Tuesday 17 December 2013

A little bit more Christmas and a LOT of snow

It started snowing on Friday, not much, it was kind of like the snow equivalent of drizzle but it didn't stop.  The kids went sledging on Sunday afternoon, here's a couple of shots of them enjoying themselves in the 6 inches or so of snow that accumulated.

And here's a couple of scenic ones instead of Time Lapse Tuesday.

Tom says this is very typically Canadian

On Sunday afternoon we decorated the Christmas tree.  Last year I outlined my usual decorating strategy for a balanced and elegant tree, to recap:

  • Divide your decorations into 2 (or more depending on number of children) boxes with equal amounts of baubles etc. in each
  • Give each child a box of decorations
  • Brew a coffee/pour a glass of wine and watch as your tree is heavily decorated in small discrete patches corresponding to the height of your children with not a bauble in between
I thought we'd go for the same effect this year and got all prepped up but Jacob and Rose had other ideas, here is the finished tree (plus Rose with a hand print tree she made in school).
At first glance it looks like there is even(ish) distribution going on but this is not so, they decided to make a city and have decorated accordingly.  The city comprises a stand of pine cones, an apple orchard, a reindeer farm, a bell shop, a golden bauble shop, silver bauble shop etc. etc, each presided over by an Angel or Santa and has produced an interesting mosaic effect.  There might be some parental re-organisation although it's probably unnecessary/pointless as Rose keeps taking things off and breaking them or lying the character ornaments down flat on the branches for a sleep.  Perhaps a time lapse of the disintegration of the Christmas tree might be an interesting holiday project.

Tuesday 10 December 2013

A Little bit of Christmas

Last weekend we indulged in a little bit of Christmas.

Tom went to the English shop in Burlington on Friday and bought me a pack of 4 mince pies.  Guess how much they cost... $5.75 + 13% hst, thats a grand total of $6.50 or $1.62 and half a cent each.  At today's exchange rate thats just under 1 of Her Majesty's English pounds each.  Wow.  I think they were the most expensive Christmas treats I've ever eaten, good job they were nice.
Just for a comparison and to be sure that English readers won't just shrug and tell me that that's normal I checked out the Tesco website and you can buy 12 of their 'finest' for 2.75.  I have a little request for you out there in the old country, if you chance upon a jar of mincemeat in the sales that has a best before of New Year 2015 please buy it for me and I'll pick it up in March.

On Saturday the kids and I went to Sobeys and met Santa,  you can tell by the antique sleigh parked in front of the deli counter that Sobeys is a classy establishment and look at Santa's luxuriant beard.  The kids were a bit overwhelmed by his storybook-ness, probably for the best as when I asked Rose if she was going to ask him anything (meaning tell him what she wants for Christmas) and she said she might want to know if he had swimming lessons when he was a little boy.

Our final foray into all things festive was a craft activity designed to prevent me from causing suffering to innocent poinsettias this year.  Jacob enjoyed making them and Rose didn't and individually they (the flowers) are not very convincing but the overall effect of the finished bouquet is pretty good.



Friday 6 December 2013

Busy Busy Busy

This has got to be the biggest gap in posts since I started blogging in July 2012.  Many apologies to anyone who's missed it.  We've been very busy, in order to catch up I shall put in a mini post for each missed day.

Wednesday 27 November.  More snow, but not as much as Tuesday.  Spent most of the day waiting for Todd to show up with his snow blower, he did which was a relief as it would have taken me all day to clear nearly a foot of snow off the drive. Also packing and panicking about whether we'd be able to set off on our now obsolete but non-refundable adventure tomorrow.

Thursday 28 November.  Drove up to Barrie through more snow, glad I wasn't driving, for aborted house hunting trip.  Highlight of the kid's day was Eastside Mario's kids meal dessert.  See below for pictorial explanation.


Friday 29 November.  Shopping on Black Friday.  Yes I know, very foolish with children but despite crowds and kids it was quite productive.  I bought a smart and stylish jacket that I love but will only find an opportunity to wear once a year.  Jacob has 2 new/old DS games, Rose got a revolting headband and Tom bought an entire new wardrobe in 1 shop at 40% off and will not have to go shopping again for 2 years.  How do men do that?

Then the kids and I went swimming in the extremely well designed hotel spa.  The pool was small, only 3 feet deep and entirely visible from the very nice hot tub which was too hot for the kids, perfect.

Saturday 30 November.  We went out looking for a second hand book shop for Tom and Jacob bought some awful books of the Worlds most disgusting/scary things.  I discovered that I hadn't packed enough tops for Rose so we also called into a thrift shop and bought a rather fabulous sweater (no photo yet) and some sunglasses.
The Kids and I swam (for the third time) and went to see Free Birds at the Cinema while Tom and Gary went for a Beer.  Jacob enjoyed the film and the seats in this cinema were slightly better designed than those in Sarnia so Rose only fell down the back a couple of times, also the 3d glasses matched her new top so that was a success.

Sunday 1 December.  Drove home via Burlington where we will be moving in the next couple of months.  It took a long time and I would prefer to forget being squashed between the kids in the back of the Camry while Jacob regaled me with facts about leeches, tape worms, horrible skin diseases etc from his new books, but Burlington looks OK.

Monday 2 December.  Went grocery shopping and panic bought expensive Lindt advent calenders as had forgotten all about them.  Went to quilting pot luck lunch and finished a Christmas gift that cannot blog.

Tuesday 3 December.  Was sick.

Wednesday 4 December.  Felt better and spent all day volunteering at School Christmas Lunch (no respecting all religions for that one then!).

Thursday 5 December.  Made final home made Gift for posting to UK (hope it gets there in time) and found this little ensemble posing the lounge.
Wow, don't they look fab!
Today I am blogging and then will be trying to catch up on the mountains of house work that remain undone after my busy few days.