assorted Advent events

Last year pre-Christmas, I was still unpacking boxes and settling into our new place.  I still have ground to cover in this area.  There are a few untouched boxes in the basement and all our artwork and photos are piled under the bed.  I'm still not happy with the living room arrangement, which resulted in me quickly selling our couch and loveseat on Kijiji while S was away.   They were just too large for our narrow living room space and too soft for S's bad back.   IKEA arrived in Winnipeg at the end of November, so I figured there would be a glut of second-hand furniture and I might not get as much when I sold ours if I waited till then.  As was, they sold the morning after I posted them, so that was great!  But there wasn't the immediate flood of couches for sale that I'd hoped for, so I was desperate to find something by the time S's parents arrived.  It wasn't quite what I was looking for, but two days before they came, I picked up a vintage brown couch from 1960!  Was from the home of an older Mennonite couple moving to a care home, who from the state of the couch perhaps believed that "cleanliness is next to godliness?"  In's in really decent shape and I hope my kids won't kill it too quickly, though for $35, I don't feel quite so bothered by their dirty hands and tendency to hop around.    I thought it'd be just a temporary thing, but think it might be for keeps as I like the clean lines.  Now the challenge of finding something else that can kind of match . . .

a photo from the Kijiji ad

Being loved in its new environment - the kids really like it, which is kind of funny.

Mom and Dad H. left on the 11th and the following night A had her class Christmas performance.  How I could have used their help that night!  S has been editing a book this past year and its due to be published in 2013.  He's had pressure from the publisher to have the introduction/conclusion finished and the draft submitted, so he's been sneaking off to the downtown library to avoid the interruptions of his office.  I forgot to remind him of the evening concert, and with no cell phone or email access, I didn't know he'd opted to stay late and keep working.  A had to be at school by 5:30 and he wasn't home.  I wrote a note, hopped in the van with the kids and entered the only Winnipeg traffic jam I've been in thanks to heavy snow.  Twenty minutes to do what normally takes five (Nothing, of course, like Lower Mainland daily reality).   I dropped A off late, returned to see if S was home so he could join us for the 6:00 concert we had tickets for, then turned around and made it just in time to see A's performance.  She had another at 7:00 and was to be picked up after 7:30, so we zipped home to see if S was there yet, as I'd realized earlier that he had no house keys with him!  At -27 C I couldn't leave him out in the cold!  Anyway, he didn't get home till just after I got the kids to bed at 8:00, so it made for 6 trips, which is a lot of getting in and out of winter gear and car seats!  The kids rolled with it, enjoying their evening out a tad more than I did!

A is third from the right in the back row

The two rascals

The following night I ended up going solo to S's staff Christmas party as he'd come down with a cold.  It wasn't exactly a happening time, but I enjoyed myself all the same.  Me and food is always a winning combo.  It helped that my good friend, Chantal, was catering the event so I could pop in the kitchen when things were a little slow on the party side. :)

  

To give Chantal a break to recover from all her work, I ended up taking her son the next day, and with Ai and Iz, went to the zoo.  Talk about cardio work pushing three preschoolers through snow in a buggy.  Sweating it up, I didn't notice the cold like they did!  Our time went much better then it did the following week when I had Chantal and Salem over to make gingerbread cookies.  Ai and Iz were not behaving well and obviously had needed a nap that afternoon.  It had already been rather trying but then I had A come off the school bus, sit down at the table where the kids were having snack to say, "Dammit!  Do we have to have apples and pears?!"  Chantal and I were both rather shocked!  Embarrassed, I quietly talked about the words we hear on the school ground versus those that are okay to say, etc.  When my mini, but mild lecture was done, she said, "Fine.  Is there anything else to eat?"  Sigh.  Good thing Chantal's friendship isn't in the initial stages anymore. :)  As was, we were both so tired that we skipped the gingerbread decorating and split the cookies so she could do hers in the quiet of her own home!  And as an aside, last week it was a little talk on the  F word after I heard it happily tossed around while the kids were colouring!  There are certainly merits to home schooling . . .

Speaking of home-schoolers, this Christmas we were able to host our neighbour-friends for a pre-Christmas dinner on Sunday the 23rd.   Only doors away from us, its amazing how we don't connect more often between the holidays.  With Sue and Harley's work schedules and the girls' home schooling, our lives don't always overlap.  But the kids LOVE the two girls and having a year more or relationship between us all, it made for a really relaxed and enjoyable evening together.

Christmas snuck up on us completely.  After Mom and Dad left,  I had set to work with Christmas card writing and made S feel like he'd lost his wife for almost 2 weeks.  I always enjoy the impetus of the season to help me stay connected with friends at least once each year.  Sadly, I didn't finish before Christmas and once I'm past a deadline, I lose my drive.  I still have a stack needing to be written, some just to be mailed (!), many of which I'd saved for last because I wanted to take more time.  Alas, my friends all know that I'm often late.  At least I'm ahead of last year, when I didn't start writing till Boxing Day and wrapped up toward the end of January!

If I didn't get to write you personally, I'm sure I would have wanted to (or maybe I still will?)!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and/or friends.  Whoever you were near to, I hope they loved you up!