One more for the road....

Join in for the last random dozen of the year as 2009 comes to a close. Click on the button below to link up!

1. Do you find it gross to share drinks with family? Friends? No. I'm not really a germaphoby type person. In fact, I've been known to use the FD's toothbrush on occasion when absolutely necessary so I would say that sharing a drink with him is mild in comparison. I probably wouldn't share a drink with a complete stranger but if I knew you for at least 5 minutes, I would.

2. What have you learned this year? (You didn't see a question of that weight coming, did you? At least not for #2.) I'm going to stick with an easy answer - I have learned that baking my own bread is not as difficult or time consuming as I would have thought. In January 2009 I made a goal to stop buying bread and start baking my own. And, aside from one package of store bought tortillas purchased in an "emergency" in February, I have not purchased a single bread product for a year. I have learned a lot about being more homemade than I ever thought I would be. I have learned a lot about being a frugal homemaker... there is still much to learn, but I think the way I do "home" has changed so much over the past year.

3. When do you dismantle the Christmas decorations? Well, we set a record this year for the earliest Christmas tree taker downers ever. In fact, on boxing day, my uncle said that if we ever do that again, we should let them know and make some sort of deal, since they were putting up their tree the same day we were taking ours down! On a normal year (read: a year when my tree doesn't completely die a week before Christmas), we take down our tree and our decorations in early January. The rest of my Christmas decorations are still up and will be put away sometime next week.

4. Something you wish to accomplish before the end of 2009 is: Enjoy a few more days of holidays whilst visiting with some dear friends.

5. How do you feel about winter (after Christmas)? It is ballZ. With a capital Z. Especially since winter officially started for us two days after Christmas.

6. Have you participated in after-Christmas sales? Yes. Although here in Canada, we prefer to call them Boxing Day Sales. I bought all of my wrapping supplies for next year, a Christmas door mat, salt and pepper shakers to match my Christmas dishes, a wall calendar and some clothes and shoes all for great prices. They practically paid me to buy all that stuff. You'd be stupid not to.

7. Do you have plans for New Year's Eve? I do believe we'll be hosting a wee gathering with some of our closest friends. Snacking on munchies, playing games, and attempting to set a record for the most people we can squeeze into our wee home overnight.

8. Is there anything special awaiting you in January? Two new classes of students, my husband's birthday, a weekend with my nephew, a visit to some family in the states, bridesmaid dress shopping, baby showering, and an 80th birthday party.

9. If your life this year was a movie, what category or genre would it be? (Romance, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Suspense, Farcical, etc.) My life as a movie would definitely be the same genre as Julie and Julia. A biography/drama/comedy. I watched it over the holidays with my entire family and what was more entertaining than the movie was seeing them laugh at all the parts that reminded them of me. "It's like my readers need me, in a way. Like I fill a void in their life. That they would be somehow void if I didn't write".

10. How much time per day do you spend blogging? Please do not lie. I will know. I average about 1-2 hours daily.

11. Who runs your household? Her.

12. Share one hope/dream for 2010. Thanks to the encouragement and inspiration from two fabulous gals, SnoWhite and Jenny, my goal is to read the entire new testament in 2010.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Well, the first batch of bread that I mixed and kneaded in my sweet new Kitchenaid stand mixer is currently rising atop the stove covered in a cute pastel green bowl so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to sit down and write up a Christmas recap post! I've got photos but they're not great - my brother is the photographer in the family so most of the time I just leave my camera in my purse and let him take the pictures. BUT, I haven't been able to get a copy of his pictures yet, so I just had to make do with what I had.

Since the post I wrote about our own little Christmas was devoid of photos, I'll begin by sharing a few of those photos ....

On Friday night, the table was set all fancy like, with a huge spread of food (far too much for just the two of us!)

On Saturday morning, we opened our stockings and then lazed around for the rest of the day.

The fabulous dude was so excited about his stocking gifts

Saturday evening, we got all dolled up and headed out to dinner

So that's that! Now moving on ... I headed to my hometown on the 20th to spend a few days with my mom, my sister, and Little H. We spent our days making lists (surprised?), getting groceries, preparing food, and enjoying each other's company. The rest of the family joined us on the 23rd (minus BIL who couldn't get there until Christmas Eve).

Most of our days were spent playing games, eating tons of food, and just hanging out. My brother and SIL got my dad the Rockband Country Pack for his birthday so we had a lot of fun with that over the holidays. Everyone had a blast playing .... the young and the old! I just loved watching my Grandpa sing "The Gambler".

On Christmas Eve, we had lunch at my parent's store with all of their employees and had a delicious dinner of our favourite finger foods and appetizers (some recipes will be posted over the next little while).

We had a few heated games of pictionary - Kirkland borns versus NON-Kirkland borns. As you can see by the easel set up - we are serious about our pictionary! .

Then we all went to bed for a night of little sleep. We are seriously all like children on Christmas eve ... we cannot sleep and we just count the hours until we're allowed to get up. This year, Little H fussed a little bit around 4:45 but went back to sleep. Once we finally got up at SIX am, we all admitted that since he had cried at 4:45 we were all just waiting waiting waiting for someone to make the move and get up so we could all run like 5 year olds to the living room and start shaking our presents.

The morning was spent opening our stockings and our gifts. We like to savour this time - it took us almost 4 hours to open our gifts. We go one by one and show everyone everything we get.

This was the year of the kitchen for me! Although I got a few items of clothing and some books and DVDs, the bulk of my gifts were geared toward my love of cooking. Of course, the KitchenAid Stand mixer takes the cake! I was so surprised (as you can tell in the photo - please note the traditional Christmas morning sweater).

I hadn't even asked Santa for it but I guess he (er - she) knows me so well that she knew I'd love it. Thanks, Mama ... I mean, Santa! I also got some cute pastel mixing bowls, stemless wine glasses, cooking presses and decorating supplies, utensils and so on!

The boys in our family, FD, Brother, BIL, were all very excited when they opened their joint gift from Dad Santa - a fishing trip at a resort in Quebec for this summer. How fun!

Even though this is Little H's second Christmas, it was even more exciting than last. When he woke up and walked into the living room with is daddy and saw all of the presents, his eyes got really wide and he said "Wow-y". He got bored of opening presents after about 5 minutes, but he had tons of fun playing with all of his new toys and thought playing in the leftover paper was a blast!

The rest of Christmas day was spent eating brunch, watching movies, playing games, and eating Christmas dinner.

On Boxing Day (all you Americans, click here if you don't know what Boxing Day is) my grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins came over for Christmas dinner. Again, we had a day of games, food, and relaxing ... I'm beginning to see a theme here.

My mom had a present wrapped for my grandma and I to open. I think I've mentioned before that my parents live in the house my grandparents used to live in and their store manager lives in the house I grew up in. Apparently, he was moving some shelving units around in the basement of my old house, and came across this. We guessed I probably made it when I was about 8 years old. We all got a kick out of this! If you can't read it, it says "Congratulations to Phil Kirkland. You are awarded for being the best Grandmother in the world. Signed, Lindsay Kirkland".

The siblings all left my parents house on Sunday to either go back to work or to their other families Christmases, but the FD and I stayed until Monday evening. On Sunday we went to see Sherlock Holmes, which I thought was pretty good. And then, on Monday, my mom and I headed to the city near them to do some Boxing Day shopping! I was impressed with the deals that were available!

After that, we went back to my parents house, had some dinner and then packed up to come home. We arrived home yesterday evening, unpacked the car, threw a load of laundry in and crashed. I've spent today reorganizing things, cleaning, and doing laundry in preparation for our company to arrive tomorrow and stay until the end of the week!

Christmas seemed to go by so quickly this year, but it was a wonderful time spent with our families and friends. The countdown to next Christmas starts NOW!

Menu Plan Monday ... on Tuesday

We got back yesterday evening and aside from unpacking the car and throwing in one load of laundry, we did nothing buy crash! We have company coming this weekend so I decided it would be helpful to menu plan, even though I had intended on taking a break until the new year. We're still not sure of where we'll be and what we'll be doing on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so those meals are up in the air.

Tuesday
Lunch: Philly Cheese Steak* on Italian Herb Rolls
Dinner: Kraft dinner

Wednesday
Lunch: Turkey and Texmati Rice Soup*
Dinner: Rotisserie Pork Loin*
Garlic Whipped Potatoes*
Green Beans
Brownies and ice cream

Thursday
New Years Eve - TBD

Friday
New Years Day - TBD
Possibly some sort of Turkey and Wildrice Casserole?

Saturday
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Spaghetti*
Caesar Salad*
Cheesy Garlic French Bread

Sunday
Lunch:
Turkey and Rice Casserole (if we don't have it on Friday)
OR Enchiladas

*Recipes to come at Lucy's Kitchen

A Decade in Review

Not only is another year coming to a close, but also another decade. I've seen a few folks that posted a review of the decade and it got me reflecting on the past decade of my life. A lot has changed over the last ten years!

2000
Rang in the new millennium with my family and friend's of the family at an outdoor concert in Niagara Falls featuring the Boomtang Boys, Leahey, and Jeff Healey.
Was in grade 8.
Was getting in trouble.
Begged my parents to let me go to the Christian boarding school that my siblings were at for grade 9 instead of grade 10.
Parents finally agreed.
Turned 14.
Moved away from home to go to boarding school.
Became best friends with Katie.
Started dating my first serious boyfriend.

2001
Lost my first grandparent when my mother's mom passed away in April.
Finished grade 9 and started grade 10.

2002
Celebrated my sweet 16 and went on a vacation to Frankenmuth with my mom.
Gained a brother in law when my sister got married in September.
Finished grade 10 and started grade 11.
Went to NYC.
Found out my mom had breast cancer just before Christmas.

2003
Mom had surgery in January 2003.
Watched my mom go through chemo and radiation from May-December.
Spent a lot of time in the cancer clinic with my mom.
Broke up with the boyfriend I had been dating since grade 9.
Finished grade 11 and started grade 12.
Started dating new boyfriend in grade 12.

2004
Graduated from high school.
Broke up with BF.
Started dating the Fabulous Dude.
Started University.
Hated University.
Gained a sister-in-law when my brother married Logi in December.

2005
Completed my first year of University.
Moved home and waitressed for the summer.
Welcomed our second niece into the world.
Transferred to a University closer to the FD.
Moved in with Caley.
Got engaged.
Found out the FD would be losing his job at the end of the year.

2006
FD started a new job. Hated it.
Traveled to Spokane, WA for the FD to lead worship at a youth rally and to visit our dear friends.
FD did not go back to his job when we returned.
The fabulous dude got his new (and current job).
Finished my second year of university.
Planned our wedding.
Married my sweetheart.
Spent our honeymoon at my grandma's cottage.
Moved into our first apartment.
Got a job as an assistant teacher in a JK/SK class.
Welcomed our third niece into the world.
Apartment flooded in December.
Moved into our new home just in time for Christmas.

2007
Got a puppy.
Finished my third year of University.
Vacationed in Punta Cana, DR with the fabulous dude and my parents.
Worked as a preschool teacher.
Walked in the 2007 weekend to end breast cancer.

2008
Graduated with an honour's BA in Child and Youth Studies.
Bought a new to me car.
Welcomed my first nephew into the world.
Walked in the 2008 Weekend to End Breast Cancer.
Started grad school. Questioned that decision.
Said goodbye to my best friend and her sister when they went to live in Scotland for a year.

2009
Started baking my own bread.
Made my husband a cheeseburger, french fry, and coke smoothie when he got his wisdom teeth out.
Grandpa passed away in February.
Finished course work for my graduate program.
Traveled to visit Katie in Scotland. Saw Scotland, part of England, and Rome.
Started writing my thesis.
Did lots of canning.
Welcomed my second nephew into the world.

What has this decade looked like for you?

Most Blogworthy Moment of All Time

Over the holidays, while my family is all together we spend a lot of time playing games. Some of our favourites are Rock Band (obvs), scrabble, sequence, dominoes, scattegories, pictionary and catch phrase. Last night, after the parents and the preggo my dear sister had gone to bed, the rest of us youngen's stayed up playing a game that we hadn't played in a number of years.

Headbanz.

If you've never played the game before, it is essentially a glorified version of 20 questions. Each player has a card that they wear in a headband on their forehead, so that they cannot see it, but the others can. Each question is a Who, What, or Where. You then ask the other players Yes or No questions to try to determine what's on your card. While we were playing this game, the fabulous dude gave me some sweet blog material that will help draw my 2009 blogging year to hilarious completion.

During one round last night, my brother had a Who card and the person he was trying to guess was "Picasso".

He had it narrowed down to being a painter, from Spain, who lived in the 1900s and whose first name was Pablo. Unfortunately, he was still stumped.

The fabulous dude thought he'd help a brother out.

"Think 16. Think 14, 15, 16. Think 14th, 15th, 16th. SIXTEENTH." He said.

The rest of us, Logi, Dave, and I, were clearly a bit confused about this clue.

Logi tried to figure it out and said, "I think he means think about the 16th letter of the alphabet." (Because, you know, P is the sixteenth letter and Picasso starts with a P).

At this point, the fabulous dude said, "No. That's not what I mean. I mean, think about the SIXTEENTH CHAPEL".

Needless to say, we all burst into uncontrollable laughter. Pop nearly squirted out my nose.

The fabulous dude didn't understand why we were laughing at first but then thought he figured it out.

"Oh yeah, I must be confused. It wasn't Picasso who painted the SIXTEENTH CHAPEL, it was Michelangelo, right?"

I put him out of his misery by explaining that we were not laughing hysterically at him because he had the painter confused but because he was calling the SISTINE chapel the SIXTEENTH CHAPEL.

Too bad Picasso only made it so far as completing the Fifteenth Chapel.

Reason #56824 that I love this crazy fabulous dude - he always gives me a reason to laugh - sometimes with him, and sometimes at him.

A Christmas Dream Come True

I obviously have a ton of Christmas updates to post about... we'll be home in a few days and I'll get to it then.

But for now, I feel it's necessary to share the most imporant news....

I GOT A KITCHENAID STAND MIXER.

My dream has come true!

(N)O Christmas Tree

Guess what we did on Saturday after we opened our presents?

We took down our Christmas tree. I'm sure that seems strange - especially if you were putting up your tree on the very same day.

But here's the deal - the tree had served it's purpose at our house. We had celebrated Cramp Christmas the weekend before, our own Christmas that morning, and I was packing up and getting ready to head to my parents for the week. It just seemed logical to take it down. And I'm glad we did - it means one less thing to do on the one day we have between getting home from my parents and welcoming our company who is coming for New Years.

Plus, the tree was dead. Like, really really dead. Like, more dead than I have ever seen. Over the past week, anytime anything touched the tree, and even at random times, we would hear a sprinkling of pine needles hitting the floor. Everyone in my family is getting extra lucky this year, with a side of pine needles included in their gift.

I remember always cleaning up the trail of pine needles that were left in the wake of my dad lugging our tree out to the curb. But this was something entirely different. There wasn't much of a trail of needles marking the tree's path out to the patio ... because there were no needles left on the tree. The entire tree's worth of needles were laying on the floor around the Christmas tree base.

I have never seen anything like this. Apparently if a tree becomes completely dry, the base of the tree seals itself back up. I'm going to guess this is what happened. While the dude was away hunting and I went to my mom's do Christmas baking, I think the tree sucked up all the water. Because after that, I never had to water it again. The base was always full. Clearly, the tree was not getting any water. Please do not let this happen to your tree. It is sad. It is messy. And, after two weeks, the water starts to smell like poop. Sorry, but it's true.

Here are some pictures to demonstrate just how sad our tree was by the last day. (Sorry the pictures are in a crazy order. As I said yesterday, I can't seem to rearrange the order of the photos on either my mom or dad's laptops). They go in backwards - documenting first what the floor looked like after we took the tree out and then ending with a photo of what the branches looked like with the decorations still on. I've also added another picture of what our tree looked like when we first put it up at the beginning of the post (because I cannot move it to the end) for you to see the difference. If you feel so inclined, look at the photos in backwards order.

The evidence that a Christmas tree once existed here.
Logi and Evan stopped by for a bit so she helped me take down the decorations.
You know you're happy that you get to see me wearing my traditional Christmas garb. The Christmas pants and reindeer sweater are a steadfast tradition!
The sad, droopy branches.
This is what the tree looked like before we started taking down the decorations.
Sad isn't it?

Our Christmas Weekend

Well, blogger is being ridiculous and I can't seem to get my post with photos to work. I've got all the photos into the post, but I cannot copy/paste any of them to change the order. So I guess I will just tell you about our weekend a bit without photos. And then after the holidays, I might try to do a giant recap post with some pics.

On Friday, E stayed home sick because he has been battling a bit of a sinus infection. He slept until almost noon so I was able to get work done but then he got up and we watched movies in the afternoon. Although I wasn't happy that he was sick, it was kind of nice having him home .. it really made it feel like Christmas eve.

That evening, I set the table all fancy like and we enjoyed our Christmas dinner. We had roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, wild rice stuffing (which is tres yum), peas, squash, pickled beets, and buttery rolls.

After dinner, we started a new tradition of reading the account of Jesus birth from the book of Luke. Definitely something we'll try to do each year!

Later that night, we opened the Christmas Eve gifts from E's mom. PJs and a book!

On Saturday morning we indulged in cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting and opened the stockings we filled for each other as well as the stockings his mom left for us. Seriously, ladies, the fabulous dude rocked my world! He put so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts in there for me. I got some new fuzzy slippers, a lot of kitcheny things, a DVD, and some other great treats!

We took it easy for the afternoon and then headed to the falls for dinner. Our dinner experience wasn't the greatest - the food was awesome but the restaurant was freeeeeeeeeeeezing cold. I'm talking - wear my coat and scarf and his coat over my legs during the entire meal kind of cold. The experience we had at this restaurant may possibly be worthy of it's very own post, so if I get some time, I might write something about it tomorrow. We had intended to walk down by the falls to see the lights after dinner but since I was shivering in the restaurant, we opted to drive past the lights instead.

On Sunday we went to church and then headed into town to watch the Olympic torch relay go through our town with our church family. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a delicious lunch of chili and grilled cheese sandwiches that was graciously provided to us by some members of our church.

When we got home, I did the last few things that needed to get done and then we packed up and headed to my brother's, where we met my family for dinner. Then I went and picked up Katie and brought her back to their place where we exchanged our gifts with each other. She got me some super cute PJs, a top and a nighty!! Love that chicka! We all went together to the Christmas program at my brother's church and then I headed home with my parents and the FD went home. He'll be joining me here later in the week.

I spent today with my Mom, sister and nephew. We've been getting some of the food ready for the holidays and enjoying the time together.

I realize this post would be significantly less boring if the pictures had worked but alas, such is life! I hope the rest of you had a wonderful weekend and that your Christmas week is off to a great start.

P.S. Today is also my Dad's 50th birthday - so a big, huge, giant shoutout to my old man!

GRRRR

I am trying to post a recap of our weekend, since we celebrated Christmas together but I don't have my laptop here - I'm working on my Mom's and I am experiencing the same technical difficulties that I did when I tried to post from her laptop on my birthday. I uploaded the photos into the post before I left home, but for some reason it won't let me move them around. Since they are not in the right order, that will not do. I will try again this evening with my dad's computer when he gets home. Hopefully that will work because I want to tell you all about it! I just needed to vent my frustration about this.

Mary's Song

On Friday night, the dude and I enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner together. Once we were finished eating, we decided to sit down and read the account of Jesus' birth from the book of Luke. This is something we'd like to carry on year after year - especially when we have kids. While reading, a certain portion that I have never really noticed before jumped out to me. I just love that about God's word ... there can be passages I have read time and time again, but sometimes, something completely new jumps out to me.

When thinking about the account of Jesus' birth, I always think about the angel coming to Mary, Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, the birth that took place in a stable, and the visit from the wisemen. But there are other lessons to be learned from this story, as well. An important aspect, I think, is to consider the woman whom God chose to be the vessel that brought Christ into this world. So on Friday night, while reading, my focus was drawn to "Mary's Song", which depicts what Mary said to Elizabeth after she was told she would give birth to Jesus.

And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is His name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as He said to our fathers."
Luke 1: 46-55, NIV.

Other than her first conversation with the angel, this is really the only place during the account of Jesus' birth that we get hear Mary's voice. I am astounded by her words in this passage. Mary was in a position where she had to carry out what might be seen as one of the most important tasks in history ... and one that would not have been easy or without consequences to her physical body, her future, her reputation, and her relationships.

Yet, there is no WHY ME?
There is no ARE YOU SURE I CAN DO THIS?
There is no I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS.

Instead, Mary is seen glorifying and praising God for the great things He had done for her. Amazing, isn't it?

ONE WEEK and some other random things

Note: If you are skimming this post - that is completely fine with me - just promise you will read the last bullet point. It will be worth it. I promise. But it's not a giveaway, sorry.

Can you believe today marks ONE WEEK UNTIL SANTA CLAUS COMES? Wow ... December has flown right by (but I say that every month don't I?).

I am glad that our Christmas season has been so extended this year. It seems to make the holidays much more peaceful and relaxing. Last week I was posting about it being Christmas Eve as we were gearing up to spend the weekend celebrating the holidays with the FD's family.

Again, today, it is "Christmas Eve" for me. Tonight E and I will be enjoying our very own Christmas dinner, opening "Christmas Eve" gifts and then enjoying brunch, opening our stockings and doing some other Christmas-y things tomorrow. I'll share more deets on Monday.

On Sunday, we've also got some exciting things planned. Hopefully, we'll get to see the Olympic torch relay, and we'll be heading to my brother's house to celebrate my Dad's birthday and to attend the Christmas program at their church. I am so looking forward to this because I really feel that it is so important to center my focus on Christ during the holidays and although I've been doing some things on my own to achieve this, it is always nice to join together with others to celebrate the birth of Christ.

I will then be gone on Sunday until after Christmas to my parent's house. I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with Little H and helping my mom get ready for all of the family to be home. I will still be reading/posting as much as I can throughout the holidays. If I don't get a chance to "speak" to you, though, have a wonderful Christmas!

Finally, some other random things I feel I must share today:

• Last night, my sweet friend, T, sent a Christmas gift home with the FD for me. Guess what? She got me a Ped Egg! Remember when I posted about this little gadget a few months ago asking for some opinions? I got some great reviews so I was excited to try it. I spent some time grating my feet last night and I was shocked to see how much skin that thing actually collected and the noticeable difference it made on the smoothness of my skin. I was going to take a picture, but then I thought that I would spare you. You can thank me later. I'm going to spend a little more time with my new friend Ped and then I'll post a more thorough review in the new year for those that were interested.

• I read The Lovely Bones for the second time over the past few days. The last time I read it was years ago and I couldn't remember the ending or if I had even finished it - so I gave it another shot. It totally sucked me in! I can't wait to see the movie. I watched the trailer yesterday and it looks A-okay.
  

• Lastly - and quite possibly most importantly - after all the talk over the past few days about getting hippos for Christmas - I spent last night dreaming about hippos. No joke. I'll spare you the details ...BUT... The dream involved three baby hippos, an attempt to drown them in my mother's bathroom sink (cruel, right?), hippo poop on my mother's bathroom counter, a trip to the zoo in Scotland with Katie, an attempt to be rid of the hippos in the monkey cage, a hippo soaring through the air on a piece of celery (?) and a very energetic zoo-keeper ... all in an attempt to make a simple Christmas recipe that called for GROUND HIPPO. Wait, I thought I said I'd spare you the details? I guess I just couldn't. There you have it - a small look into my strange, strange world of dreams.

Happy One Week Until Christmas!

Who Loves Cake?

I see a lot of you posting about cakes, cupcakes and other yummy sweet treats that you make/buy/enjoy. I know it's true. You love cake. I love cake. We all love cake.

But does anyone else out there love cake this much?

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Smurf!

Random Dozen - Christmas Edition

I am weighing in again today with the Random Dozen. This week is packed full of Christmas questions. And I love that, obvs.

1. Gingerbread: For or against? Discuss. I'm definitely team Gingerbread. I like making Gingerbread houses - although I haven't made one in a few years. And I certainly do love the taste of it. Perhaps I should try my hand at making gingerbread. I also love gingerbread lattes.

2. Is it important to you to always stay (live) close to family? Right now, we live about 3 hours away from the FD's hometown where his parents and one sister live. We live about 5 hours from another sister and 1 hour (soon to be 8 hours) from his last sister. We live an hour and a half from my parents, an hour from my brother and three hours from my sister. We have some family members (aunts, uncles, cousins) who live in our town. None of these distances are too horrible, we definitely get to see our family quite often (except the 5 hour away sister - we don't see them much - BOO) but we are considering making some changes in the future that may bring us closer to some of our family members. We really enjoy being with both of our families, so yes, it is important for us to live near them.

3. Which holiday pretend character do you wish really existed? Um, I think that's obvious. Santa. Except, of course, we all know, he DOES exist.

4. Which holiday movie best represents how you feel about Christmas or life? Wow. That's a tough question. Maybe Frosty. Because no matter how heated things get, and how many meltdowns I may have, I know that things will cool down soon and I will be able to be a happy, energetic snowman once again.

5. Is there a particular Christmas song that you're enjoying now? Any that you're tired of? I always really enjoy Silent Night, O Holy Night, What Child is This, and The First Noel. Those songs are so peaceful and calming and they truly put the real meaning of Christmas into perspective. I am so sick of the "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" song. Have any of you heard it? I had never heard it before but this year I have heard it over and over again. On the radio. On commercials. Everywhere. And, as you can see from the title, it is just ridiculous. And very annoying. Unfortunately, it's also very catchy and as such, I have been singing it non stop all week.

6. What is your favorite way to remember those less fortunate at Christmastime? This is a time of year where we feel it's very important to give food and gifts to less fortunate. We always try to find a way to give back in that way.

7. Does it upset you to see "Xmas" instead of Christmas? How about "Happy Holidays" etc., instead of "Merry Christmas?" Not really. I prefer to say Merry Christmas, myself. But I do realize that not everyone celebrates this holiday, so I don't really have a problem if I hear people say Happy Holidays instead. It does make me kind of upset when people get on a huge rant about not being "allowed" to say Christmas, though. I celebrate Christmas. So I can say Christmas. There ya go. Also, Xmas doesn't really bother me. I have never really heard people say that though ... I've only seen it written. And sometimes it's just faster to write, I guess.

8. How many Christmas programs are you attending this month? By Christmas programs, I'm assuming they mean at churches or schools or something like that. In that case, just one.

9. Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Any chance of that dream becoming a reality? I like a white Christmas, but I don't feel let down if we don't have one. I'd prefer to not get stuck in a blizzard and not be able to make it to my destination on Christmas, so if that means not having snow, then that's fine with me. I used to get very upset when there was no snow at Christmas but now that I'm a crazy worrier grown up and I have to drive places, I'd rather just be safe.

10. Tell me about a Christmas present you received as a child. Pics are always nice. Probably one of the most special gifts I received as a child was my first real pet. My grandma gave us a cat when I was about 8 years old. Also, my siblings and I got a cruise for Christmas one year which was definitely a memorable family experience.

11. How many Christmas parties are you attending this month? So far, we've each had one that we attended separately (me my party with my classmates, him his work party). Plus the FD's family Christmas, and then we'll have my family Christmas on Christmas day. But that's it. Things actually weren't very busy this year.

12. How do you keep yourself centered on the significance of Christmas? I don't find this a difficult thing to do. I try to keep myself organized so that I can get the "busy" stuff early, so that I can sit back and enjoy the season and take time to reflect on the true meaning of our celebration. I really think that the stress that surrounds Christmas is a lot of the devil's handiwork - trying to get people focused on the shopping, the cooking, the wrapping and to stop focusing on their families, the memories and the most important thing - Christ's birth. During the holidays, I almost always have Christmas music playing and I stick to that which tells the story of Christ's birth. It really helps me stay centered and reflective of the day of His birth. And although December 25th was not His actual birthday, I think it is important to have a time of year dedicated to celebrating His birth. Through all, when I get caught up in the gifts, the planning and everything else - I try to remember that the only reason we have the opportunity to do these things is because we were given the greatest gift of all - a sweet baby born in a stable.

Christmas Weekend Recap

I had full intentions of getting this post up yesterday, but that just didn't happen. I got all the pictures uploaded and then realized that I did not feel like writing anything. So, I didn't.


This past weekend, we celebrated Christmas with my hubby's family. The events were set to begin on Friday night but because of a snow storm in the FD's hometown, more than half of the family was unable to make it. So, we rearranged some of our plans for Saturday to include Friday night's scheduled activities. Then we went to the FD's aunts house, had pizza and wings and watched Home Alone (best Christmas movie, EVER) with the few family members who were able to make it.

Later that evening, Evan's oldest sister and her family arrived. I was so excited to finally meet Baby C after not being able to see him because of the flu in November.

He is so cute, I just love him to pieces!

On Saturday morning, the family who couldn't make it on Friday night, got up nice and early in order to arrive around 10 am. His immediate family and grandparents all came to our place to enjoy a brunch of breakfast casserole, fruit salad, muffins and yogurt.

Then we opened presents!

I got a sweet new slowcooker. It's a bit bigger than my old one and it has a stoneware insert that can be used on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the slow cooker! Hello One Pot Meals! I also got two really great stockpots so my salsa and other preserves won't be burnt next year.

After pressys, we headed Caley's church where we were holding the rest of the activities with the extended family. I believe there was something like 29 of us this year! We had some lunch, enjoyed visiting with each other, played games, took an updated family photo and then had our gift exchange. I may have mentioned before that for this year's name draw, we decided to do all homemade gifts. It turned out very well. There is some mad talent in this family. We had everything from baked goods, to preserves, to knitting, to quilting, to woodworking, to scrapbooking and jewelry making! All of the gifts were so thoughtful and well put together.

I drew the FD's aunt and made her a "Basket of Love from Lucy's Kitchen". Included was a jar of Love Soup, a jar of pickles, apple butter, beets, a hot chocolate mix inside a collage mug with pictures from her trip to Alaska, some Christmas-y tea towels and coupon book for one baked good each month for 2010.

The FD drew Caley's finance, Craig's, name and built him this sweet potato and onion bin. If I didn't already have one, I might have kept it for myself!

Evan's cousin R had his name and made him a super sweet scrapbook documenting some of their favourite memories from growing up. It is definitely something to be cherished. His uncle had my name and built me this amazingly awesome window frame! I know the picture sucks. I will take another one once I get it hung up.

After the gits were done, we got to work getting dinner ready. What a feast! Turkey, prime rib, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, corn, beets, pickles, rolls, salad and tortiere! I don't think I have to tell you that I was stuffed. Here are the lead chefs for the evening...

The FD cooked a delicious Prime Rib on the rotisserie

Aunt Marcia has nice buns!

Aunt Linda did such a great job at organizing everything!

After the meal, we had dessert. Can you believe we stuffed even more in there? There were pies, goodies and The FD's famous crepes! Delicious.

Here are a few more photos from the day...

On Sunday, we all went to church together and then headed back to M&L's for a second go at the food. We said our goodbyes, everyone headed home and we promptly crashed on the couch to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and have a nap!