different…

20 Sunday Dec 2015

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tonight we had Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts with our Ottawa kids…

first time that I’ve celebrated Christmas on a different day… felt very odd… a new way of being and hopefully not the norm…

we had supper after 7, which was different as well… for fun we had a bottle of champagne…

  
the boys did not like the taste of champagne, lol, but they enjoyed some sparkling cider…

dinner was great, except for the fussy brussel sprout recipe… everything was ready ahead of time and they got over cooked…

  

everyone liked their gifts, we had more of the Deadly Chocolate Mousse for dessert, a final visit and the kids went home…

we are all heading to bed here… too tired for a hot tub, lol…

toes…

19 Saturday Dec 2015

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we got up early so my daughter could call her husband to be sure he was up… he was spending the day flying to get here… quite a circuitous route… we didn’t want him to miss his ride… 

it was beautiful outside and I got this shot of the snow hanging from the neighbour’s roof…

  
made breakfast and then we popped out to get a few last minute groceries… my Winnipeg daughter picked us up and we went for pedicures…

  
pretty toes for everyone… mine are purple… 

  
nice time… one child went off visiting and the other headed home…

I had a nap and then got some prep done for our Christmas dinner tomorrow night…

  
started with the stuffing… my favourite… then turnip and potatoes… put some of the stuffing into muffin tins… the rest will go into the turkey…

had a lovely time watching some luge, skiing, and show jumping in between the prep work… haven’t had the opportunity to watch much sports so really enjoyed the time this afternoon…

food is ready for cooking now and first thing in the morning I will get the table set…

going to watch a few shows and then head to bed… the visitors are sleeping over with the grandkids so I will see them later tomorrow…

quiet evening:-)…

pictures…

18 Friday Dec 2015

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my girl is home for a few days… yay…

we’ve been taking pictures since she arrived…

first ones were of the Deadly Chocolate Mousse cake from Baked Expectations… her favourite… my other daughter had picked it up and delivered it to my office for me… she wiped out but thankfully both she and the cake were fine…

  
she took quite a few of the Christmas trees and I took a few of her taking pictures, lol…

  
I also got a few of the beautiful hydrangea arrangement that a dear friend had delivered to the office this morning…

  
pretty wonderful day for me…

to top off the day we had beef bones from Tony Roma’s, another of her favourites… not exactly the best thing for me, but a treat now and again is fair…

lots of visiting and catching up and now we are heading out for a hot tub… it is wonderful to have the company out there and she loves it as much as I do…

holy days…

shovelling…

17 Thursday Dec 2015

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early this morning I took a picture of the front yard…

  
there was just a dent to show all the shovelling that my grandson did last night…

the snow had been quite light and easy to work with…

tonight he was here again, but the snow was very different… 

yesterday he came in runners, without anything on his hands… today he had on his boots and brought gloves…

  
the drift in front of the rolling garage door was solid when he went to shovel it… took a great effort on his part to get it done…

  
sidewalk looks clear and welcoming for his aunty’s arrival tomorrow…

  
driveway is clean and ready for me to drive down it first thing in the morning without anything keeping me from getting out…

his mom came and picked him up again so I don’t have to worry about him getting home on the bus…

really appreciate having someone to make sure it is all looked after… 

snow…

16 Wednesday Dec 2015

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first thing this morning I took this picture of the spiral tree outside the door…

  
it had snowed a bit overnight and just dusted it a bit…

here is a picture I just took of the same tree…

  
been snowing for most of the day, as you can see from the amount of snow on it…

my grandson came over and shovelled tonight… he came to the office and rode home with us through the very slow traffic… once he was finished his mom picked him up to take him home…

after supper I went on a cooking spree… made hummus and cut veggies for our potluck tomorrow… mixed goldeye cream cheese and almost have the zucchini basil soup done…

  
veggies ready…

now to bed… been struggling with a headache for most of the day…

focus…

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

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last school concert of the season… this one at the little boys’ school…

  
this one looked so cute all dressed up… this is his last concert at this school as he will be moving to middle school next year…

where does the time go…

  
every time the little one saw our cameras, he posed, lol…

  
great performance with the chimes… kids were very focused to come in at the correct time… this guy likes music but is planning to focus on his art at the next school…

  
lovely shot of big brother and youngest focused on the performance…

we’ve never landed such great seats where we could actually see our kids without a zoom lens… the school had a great raffle and the winner got front row seats with assigned parking… too bad I didn’t know about that beforehand… maybe next year…

got a shot of all the gifts under the trees… looks lovely…

  

preparing…

14 Monday Dec 2015

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another great day off…

worked on my list of prep for next weekend, and then Christmas… wrapped the last few parcels… put ribbon on the finished ones and made sure that each person had an ornament on one of their gifts…

then I sorted out which gifts will stay here and be opened on Sunday when we have our Christmas with everyone, and the ones that will go to my daughter’s house for our actual Christmas morning celebration… 

also preparing to stay healthy by getting the shingles vaccine this morning… on my way there saw these two adorable reindeer…

had to stop and take a picture… very cute…

had a triennial medical appointment and picked up a few final items as I prepare for the holidays… think I got the last gift…

  
picked up these little numbers for me…

brought home all the groceries for the week and our Christmas dinner…

  
still on a roll, cleaned out the fridge and put everything away…

then a rest, lol… 

finally tidied everything up… looks lovely and I am feeling much better about what is left to do over the next few days…

was able to enjoy each piece of my day as I worked on my preparations…

fixed…

13 Sunday Dec 2015

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made breakfast when my daughter arrived this morning… she had been on a work related check-in close by… then she helped me with the printer which had started to misbehave about 11:30 last night, right in the middle of a project… 

once it was fixed she laid down for a nap and I proceeded to finish the project… 

realized last night how much has to happen before the kids arrive from the East and West on Friday and Saturday… made me a bit nervous, but I wrote a list and checked off a few items today, which made me feel better…

it has been a long time since the two of us have spent the day together, and I enjoyed it all… we met two dear friends for lunch and had a great time… special moments…

tonight my son-in-law fixed two different timers so that the various Christmas trees turn on and off without my help… yay… need to get about three more timers so that everything can be automated…

here are the bigger trees with presents under them now (one of the items checked off the list)…

 
tonight’s supper was a lovely treat… Chinese food, so all we had to do was set the table, lol… and eat…

now everyone has gone home and I am enjoying the quiet beauty of the living room…

 how blessed my life is…

leaving…

12 Saturday Dec 2015

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had an excellent sleep last night… been waking up between four and five and then not getting back to sleep… this has gone on for over a week… so, waking at just after seven was wonderful…

my daughter came by shortly after that and we went out for some shopping and breakfast…

her first time driving Shadow… here’s a shot just before leaving…

  
apparently she has never named a car… how odd…

although I am done shopping for Christmas, I was able to find a few additional gifts, lol… maybe I shouldn’t be leaving the house…

picked up a few fish for the tank… the young woman who helped me went out of her way to pick pretty ones…

  
you can see one of the bigger fish under the rock to the right… the new ones are very small, but they will grow and already seem comfy in the space… 

  
this is a close-up of the newbies… they have very nice colouring…

one other thing I got for me was a cute tree from Rona, and a wreath for the front door which I had been eyeing and couldn’t leave behind… 

 

half price sale, yay…
 
welcome…

  

treats…

11 Friday Dec 2015

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this morning a colleague brought in some treats, including these delicious purple chips… they come from blue potatoes and she picked them up with me in mind…

  
but, we all loved them… think I am going to have to get more of these, lol…

our yoga instructor brought us some David’s Tea… was very happy as I’ve been wanting to taste some of their Christmas flavours…

 
took this picture off their website… love the box… we tried the chocolate tea this afternoon… very nice…

tonight had a wonderful dinner at The Met... mushroom soup with a sprinkle of toasted wild rice…

  
then chateaubriand with roasted root vegetables, asparagus, and cauliflower with cheese…

 

topped off with my favourite dessert, a delicious creme brûlée…

 
the perfect amount and it was soooo tasty… 
great conversation with lovely people…

a day filled with treats…