Tis The Season

I don't like Christmas.

 I never have.

Even as a child, Christmas caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. I had convinced myself that my parents would forget to buy me Christmas presents. They would only realise their oversight Christmas morning, when it was too late to do anything. And then they would be upset. So the weeks leading up to Christmas, I would worry and worry. Christmas morning, I would open my presents as slowly as possible so I could stretch out the few gifts I had and make it seem like I had the same amount of presents as my brothers. Every year, this would backfire because I would have more presents than anyone. And this caused me a lot of stress. Everyone would be done opening presents and there would be a mountain of gifts left for me to unwrap. And no one was thrilled with me at that moment. I just knew that the following year, my parents wouldn't make that mistake again and wouldn't get me presents...and the cycle would begin all over again.

Fast forward to now. I try to do everything in my power to make Christmas wonderful for my children. "Magic" happens everyday.

Some snaps:

Bethie (left), Katie, and Sarah decorating the Christmas tree

Holiday baking

Katie - helping to make sugar cookies

Bethie, Katie, and Sarah off to a Christmas party

Bethie - helping to put up Christmas lights. The snowman was a BIG hit!

Bethie, Sarah, and Katie each received an email from Santa.

I'm very excited for January!

The First Snow

It snowed last night for the first time this season. I was informed of this at 5:20am...when the children demanded that I take them outside to play. They were informed that Mummy doesn't do snow angels at 5:20 AM.

By 7:15am, I happily took the children outside because I love them (and a little bit because the whining was killing me).

All I can think of when I see this photo is that I need to cut back that ornamental grass...thank goodness it's going to be a high of 10C this weekend!

My littlest one



Twinnies!



I asked Sarah to take over the shovelling

Finally, I provided each child with a more appropriate shovel...and then they proceeded to shovel the snow that was on the grass onto the driveway...after I had already shovelled the driveway. Sigh.

7:30am. Time to harass the neighbourhood mothers into sending their children outside!

I love this bench (and the child, too)

Snow angel



Snow angels...in duplicate

And then I got cold came inside. I lured the children in with hot chocolate.

Halloween: In Pictures

Better late than never, right?

Carving pumpkins. Sarah and I are in charge of "directing the operation"... which means that we don't get dirty!

Katie

My two Harry Potters...Katie (left) and Bethie before school

Bethie, Sarah, and Katie. They wanted to stand in front of the decorations. I wanted them to stand in front of the lovely Burning Bush. Turns out the desire to go and beg the neighbours for candies far out weighed their aversion to the Burning Bush.

Dan, his parents, and the children. My parents and I were the ones on the sidelines, not in costumes, and shocked at the extent that Dan and his family would go to make Halloween magical!

Sarah became too tired to walk so she hitched a ride with a neighbourhood child.

Sarah and her grandmother looking at the "graveyard" that was in my front yard.

Dan's parents brought to our house a massive amount of life-like decorations that wowed the neighbourhood. My children were thrilled.  As I tucked them into bed, they told me "This was the best Halloween ever!".

I am now very worried about how I am supposed to top this next year...

They're Winning

A sign that the children are winning:

After a day of working and taking care of the children, Dan and I sit down to watch TV ...I wake up to him snoring.

That's right, we both feel asleep within 30 minutes of sitting down. Sigh.

Walking

Dan and I took the children for a walk around Mud Lake on Thanksgiving weekend.
The twinnies saw this sign:

They then informed me that dogs were not allowed to bicycle on the path...and then they skipped away. Because banning dogs from bicycling through the woods made sense to them. I would like us all to rally together and fight this ban. Because if there were bicycling dogs, I think they should be entitled to bicycle wherever they like!

I swear, the twinnies just naturally pose this. It cracks me up!

Sarah had no desire to stop for photos. Poor little girl, she's going to have a rough life if she doesn't accept that I demand frequent photos of my children. And they must be smiling.

Awwwwww.

Why do both Dan and Sarah react to me taking their picture as though I am the paparazzi? You'd think that they would be used to it by now!

Oh my God, I love autumn!!!

Why walk when you can dance?

Bethie couldn't help herself, she had to join in!

Katie is a budding photographer. I tried to warn her that Sarah is not the most willing subject, but she wouldn't listen to me.

The walk went well...LOUD...but well.

The Pumpkin Patch

To add complications to my life, I insisted that Dan and I take the children to the pumpkin patch...a couple of hours before we were expecting people for Thanksgiving dinner. Keep in mind that the turkey was not in the oven, I was supposed to be at home waiting to have my dishwasher installed, and I hadn't bought all the groceries I would need for the party. The children were eager. Dan was less than thrilled. But I need his brawn.

So off we went.

The twinnies pose for a photo.

Would it kill them to give me one nice group shot????

I told Bethie that each child had to carry their own pumpkin...

...Katie found one that was easier to manage.

(As it turns out, Dan and I each carried the massive pumpkins chosen by the twinnies, and Katie carried the little pumpkin that Sarah chose).

The twinnies didn't want to sit with me on the way back to the car. I was annoyed, but they felt rather "grown up".

When we returned to the car with the pumpkins, the children announced that they were dying of thirst and may possibly even die from starvation. I told them that we were 5 minutes from home and I would nourish them promptly. That's when I was informed that I was an inadequate mother, and that all they really needed was some pumpkin pie, sold conveniently at the gift shop. Ummm, no.

When we got home, the children placed their pumpkins on the porch and admired them...for 30 seconds. Then they announced that they needed more pumpkins, but not to worry, the ones from the grocery store would do.

Sigh.

Giving Thanks

It's very important to me that my children have fond memories of the holidays. Like I do. So, I try very hard to make these days happy. Am I successful? It's kinda hit or miss...

We had Thanksgiving at our house. Despite having to work during the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I was sure that I would be able to pull this off.

Then my dishwasher broke. I frantically called Sears, bought a new one over the telephone, and asked Dan to pick it up from the store. I gave him strict instructions not to touch either the new dishwasher or the old one. Instead, he could watch TV, play with the children, or find something else to do. I begged  him, "Please, for my sake, do not touch the dishwashers".

I came home from work on Friday, and guess what?! He touched both of the dishwashers. Neither of them worked. I could have killed him.

I asked to see the turkey that he had purchased for the dinner in 36 hours. It was frozen.

I asked if he had cleaned the house knowing that we were having people over. Yes, he replied enthusiastically, he had cleaned the children's rooms. Super. What about the kitchen? The living room? The bathroom? Uhhh...no.

Needless to say, I was a bit stressed about Thanksgiving.

But Jamie Oliver came through, and we had the best turkey ever. It was soooo good that I think that Jamie Oliver may have ruined all other turkeys for me. Sigh.

Nice turkey. Crap roasting pot (unless you're roasting a 5lb chicken, then it's lovely).

Bob got the honours...

As dinner was served, the twinnies ran into the garden and told me that I was the worst mother ever, and that they were going to have to run away from home. My sin? Knowing that they didn't like turkey, I prepared some ham for them, cut it up nicely, and served them all their favourites on a plate.

Turns out that the twinnies wanted to serve themselves, like the adults. No problem, I took them inside, they carefully filled their plates with all of their favourite Thanksgiving yummies, and then headed outside with their plates heavy with food.

Then Katie dropped her plate...and her little heart broke. She was quickly cheered by the idea that the dogs were happy because they got to have Thanksgiving dinner, too!

I couldn't believe that we had summer-like weather in October. This was the first time in my life that it had been warm enough to eat Thanksgiving dinner outside!

Gluttony.

Elizabeth - she was thankful that I am her Mummy, and we live in Canada, and that we had the "best Thanksgiving ever".

Katherine - she was thankful for her family, and that everyone was safe and healthy.

Sarah - she was thankful that we had gone to the pumpkin patch that morning.

A happy ending.

My cup runneth over.

The etoN

Dan and I got a note home from the grade one teacher. It directed us to read the note Katie had written in her agenda. I must confess, folks, I expected the worst. Like a list of everything wrong with me!

I was pleasantly surprised when this is what I saw:

I studied what she had written, trying to sound it out. After a while, Dan gave me a clue.

Then I wrote a note back to the teacher saying:

"?melborp eht eb ot smees tahW".

(Okay, I didn't, but I wanted to!)

Fresh From The Vine

In June, Bethie convinced me to buy a watermelon plant. Truthfully, it would be more accurate to say that buying the watermelon plant was a compromise because Bethie had wanted to grow corn. In suburbia. In my opinion, watermelon was a better choice.

So, I bought the plant and stuck it in the back corner of my garden. In the shade. In an area that I barely water. Needless to say, the watermelon didn't thrive.

Every once in a while, Bethie would check on her watermelon. I felt badly. I tried to prepare her for the fact that the vine wouldn't produce any watermelon. Time passed, and Bethie gave up on the watermelon.

The other day, I was preparing the garden for winter. I pulled out the neglected watermelon plant and went to throw it in the compost. Dan said, "Oh look, there are watermelons".

I was shocked. I called Bethie to have a look. She was thrilled as she picked three watermelons.

Don't get too excited, they weren't very big.

Bethie held this one up and declared it to be Sarah's, as it was so small ... and so is Sarah.



This one was slightly bigger, but it was smashed in half before I got a picture of it. It was still white on the inside. Bethie gave this watermelon to Katie.



The last watermelon, and the one that Bethie kept for herself.

Even thought this watermelon was red on the inside, I informed Bethie that it couldn't be eaten. I was too late. Apparently, it CAN be eaten.

I told Bethie that I would buy a watermelon plant again next year. I will plant it in the sun, and even water it. I may even add a little bit of Miracle Grow to give it a wee boost. Bethie is very excited. In fact, she responded so positively that I just might decide to grow corn.

(Dan will read this post and declare that there is no way I will be allowed to grow corn in our garden. However, he won't be at all surprised when it appears!)