Tag Archives: Christmas

hearts…

18 Tuesday Feb 2020

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I was looking through some albums recently and came across this photo from Christmas…

it was an ornament on one of my daughter’s presents… a family tradition has been to give an ornament to each person on one of their gifts…

made me think of all the love signs around the house which I have put out for the month…

there are hearts all over the place… in the kitchen, bathroom, dining, living room, bedroom… and on the stairway…

these two hearts are within eyesight in the bedroom… I bought the purple one, and the wooden one was made by my beloved… he was a very talented craftsperson…

I put up some pictures of the various hearts when I wrote this post… I enjoy seeing them and will leave them up for the month…

February is also Heart and Stroke month… a reminder of my beloved, who died just two years after a quadruple bypass…

composting…

23 Thursday Jan 2020

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I’ve been trying to be a little more caring of the planet…

while in Ottawa I was reminded of their recycling programs…

garbage is only put out every second week and cardboard and other recyclables are collected on the other… composting happens every week…

my daughter has been green for many years and she is an example for me to follow…

she has been composting and using cloth (not paper) towels for years… hers snap together and roll up like regular paper towels…

I am going to stop using paper towels… I’ve watched a few programs recommending ways to accomplish this… going to give it a try…

I’ve gathered some face clothes and dish towels that weren’t being used much… I have the clean ones on top of the microwave, ones I am still using on the counter, and a bin for the ones ready to be laundered…

already I can see that I am reusing them more even before putting them into the bin…

saje…

19 Sunday Jan 2020

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actually went outside for the first time in at least a week…

walked to the “A” and met my grandson for breakfast… had a lovely meal and conversation…

from there we headed out to do some errands… bought some rollers at Saje… been trying to get there since I got back from Ottawa… picked up Sleep Well, Peppermint Halo and Pain Relief… I used the first two while I was away and will give the third one a try for some of the pain I’ve been experiencing in my knee…

was able to replace a Google Hub to get the correct colour… it was one of my Christmas gifts… but I did see a Lenovo Smart Display 10″ with Google Assistant… going to look into that a bit more in case it would do more of what I want than the Hub…

Indi finally had a bath and a few groceries were purchased, including a cute new plate…

I have been enjoying using different plates to eat from and I think this one will be a great addition…

home, put away the groceries and my grandson took the car… the plan was that he would come back tomorrow for dinner…

then it was afternoon nap time, lol…

reflecting…

11 Saturday Jan 2020

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had a lovely time while I was still at my daughter’s sorting and taking photos of my Christmas gifts…

I absolutely love my soft purple blanket, and was happy to examine all of the other wonderful treats I received…

a few purple items, lol – socks, facecloths, gloves, tins, toothbrush, reusable sponge, phone holder… and quite a variety of chocolate – pistachio, Lindt, turtles, raspberry (my favourite), chocolate covered sponge… a tea and chocolate pairing that was flavoured with orchids, reusable bags, a Chihuly 2020 calendar, colouring books and pencils, a magazine on gratitude, a hand printed towel… plus a few more I can’t even remember…

yikes, so many gifts… I certainly am blessed…

the sun was shining into the room as I was gathering them for the photo… it was very meditative and I was able to reflect on each gift and the person who gave it to me… and the fun we had as we opened and shared our delight over each parcel…

a wonderful way to extend the joy of Christmas morning…

now that I’m home, I’ve found a spot for each one…

as I use each item I will be sure to spend a moment to remember the giver with gratitude in my heart…

spa…

09 Thursday Jan 2020

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for my last full day in Ottawa, we went to Nordik Spa in Chelsea… it is the parent of Thermea, where I was, just days ago…

but it is so much bigger… there are whole sections for quiet activities, as well as silent ones… every time I go they have added something new… this time it was Quonset hut saunas… the light reflecting on the ceiling was gorgeous…

we started in one of the warm glass beds and moved to warm pools, saunas, hot pools, had scrubs, and sat around fires in huts…

we drank tons of water and had a delicious lunch… we chatted with strangers, just ourselves, and we spent time in silence…

they don’t allow photos on site so these are a few I took: leaving home as the snow fell, the view as we stood in line to get our bracelets, and a picture my daughter took as we were leaving…

it was a wonderful relaxing and rejuvenating day, and a great way to end my visit…

we drove home in the dark, after watching the moon rise from various pools, and had a simple supper before all three of us watched a movie…

we didn’t want to go to bed because she had to work the next day and I would be packing and flying home;-(…

lights…

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

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a few nights ago we took a drive to Taffy Lane in Ottawa…

my oh my… those people are serious about decorating for the holidays, lol… so many lights…

such fun… there were very few cars so we were able to take it slow and admire all the lovely scenes…

my daughter took this shot of one of my favourites, with a dinosaur and penguin in it;-)…

meeting…

28 Saturday Dec 2019

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had a great time making Christmas dinner a few days ago…

made the stuffing, cooked a very small turnip and simmered the neck and liver for hours to make a great stock for the gravy…

after the turkey was stuffed and in the oven we enjoyed the smell as we set the table…

potatoes were mashed, gravy was made, turkey was carved, sides turned up on the counter, and dinner was served…

it has been lovely to get to spend time with Ron’s mom… in all the time they’ve been married we’ve never met… we ended the evening with some selfie fun…

celebrations…

27 Friday Dec 2019

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yesterday we celebrated Christmas… I arrived here the evening before, so we put Christmas off by a day, lol…

when we got up in the morning – not until 7 am;-)… we opened the very full stockings and then all the gifts under the tree were distributed… our family tradition is that the youngest passes out the presents and they are opened one-by-one around the circle so that we can see what everyone got…

the same process is followed for stockings (which come from Santa) and that happens first… it was a wonderful time and the gifts were all carefully chosen…

then we prepped for our Christmas breakfast… crepes, made the night before, in the crepe pan that my beloved gave the kids a number of years ago… to fill them there were scrambled eggs, cooked onions and peppers, turkey bacon, grated cheese, strawberries with whipped cream, apples and cinnamon…

delicious meal after all the fun of sharing gifts…

bubbly…

26 Thursday Dec 2019

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yesterday I travelled from Winnipeg to Ottawa to spend Christmas with my daughter, son-in-law and his mother… the flight was jam packed and I had the sweetest little person sitting beside me… if she asked why once, she asked a hundred times, lol…

when I arrived, we had a lovely dinner of appetizers… there were fancy cheeses, chocolate salami, coconut shrimp, chicken wings, many types of fancy crackers, fruit, veggies and hummus as well as a variety of home-baked cookies…

we had bubbly to celebrate my retirement…

stockings were hung on the mantle and the tree looked ever so festive with lots of gifts under it…

a wonderful start to my visit;-)…

engine…

25 Wednesday Dec 2019

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for the first time ever, I was alone on Christmas morning…

it was odd and I spent some time thinking back to so many Christmas morning celebrations over the years…

there were no stockings to open as the kids had come over on Sunday and had fun opening them then…

part way through the morning, as I was watching a Christmas movie, I heard an engine running so came downstairs to see what was going on…

it was a fire truck and ambulance parked across the street in front of a neighbour’s house… took a while to figure out which house they were at, and the good news is they took someone out who was using oxygen… they didn’t rush off, so that was also good news… I don’t know this particular neighbour and hope they are going to be okay…

did bring back some memories… some of losing my beloved, but others of some of the crazy things that have happened to us over Christmas Eves in the past, lol… from water heaters needing to be replaced, furnaces not producing heat, to sewers backing up… we went through a number of special times, lol…

but, issues would always be resolved by Christmas morning…

here is a photo of our last Christmas season with my beloved…

as I was looking back through my posts I came across this one that was also titled engine, lol… seemed to fit with the theme…

later today I am heading to Ottawa to spend time with my kids there and meet my son-in-law’s mom for the first time…

my grandson will be house sitting while I am gone;-)…

how blessed I have been and continue to be…