yesterday I had one of the chocolate covered macadamia nut clusters that were part of my Christmas present from the kids in Ottawa…
for fun, I went and found one of the little dishes that we took to Hawaii when we went in April of 2019… it looked very cute with the nut cluster on it…
so happy that we were able to go, and have such wonderful memories from our time there…
as I ate the chocolate I spent time remembering the same chocolates that we enjoyed throughout our trip;-)…
this morning the living room looked lovely and I enjoyed the serenity as I sat in the quiet and enjoyed the lights…
the Ottawa kids and I Skyped and we opened our presents together… following our usual pattern, in this unusual time, we opened the gifts one at a time… it was great fun… they liked all their gifts, which made me happy…
one of my gifts from them was all the fixings for my New Year’s Eve dinner… usually on New Year’s Eve we have steak and lobster, although for the last number of years that meal has happened on New Year’s day… there was beef carpaccio, lobster, truffle chips, olives, red peppers, cookies, a lovely glass of wine (with gold in it) and a festive cracker…
there were also gifts from a number of friends, filled with goodies… I am blessed…
a bit later the Winnipeg kids FaceTimed as they opened the gifts I had sent over… I didn’t do so good with their gifts as two of them had received the same gift from their parents, lol…
yesterday I peeled potatoes and turnip, made stuffing, and produced Thai Shrimp soup so that there wouldn’t be too much to do today… I had decided that, even though I would be here alone, I wanted a proper Christmas dinner… it was delicious;-)…
tonight, as I sit in the living room listening to Christmas music and enjoying the lights, flowers, and tree, I am remembering many Christmas Eve’s that have taken place in this house over the last forty-seven years…
once the girls arrived, our parents came here to celebrate the season…
when the kids were on their own and some had their own children, they came here for years… there were family members sleeping everywhere… had to be careful where you walked to be sure not to tread on anyone…
only in the last few years have we gone to the kids’ place which made it easier for everyone…
today my two older grandsons came by… one got dropped off so he could shovel, while the other went out for a few last minute items I needed… the main one being food for the fish;-)…
while he was out and about, the younger was shovelling… there was a lot of snow and it was heavy… put out some hot chocolate to warm him up…
the shopper returned and the elves loaded up the car with presents and goodies for their house…
a bit sad to see Indi with snow on her… she doesn’t have a garage for protection these days…
good news is that all the gifts have been sent on their way;-)…
on Tuesday my shopper/courier arrived after stopping at the liquor store to pick up some beverages;-)… little bottles of wine, not sure why, lol… and a bottle of my favourite sherry, which I haven’t had for years…
he took away a parcel for Canada Post and a couple of treats for him…
a bit later I received a delivery of groceries from Diversity Foods which included eggs for their house…
last evening my son-in-law stopped by on his way home from work and brought me some sidewalk salt… he took home the eggs…
still waiting on four deliveries from online purchases and thinking we might start a new tradition of after–Christmas presents…
yesterday my middle grandson came over to shovel for me… there wasn’t too much snow, but after the last snowfall, everything froze and the sidewalk was crazy icy… I didn’t want that to happen again, lol… there had been a skiff of snow and I had gone out and swept the sidewalk just the day before…
it was cute watching him put his hoodie up over his baseball cap, which he had on backwards, lol… of course there were earbuds in as he listened to his music while doing the job… he did have gloves because I couldn’t give him grandpa’s to wear which often happened before when he forgot…
he did the front, the driveway and all of the back decks and pathways… the garage camera even got a few photos for me… he was happy to get the December payment which will help with his Christmas gift shopping…
it was wonderful to see him, even though it was only through the windows… and now all of the spaces are cleaned…
came across some photos of a visit with Santa at a Rona Christmas party eleven years ago… it was such fun to take our grandkids and we had a great time…
it was before the store opened and was in the back… there were decorations and lots of gifts for all the kids with treats for everyone… iPhone pictures have certainly improved since then…
reminded me of the CN parties we used to go to when the girls were little… our dear friend Margaret took us for a number of years… they were fancy and great fun too, and the girls always enjoyed them…
I also have a dim memory of kids’ Christmas parties with my dad, where I helped him with set up… I can particularly remember the full size popcorn machine and making popcorn for everyone during the party;-)…
my morning schedule is to put on the kettle for my tea, choose my Advent treat for the day, feed the fish, and prepare my breakfast…
when I get to the calendar, which is on top of the fish tank, the fish are running back and forth to make sure I know they are there… and starving...
I can practically hear them, lol… later in the day, they will rush over as I enter their space to see if they can convince me that they haven’t been fed…
with everyone learning how to connect with family and friends over the last six months or so, my daughter reminded me that we have been doing this for years…
just today, a Facebook memory was of a gathering we had eight years ago… my daughter was in BC, my son-in-law was in northern Alberta, and the rest of us were here…
technology has come a long way since then and there are many ways to connect… the main ones I currently use are Skype, Google Duo and FaceTime… I’ve been using Skype Organize a Conference Call without going through my Skype account, but over the last few weeks going through my account is working much better… I think I need to learn a bit about Zoom…
it would have been my beloved’s 72nd birthday tomorrow… we’ve commemorated it a number of ways over the years and this year I plan on dinner from Modern Plate Catering, with my Ottawa kids on Google Duo…
we’ve had some wonderful birthday celebrations over the years…
one of my favourites was his 61st birthday… he was recovering from quadruple bypass on his 60th, so we couldn’t do anything special, lol… on his 61st we had dinner out at Fusion Grill with his boy friends and their partners…
during his illness he had three particular friends who went for walks, coffee, talks and visits with him on a regular basis… it was such fun to spend time with them all together… it was a great surprise for him and everyone had a lovely time…
last night I spent ages searching for this picture and did not find it… this morning it came up in my Facebook memories, lol…
fun to remember some of those special times… makes the days happier;-)…
