Tired mom

I can almost breathe again.  The past month has been crazy as usual.  My body, mind and soul feel tired.  Work, kids, fitness, hockey, skating, home stuff...the list goes on.  The usual Christmas activities have been full on the past couple of weeks.  Once my work Christmas party is over, I do tend to relax a bit more as a work party never feels like you can be "off" as I feel that I have to be very much "on."

On a fun note, we had our annual Christmas Crossfit Throwdown fun competition on Saturday.  My party Wendy and I had a great time and did fairly well too.

On Sunday, we went to Silver Star for our first ski day of the season.

ski

Christmas 2018

The weeks leading up to Christmas were the usual stressful gauntlet run that I typically do.  The parties, recitals, dance program,s, shopping, and decorating. 

A few things did help this year to keep the month of December a bit more manageable:

- we stayed in Salmon Arm for Christmas and didn't head down to my parents until the 28th.  They visited Salmon Arm which was nice.

- we bought a tree that, I swear, has not dropped a needle yet. It is a Nordman Fir.  It has excellent needle retention and just a light scent so if you have allergies, they are great.

- I did a lot of shopping on line.  It is just plain easier.  I did a bit of local shopping too, so I wasn't guilty of not supporting our local economy.

- I stuck to my tried and true routine for sending out Christmas cards. I get them in the mail early, so even if I don't do anything else, I feel very productive about that.

Here is a photo of a sleigh ride my aunt planned for the family on Christmas Eve. It was lovely.

Christmas Day 2017

A chilly Christmas Day in Salmon Arm.  About -9 degrees celcius and feels like -15 with a bit of wind.

The kids were up just after 8am.  So nice to sleep in after weeks and weeks of early morning between work, weekend activities (hockey), etc.  We opened presents, had breakfast (eggs and bacon) and lots of coffee and Baileys.  Later in the afternoon, we bundled up and went for a walk.

Tomorrow we head to my mom and dads for a few days to visit with relatives.

Christmas Day has been peaceful and quiet...just the way I like it.

Christmas concerts

Both Sophie and Fynn had their school Christmas concerts this week.

Sophie had the added bit of preparation as she played Silent Night on the piano during the pre-concert

 as parents were being seated.  She did great and we are proud of her for taking a risk and performing in front of so many people.

Stuart McLean

On Tuesday evening, we went with our friends Bryan and Patti to the Stuart McLean Vinyl Cafe Christmas show.  It was a great show and we really enjoyed the mix of new stories about Dave and Marley and music from Chic Gamine.

Vic got a CD from one of Stuart's piano guy John Sheard.  He's a talented pianist and his Christmas music is beautiful.  Nice start to the season.

Christmas day 2013

The kids were great today in that they didn't wake us up until almost 8am. I put a little gift under the tree in their rooms so that kept them occupied for a few extra minutes.

The highlights were the stockings, a gift each from Santa (Lego Lone Ranger for Fynn and a new American Girl outfit for Sophie's doll), clothes for Sophie (she is so into clothes right now), new books, some Playmobil for Fynn and new PJs for both. Oh, and I can't forget Fynn's new Canucks jersey!

I got Vic a Garmin swim watch and he is playing with that now, so it seems to be a hit. He also got a book, a new calendar from the kids (Sam Toft - so cute) and a Royal Robbins pullover.

I got some lovely new tops that I can wear to work and a couple of books I am looking forward to digging into. Sophie picked out a pretty necklace for me and Fynn got me new socks :)

Vic and I went for a run for half an hour or so while the kids played and it was good to get some fresh hour as the day was really beautiful here.

We had a total of 11 people for dinner - for us, that is a houseful! It was a lot of work and the Windmill Meats turkey did not disappoint (oven @ 425 for preheating and then turned downed to 350 -- for future reference). We put it in at 1pm and for a 19lb bird, that worked out great for a 6pm dinner.

The clean up job was big but it is all done and we are just relaxing and saying goodbye to Christmas 2013.

Merry Christmas

Sleigh riding, Chinese food, church and now the movie Flubber. Then off to bed!

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Fynn's Christmas Play

Fynn's Kindergarten class had a little Christmas play this morning. Vic and I were both able to attned, and honestly it was the cutest thing we had seen in a long time.

Here are some photos:

Christmas Concerts

It has been the week of Christmas concerts. Vic and I have been up at the school two days in a row for concerts, and we have one more to go tomorrow. Sophie's Choir,

Fynn's class, and then Sophie's class.

Both of the them have done well!

Leavenworth - The Weekend Lens

We headed down to Leavenworth, Washington on Saturday morning to check out the Christmas Lighting Festivities. We met up with our friends Bryan and Patti.

Leavenworth is a pretty little town and seeing it at Christmas time has been on my "list" for quite a while. It was a long drive and the crowds were huge! They estimated about 15,000 people were there this past weekend. It felt like it!

After we watched the light up we went back to our hotel and headed out this morning for the drive back home.

The Weekend Lens

Last night we went to a production from the Western Canada Theatre Company at the Sagebrush Theatre in Kamloops. It was A Christmas Story and it was excellent! Sophie and Fynn were engaged the entire time. There was just the right mix of adult and kid humour. The cast had 4 professional adult actors and the kids were a cast of local Kamloops talent. The set productive was spot on perfect, right down to the classic lamp.

I love how the kids are getting to experience live theatre and find out

how entertaining it can be.

Juggling

It seems every few months I re-evaluate things and see how many balls I should have in the air. I juggle many balls and some have different kinds of weight than others: work, kids, family, volunteer work, fitness, this blog. Sometimes I need to put a few of the balls down for a while. Last week I put the ball of being the Vice President for Shuswap Daycare down. I had been on the board for 8 years and it was time to step down and let someone else step up.

It feels good to have one less ball.

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In other news: After a short audition last week at school, Sophie was selected along with 3 other girls to do a "solo" in the Christmas concert for her school. Any musical inclination or talent she has is seriously coming through Vic's side of the family.

I am 80% done my Christmas shopping and my Christmas cards are ready to be mailed. My achilles heel will undoubtedly be the wrapping. I hate wrapping.

The kids received their responses from Santa today. Fun!

Relaxing

We have had sunny, beautiful weather here today.

We took the kids out to the playground and let them burn off some steam.

After that we watched Arthur's Christmas and drank hot chocolate. A warm, fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

On the Christmas preparation front, we have a few presents bought and my Christmas cards have been written and sealed. Just in need of some postage and they are good to go.

Oh, and almost forgot --- Sophie had her piano recital yesterday. She played
Frère Jacques and Bach's Minuet. Well done, Sophie!

Peace

Our day started at about 7:50am when the kids came down to our bedroom. I had told them that they could open the 1 present that was under the little tree in Sophie's room. The present was a little craft from my aunt. It kept the kids busy for a bit.

The rest of the day was really nice. We opened the presents one at a time. The pile was fairly small under the tree, but just enough to feel exciting for the kids.

Sophie loved her Barbie's camper and Fynn with his Hot Wheels track.

I enjoyed the quiet of a day where we had no real obligations. Since we had our turkey dinner yesterday we didn't have that extra work today. We had a nice breakfast of french toast, some cheese and crackers for lunch, and then pizza for dinner.

We relaxed, went for a run (Vic), walk (me) and the kids had lots of play time. Without company, it is very quiet. A nice way to spend the day.

Christmas Eve

Today we took a walk down the nature trail in Salmon Arm with the kids to help them burn off some pre-Christmas excitement.

Later we had our turkey dinner - yum! Vic did a great job of pulling it off.
We had pumpkin pie from the Shuswap Pie Company.

We then went to Christmas Eve service at church. We watched a movie after that -- The Little Fokkers. Very funny but a little too PG in some spots.

The kids were very wound up but hit the hay about 10:30.

Merry Christmas!

Home Alone

For $5 I picked up the DVD Home Alone. It is such a classic that has stood the test of time, so I think it will be a good one to have in our small DVD Christmas movie library. I was testing the kids on Home Alone trivia after dinner tonight. Incidentally the house where the movie was filmed is up for sale. I love that house.

Sophie's friend Maggie came over today, so I snapped a few photos.

The Nutcracker

Today was Sophie's last day of school before Christmas break. Her class had a little Christmas tea and made a Yule Log.

Her class had a secret Santa gift exchange and the kids were not supposed to buy gifts, but make or reuse something. Sophie had Cami's name, so we used some of my pink fabric stash and an iron on sparkly transfer and sewed up a pillow for her dolls. Cami clutch her new pillow all afternoon -- it was really cute.

I have always wanted to see the Nutcracker Ballet at Christmas. When I learned that it was coming to Vernon I bought the four of us tickets a couple of months ago. It was GREAT! We got all dressed up and went down to Vernon for dinner. The kids were entranced for two hours and Fynn was really good - he only got restless the last 10 minutes or so and even then he was still quite composed. Sophie wants to make it a Christmas tradition - which sounds perfect to me.

Christmas Parties

Tonight was a double special evening: we were invited over to our friends Margaret and Pauls to help them celebrate their wedding (they got married in a small ceremony this afternoon).

Following a lovely reception at their home we headed out to my office Christmas party.

Sophie snapped our photo before we headed out the door. The kids had a blast with their sitter Dory who entertained them with crafts, colouring, stories and popcorn.

Day 25

We are finally getting a chance to put up our feet at the end of a long, tiring, fun, spirited day. Sophie was up pretty early with whispers of "Santa got me my Barbie townhouse and Fynn got Stinky the Garbage Truck!" We then got Fynn up (as he loves to sleep in) and we settled in for present opening over the course of an hour or so. Later there was lots of time to play and about 1pm or so, Sophie's friend and our neighbour Maggie came over with her new doll. That was quite thrilling for Sophie since Maggie's new doll is an instant "friend" for Katie.

Then our friends Danny and Anita and their two children came over for the afternoon.

Fynn was exhausted by 7pm and went down for bed early. Sophie is still up and we are enjoying this movie from her aunt and uncle. I'm going to cosy up to a new book that Vic got me and settle in for some quiet time.

Day 24

We had Christmas Eve dinner over at Vic's cousin Neville's home and the kids had fun tearing around with Arden and Warren, their two little ones.

Later we went to the United Church Christmas Eve service.

Santa's treat is ready and waiting :)

Merry Christmas all!