Virtually a Christmas Card

May the joy of the season surround you,

Merry Christmas, with love

From my family to yours

Monday Randoms

Things have been quiet around here lately. For many reasons really, but mostly I have been uninspired and we've been busy. The stomach flu has hit all but me in our house, I am bracing myself because if Jay gets it, the guy who rarely gets sick, I am so doomed. I've been quite productive over the last few days given the threat of being horizontal for 12 - 36 hours in the near future.

As you will notice, the Christmas baking* is done. The pictures are as random as I foresee this post being.

Nanaimo bar

The Christmas shopping is finished. Mostly. It's getting harder as the boys get older, do you know how many different type of Power Rangers there are? Making sure I got just the right one gave me a headache, that's how many.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Jack had his very first piano recital yesterday and got to play on a baby grand. He was a bit intimidated but played his piece, from memory, the best he's ever played it. Clearly he does not get this from his mother, who cracks under the spotlight and pressure equally well. Oh and did I mention he barely slept the night before and was incredibly overtired? Someone please explain to me why 8 year olds need to have sleepovers? Why yes, I am the Grinch's long lost cousin, why do you ask?

Macaroons

I think part of the reason I have been uninspired for post is twofold. Firstly, the boys are older, there are fewer stories that I free comfortable sharing on the public domain that is the Internet. And secondly, I think I might be losing my oomph for this here blogging thing. I have felt a shift in the ambiance of the blogosphere and thought it was just me but friends, who are also bloggers, have felt a similar shift. I won't be quitting, because those books I had printed of my posts are wonderful to go back through. I am pretty sure Twitter is going to go though. I don't really use it, but I sure do waste time on there reading other's tweets. I am fairly certain there are other, better uses of my time. Now if I could just figure out how to implode my Twitter account. How hard could it be?

Eatmore Bars - they really do taste almost identical to the chocolate bar we have here in Canada

Not hard, so I found out. Twitter account deleted. I kind of feel good about that though there are people that I only communicate with on Twitter. It's all about priorities.

Scuffles - the only non-chocolate treat I make

I haven't been running in the last couple of weeks because this place I live in, you know, the quasi Arctic, well it's up to it's old tricks. It's colder than you can imagine out there so running is out of the question. I miss it but I don't. It's weird.

Mars Bars - made with the chocolate bar

Well if you read this riveting post, you deserve a care package of treats! Maybe Santa will bring me some inspiration for the New Year since this is likely the second to last post of 2009. What's the last one, well that cliffhanger (don't worry I am not that delusional) will keep you coming back, right?

* recipes can be emailed if you are interested

Snow for Christmas

The snow did wonders for getting me pumped up and into the Christmas spirit! I have already done some baking and you already know that our house is decorated or decked with boughs of snowmen.

Today, I am over at Canada Moms Blog romanticizing snow and it's role in a Canadian Christmas, at least one here on the Prairies. I am curious, how about those of you who reside where there is no snow? Does snow and Christmas go together for you?

Snomen, Snowmen, Snowmen

Welcome to our home. If you arrive at night, you will see the evergreens aglow under the white fluffy snow that fell just moments after we got the lights on the trees.

C'mon in and see our collection of snowmen. We love us some snowmen 'round here.

The latest addition, a steal at $2.99. Everyone needs a holiday spoon rest, don't you think?

On the ready of holiday treats. They are in the works, sorry, you will have to come back again soon to sample.

One of my favourites, I love the contrast of the red against the blue kitchen wall.

This guy will serenade you with Jingle Bell Rock. He dances too. It's good 'cause I don't.

Countdown to Christmas. Sorry no treats, it's just for the fun of it.

The one from Vegas. The best souvenir I ever bought.

It's dark downstairs, but there are more down there. Some of the cutest ones.

The one on the right is from the Dollar store. We adopt all kinds.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my narrcissistic way of sharing the bazillions of photos I took today practicing my manual settings. Today was shutter speed. The higher the second number the faster the speed and the less light it lets in. Lower means more light and slower speed. Baby steps.

May the joy of the season surround you!

Family Plus One

We have a new family member. But it's of the four legged kind and technically she's not ours, per se. It's kind of like having grandchildren, we get to play with her and love on her but we have zero responsibility for her poop. It's win win if you ask me.

Meet my parents' new puppy, Mika (meekA).

She's approximately two months old and already weighs in at 26 lbs. She will not be a small dog. She was pretty shy when we first arrived having only been with my Mom and Dad for a day. But by the end of the weekend she was getting pretty comfy.

She is sweet as pudding and we look forward to loving on her for years to come (minus the poop clean up, did I mention that?).

And because we rarely corral all 10 of us in one spot, we finally took a family photo! There was a telephone pole strategically placed that has since been removed and the lighting and me were not getting along but, we are all in one photo together and all smiling (sort of) so I say HUZZAH.

If any of you who have photography skills out there have any advice on how to edit this photo so the sky is not so glaring white, please I would really appreciate any advice.

P.S. Thank you to each of you who took the time to comment on my last post. I am always scared when I lay out my deepest thoughts on here, not that it stops me, mind you. For the most part, the comments were food for thought, so thank you so very much.

Oil and Vinegar

"This is my simple religion.

There is no need for temples;

no need for complicated philosophy.

Our own brain, our own heart

is our temple;

the philosophy is kindness."

-The Dalai Lama

This spoke to me. Deeply. Mostly because lately I have been feeling like I am oil and organized religion is vinegar. I am stuck, dense and viscious at the bottom of the jar very much liking the separation.

Sometimes I think we make everything harder for ourselves. We feel the need to dig deeper, get more philisophical, find more fault in ourselves. I wonder if this is the way it's supposed to be. I am always one to question what others are doing. I don't know why because I am not a leader. Nor am I a follower. For the most part, I try very hard to avoid that which everyone else is obsessed with. Take Twilight for example. The whole female population of North America, save a few, is voraciously devouring every word of this series and then running out and seeing the movies as soon as they come out. Me? Not so much. And don't get me wrong, religion and faith are in no way comparable to this example other than my reaction to it.

My own observations have led me to the conclusion that organized religion creates more stress and complication and in the end I question whether it gets any closer to being the kind of people God wants us to be. Sometimes, it appears to me that all the rules and regulations imposed by these "faiths" creates more judgment than anything else. I don't think that is the intention but as humans, we are flawed and judgement is one of those inherent flaws. Why add fuel to that fire?

Someone once said to me, "Kindness is my religion." The irony is how that friendship ended but that's the thing, you may not remain friends but you learn something from each and every person you have a relationship with.

So right now my focus is on improving me. Being a kinder person to my family and friends. Stregthening the relationships. Forging new ones. Reaching out no matter that I may get hurt.

Because each person I encounter, is an encounter with God. And I honestly believe that God doesn't care what religion, faith or denomination you are, He only cares about the kind of person you are.

These are my beliefs. Please respect them as I respect yours.

Swirling

Nothing much to write about these days it seems. There is tons swirling around in my head but nothing concrete that I can ever formulate into more than a couple random sentences. Instead, let's go random with the photos I took today as I was practicing indoors, without the flash.

I have been breaking my strict no Christmas before December 1st rule.

(If we started anything Christmas before then I would want absolutely nothing to do with it by about December 15. Call me mean but I think it's actually less mean than me throwing the Christmas tree to the curb mid December.)

Jack is taking keyboard lessons and I vowed (somewhere, I can't find it now) to re-learn how to play as he did. And I have been but it's mostly by playing Christmas carols that have been arranged so that you only need about 10 notes to play them. I also like to sing along. My kids run away covering their ears and screaming. I think they are trying to tell me something but I just haven't quite figured out what yet.

Today, I was on a mission. I wanted a nice simple sweater dress for a few upcoming events. I found one for a steal of a deal, $30 to be specific. Of course, it needed a nice bright festive necklace to go with it.

Hanging directly below that necklace was this one. You know how sometimes you see something and it draws you in, such that you just can't look away. Yes, I am that shallow. This necklace did that. They were two for one, how I could pass it up? Jay is muttering something under his breath about Shopaholics Anonymous. I think work must be stressing him out or something, poor guy.

And because the boys both had really good report cards, I picked up a Christmas blanket for each of them just because. They immediately set up Teddy Bear picnic central in the living room. This is the stuff that just makes being a parent so worthwhile. It's the stuff of fabulous memories.

It's Thankgiving for my neighbors to the South this week, so from my family to yours, may you have a blessed, joyful and delicious (because it's 75% about the food, isn't it?) Thanksgiving!