  really hot day and we kept telling her to go home but she kept following us - when we got back she literally flopped into her paddling pool of cool water and she drank and drank!!!!  Then she slept!!!  :)

Most of the time in Summer months she was like a sun dial and would work her way around the house sleeping - in the mornings she had a place beneath the Clematis....afternoons she'd be at the front of the house by the Honeysuckle.....evenings she'd be by the birdfeeders.....then back again by the Clematis where she would spend the night unless she decided to go back into her pen.  There is literally a Charlie sized tunnel carved out underneath the clematis where she made a home ;)




We had chickens for almost 2 years and they became Charlie's babies.  She would spend a lot of time with them and protect them....We didn't realize quite how much she cared about her chickens until one day I was at the kitchen sink and I saw our Fox run by very fast!!  He was quickly followed by an angry looking Charlie who was chasing him!!!  Then on behind Charlie were the chickens!!  Chasing after the Fox!!!!

I had never seen anything like it!!  A Fox being chased by a pot bellied pig and 30 chickens!!!  Oh it was just one of those scenes you never forget but you will never see again and happens sooo fast you can't get on camera :(  But Oh how it made me see that Charlie loved her chickens - she was their Guard pig!!!




This is Charlie sharing Sams ice lolly (popsicle)  yes lol it's disgusting but I had to get a picture before saying no because it was adorable!!!  Sam in his cut off jeans sharing his popsicle with his pig :)

After the chickens left, Charlie got quite depressed and that showed us how sociable pigs really are!!  Charlie found Winters hard and LOVED the warmer months when we were always outside!!  Oh and boy did she love when we had the renovations done - the workmen were here every day and she got sooooo much attention!  She had lunch with Mike every day and tummy rubs from Denis and Tim!!  She was a star and adored and she loved it :)  She spent all day with them when they were working outside.

Charlie was a sweetheart, with real character and is very much missed.
x




Christmas art work....


Susannahs Christmas gifts....







Susannah worked hard on some handmade gifts for her friends and teachers this year.....she made each of them notebooks which she decorated beautifully....she made soooo many - this is just a small selection!  She also worked hard to make two different kind of treats - a kind of chocolate granola type candy and coconut ice.  She put each in a pretty mini cupcake case and then filled pretty Christmas bags with them and we tied two bags together for each person.  She also gave a notebook and candy bags to her bus driver and bus buddy.

We have also made a donation to one of our World Vision foster children on behalf of the school staff, just like last year.

Paperchains...










Today we made paperchains from a pack my Mom and dad sent over.  Sadly though the manufacturers seem to think its better to add little bits of plastic and self adhesive to the end of each paper chain now - but it was always more fun and more traditional to have to lick the end of each one I think - and the children were a bit sad too - yes it was yucky but it was just a part of making paperchains!!  Lol!  And we ended up with tiny bits of plastic EVERYWHERE!!  Why do companies continue to 'improve' products when it isn't really improving them???????  :(

Still, they had fun making their own paper chains and then we joined them together to make one long snake which we hung in the living room.  We left one pack of chains for Susannah to make when she gets home and she can add it to the long chain and finish it off!

Abby and Sam are now watching 'Jingle All The Way' and eating popcorn and then we are heading out for a walk with the dogs...

Dreidel....



I was thrilled yesterday when Chris came home from school with a REAL Dreidel for me!!  He has a friend who is Jewish and I had been really cheeky and asked if he could ask her if she could get me a dreidel!!!  And she did!!  It's wonderful!!  It's a teeny tiny little thing but PERFECT!!  So sweet and the kids love it!!  And of course I bought a big tub of Gelt on Tuesday, so tonight we are going to watch a movie by the fire and play a game of Dreidel with gelt :)

Thanks so much to Chris's friend Sheridan - I hope I spelled that right!!  I really appreciate the dreidel and it will be used every year now.  Happy Hanukkah!

Bulk Barn....



Aren't these just gorgeous??  I love the colours - they're just sooooo pretty!  They're chocolate covered sunflower seeds!!  I picked them at Bulk Barn!  What a FAB place that is!!  I'll never forgive Sharon for telling me about it though lol!!!  ;)  Because now my hips are just going to get bigger and bigger, sigh......

Bulk Barn sell all KINDS of delights - not just in bluk bins, but they sell British foods and treats too and also fabulous Wilton supplies for candy making, cake decorating and seasonal treats and supplies too!

It's a FAB store next to Payless Shoes and in front of Stupidstore at SEC!!!  Check it out if you haven't already - and it isn't a busy store - even at the moment ;)

Kitty's misplaced his contacts....










I was uploading pictures from my camera card and found these that Laurence had snapped the other day while I was in the bath.....cute huh????

Gift opening.....

How do you open gifts in your house at Christmas?  Do you open some on Christmas Eve?  Do you open them all as soon as you wake up on CHristmas Day?  Is it a made scramble to grab gifts and rip open the paper, barely stopping to check if it's the right persons gift?  Or is it something completely different?

Every family has their own way of opening the gifts on Christmas Day and I'd love to hear your way.

I grew up in England, and when I was little, we had our stockings in our bedroom.  We'd place them at the end of our bed, and when we woke up in the morning, they were on the floor FULL of surprises, with books etc beside them.  Then we would wait for our parents to wake up and we'd show them our stocking fillers before going downstairs to see our main gift from 'Father Christmas'.

After our Christmas lunch, and after the dishes were washed and packed away, we would watch the Queens speech (this was at 3pm every year and lasted 10 LONG minutes...I swear those 10 minutes are the longest of a childs life!!!) we would all sit down beside the Christmas tree ready to open the gifts under the tree!!

My Dad would hand out one gift at a time so we could see each person open it.  It was always my Dads job to hand them out.

Fast forward to now and life in Canada with my own children.  Little has changed really except for the part with the Queens speech and the stockings!!  My childrens stockings are now hung by the fire in the living room.....or rather placed around the tree in the living room....and they have to wait until 7am to wake us and come downstairs.  (So I can be conscious and get a good picture of the look of surprise of them seeing their gifts lol)

The Queens speech is on at odd times over here because of the time difference, so we don't wait for that, but the children have their stockings, and their main gift from Santa (yep we're North American now, so no Father Christmas any more sadly).....but they don't get to open any gifts under the tree.

Luckily Santa makes sure that every child has plenty to 'do' in their stockings to pass away the morning....a book, candy....a toy or puzzle etc.....and their main gift of course.....and of course we all look longingly at the gifts under the tree and wonder at what is inside them!  Because they do not appear under the tree until Christmas morning!!!  This is the first time they have been seen :)

After our big dinner which we normally have around 3pm, we tidy up (yay for 2 dishwashers this year!!!  woohoo!!) and then we all sit around the tree and Lloyd passes them out one at a time and we watch each person open their gifts :)  He makes sure to alternate who opens a gift  each time :)

I snap pictures of people with their gifts or the unwrapping and the chaos :)  We DO have a sack for the paper as we go along but often people forget and the room ends up in a real mess but it's all part of the fun!!

I love that we wait until late afternoon to open our gifts - it makes the day last sooooo much longer - the excitement over the gift giving and getting - the children get just as excited at seeing their family open the gifts they have chosen for them as they do about the gifts they are getting....

It's sad to see the tree bare of gifts afterwards - it's over for another year.......so opening them later in the day at least lets it last that little bit longer.

When I talked to the children the other day about traditions, this was one of the traditions they said they liked the most!

It is something that Lloyd says he likes very much too.  It is sometimes difficult when families merge - when couples blend into one - to mix their traditions - but Lloyd seems to love the way I do Christmas - and because I already had children when we met, it was more important for us to continue the way we did Christmas - but he says he loves Christmas more for the way I've introduced it to him.

And thats a VERY good thing :)



Edited to add:  I DO still watch the Queens speech every year though - I make everyone be quiet for it...although this of course makes every get even louder because they all start teasing me for wanting to watch the Queens speech and start making rude comments about the Queen and Corgi's and various other comments about the Royal family.....sigh.....and I often surrender and pour myself another glass of wine or reach for another chocolate at this point ;)




Lunchtime treat....






A lunchtime treat yesterday....

A Christmas Carol....




Last night Lloyd and I went to see the Citadel's production of 'A Christmas Carol'.  I thought it was WONDERFUL :)  All the Victorian costumes......the Christmas songs...the snow....the English accents....made for such a festive evening :)  What a lovely way to spend a date night a week before Christmas.

The scene at the beginning where Jacob Marley jumps out of his grave scared me and made me jump sooooo much!  It was funny!!  It was all so well done!  The two Scrooges were fabulous and got a standing ovation.

Afterwards, as we all walked out, the cast were outside collecting financial donations for the Edmonton food bank.  I sought out the little girl who looked like a doll in her Victorian outfit and dark ringlets :)






Sorry the pictures are just ones I found online.....

Our friends world trip.......

Someone asked if I could post the link to our friends blog about their world trip.  Sorry it's taken so long, but I wanted to be sure it was ok to do so - and I've only just heard that it is!!  So here is the link to Derek and Sarahs World Trip



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