December Update

Didn't December just start yesterday? How did it get to be 2 sleeps to Christmas already? Not to worry though - I got all my shopping done in November, all wrapped and done. Although - it is tempting to keep buying and buying, I will admit - but hey, I had a pretty strict budget for the gifts in our household and really stuck to my list. Not that it is a bad thing - we have really emphasized special meals, baking, homemade gifts and ornaments, Christmas photos and cards... and we are having fun. Here is a photo of the pumpkin breads we baked for school & acquaintance presents. I also made pumpkin breads for my quilt group. Those cute little cellophane bags were 30 for $1 at the dollar store - score! They look so pretty and festive!

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We had to take ANOTHER overnight business trip which brought us near the mall. We only ran into Wal-Mart for a few necessities - just a few food items we can't get where we live - and School Boy wanted to buy a Pez dispenser and candies for our next door neighbor. She is in her mid-80's and always has Pez - and SB is very good at finding them at her house and eating them! So, he picked out a Disney princess dispenser that he thought she would like. Isn't that sweet? We've been invited to friends for Christmas Eve dinner and we started to look at the boxed candies/gifts/etc. to bring as a gift before I put a halt to all such thinking - we are going to make sour dough bread and something else home-made. Since we were at the mall I wanted to walk in there and see how it was decorated. I was really disappointed that there were NO decorations at the mall! SB doesn't know any different so he was just as happy looking at the ornaments at the Halmark store. Anyway - we were at Wal-Mart/mall for less than an hour and went back to the hotel to enjoy the pool.

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A very funny thing - when we were away and driving down the street - all the houses had trash bags out on the curb and the garbage truck was picking up all the trash. I said that it was Trash Day. SB chimed in that we didn't celebrate Trash Day but all families are different. I told DH - I think we really live out in the sticks if our son thinks Trash Day is a celebration! LOL.

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BUT - we DO have celebrations! We had the most amazing Santa Parade on Saturday night. Never mind that it was -8C - there was float after float in the parade. We rode on a float and SB had a great time waving and waving to all the people who turned out to see it. Many people just parked in parking lots facing the road and sat in their trucks and honked as we went by. 2 guys were very funny and had built a bon fire at the end of their driveway and were sitting there with their lab - looked like a Norman Rockwell scene, really! And then - amazingly - tons of people braved the cold to wave and shout Merry Christmas. It took about 45 minutes so we were very happy to go into the WARM firehall afterward for our cookie and hot chocolate. It was very cold, but fun. Here is SB in front of a float with a curling theme.

And this is a float that shows Christmas around the world... from ice skating on one end to palm trees & sand castles on the other. The world is actually a huge buoy! It is hard to see in the photo, but it was really great - and the world spun around too. I didn't get many photos because I thought I was being smart by bringing the big camera which takes better night photos - and the battery froze. My little camera fits in my pocket so I can usually keep it warm enough between shots that it will work. Lesson learned! Really, there were a TON of floats - and the fishermen around here excel at turning their little dory boats into Santa's sleighs.

We have snow. Actually lost the power last night around midnight for about 4 1/2 hours. DH was telling me that one of our friends had to get up in the middle of the night to go down to the lobster pounds to get the lobster out of the water so they wouldn't drown. After about 5 minutes I still couldn't figure that out so had to ask - ummm, don't lobster live in the water? How are they going to drown? Well, yeah, but like fish - they need the oxygen to be pumped in. Oh right. Except they were able to get the generators going so the lobster stayed put. I heard on the TV today that this is the 1st time since 1971 that ALL of Canada is going to have a white Christmas! I think that I will go get dressed in layers of winter gear and go outside to play with SB.