Happy New Year!

As I begin this New Year's Eve day, listening to the happy sounds drifting up the staircase, recalling the bounty that has characterized the past week, only one word fills my mind: BLESSED! Gratitude has been my personal theme for the past couple of months, and as 2011 draws to a close I find myself especially grateful for this new perspective I've adopted. Our Christmas was far too decadent, and I think we were in part trying to compensate for what was missing this year in not having our usual visits with family. It wasn't necessary. This has been a truly joyful Christmas holiday. In fact, as I attempt to put away all the gifts under the tree, I realize that these are not at all what I think of when I consider what a wonderful Christmas we've had. It was our first one that did not involve any travel. In fact, aside from one trip to town, a Dad/son date and Mommy/daughter date, and Connor's playdate yesterday, our week consisted of the four of us cozy together within the four walls of our home. We played games. We watched movies. We ate lots of turkey. We played with our new toys. We were content. We are content. I am loving this vacation and I don't want it to end!

My Christmas Eve blessings!

But today is December 31, and I cannot stop the New Year from coming! With it comes all sorts of challenges. Chris heads back to work on Tuesday, although thankfully not to the brutal pace that he has endured the past two months. I have a number of resolutions that I am determined to keep this year: more to come about those! Connor and Janelle have one more week off before their busy schedule resumes. Life rolls on and we try to roll along with it. If I allow myself to really consider what lies before us in these coming months and years I know I would find it daunting. But I remain content in knowing that my biggest responsibility is to look to the Lord and His Will and His Ways, and to try to align my own to the center of His. He is the Rock that I want to build 2012 upon.

This afternoon we drive to Oakville to spend the evening with family. I am so thankful we have this opportunity to nurture relationships with Chris's sisters and their families. We'll celebrate the coming of 2012 at Lori and Ben's New Year's Eve party, then bring all the kiddies back to Kate and Pierre's to spend the night and enjoy a lazy New Year's Day. I'll be thinking of my family and friends in NB, and I'll look forward to seeing them again in 2012. But I'll be happy to be spending the holiday exactly where I am.

Happy New Year to all!

Thankful for Old Friends (and New Ones!)

Way too busy to post today! I've been planning a shopping day with two sweet friends for weeks now. They are both took a vacation day, picked me up at 9:30 a.m. and we were off. Jocelyn and I have been friends for 28 years, but I'm so glad she was here in London to smooth my transition. She introduced me to her good friend, Tina, who is now my good friend, Tina! We had a lovely day, got quite a bit of Christmas shopping accomplished, and got home just in time to start my Thursday whirlwind. I met the kids at home, picked up the car from the mechanic (both vehicles now have snow tires — bring it on!), put a pizza in the oven for the kids, took Janelle to dance, took Connor to basketball, stopped at Tag and Chapters for a few gifts I didn't have time to pick up today, folded four loads of laundry, put Janelle to bed, answered the phone when Chris called from the gym and said yes when he asked if I wanted him to bring home Chinese food.

Now there is still laundry to do, and the spare bedroom and kids' bathroom to clean before tomorrow. One of my oldest friends and most faithful blog readers is coming for a weekend visit. I can't imagine doing anything more tonight, but tomorrow I have to be up early to tackle the rest of my mountain of preparation. See you tomorrow, Jules!

Wordless Wednesday: Welcome!

Got the exterior lights up before the first snow, which was falling in big graceful
flakes this morning when we woke up. It's gone now, but we've had a taste.
Thankful!

Loving My House!

It's one of those nights again. The kids are sleeping and Chris is working late, and I'm alone in a quiet house. And I'm loving it. The Christmas decorations are up (all but the trees), the kitchen is clean, the fire is glowing in the fireplace, a "Twisted Peppermint" candle is burning on the coffee table, and I can't imagine cozier place to be.

Those who know me may remember that this house wasn't our first choice. On our second day house hunting in London we fell in love with a house just outside the city. It was one of those moments that you wait for when you're shopping for a new home. I was out of my element, far from home, seeing house after house after house that didn't meet nearly enough of the "must haves" on my list. At the end of the first day I felt so discouraged, but when we drove in the driveway of the first house on the second day I felt like things might be looking up. Nice neighbourhood, beautiful lot, lots of curb appeal. Then we walked in the front door. As soon as I stepped inside I felt like I was home. The more I looked, the more I loved it. And Chris felt the same way. It was perfect for our family. Right in our price range. Just like we knew He would, God had led us to the perfect house. We went back to see it twice before we made the offer the next day. That was when we realized that house was not meant to be ours. The owners really didn't want to sell it after all. Nothing we offered would convince them to sell it to us. It would never be our home.

It took a while for us to get over that house. Yes, we went out again the next day, found this house that met just enough of our "must haves", and bought it that day. It took Chris longer to let go of the other house than me, but it took a long time for this house to feel like "home" to me. I loved the neighbourhood immediately, although I wish our street had a few more mature trees (more than none, that is). We live within walking distance of the kids' school, and nearly every other amenity that we could possibly need, and under a five minute drive from everything else. We found a wonderful church practically around the corner. But the actual house? Aside from the jacuzzi and super-duper shower in the master suite (both of which I fell in love with immediately), the house took me a while.

But now I love my house. We have done a few things that have made it feel much more like our home. First of all, it isn't quite so white anymore. I chose colours that I love and painted the main floor and upstairs hallway. We bought furniture that makes it cozy and warm. We built a play structure and a shed in the backyard, planted trees and put in a garden. It isn't the same house that it was the day we first saw it. Yes, the basement is still a work in progress, but I have faith that someday in the not-too-distant future we will be enjoying that space, too. Our house is a home now. We have made it ours, and it is where we are meant to be. And that is what I'm thankful for today.

My Christmas Book Addiction



They fill a whole bookcase!

Signs that Christmas is coming to our house:

1. Decorations adorning every available surface.
2. Christmas music heard from stereo speakers, piano keys, and children's mouths (and mom's!)
3. Christmas movies whenever we want to watch them.
4. Festive lights twinking outside our windows.
5. And my favourite of all: hundreds of Christmas books brought out of boxes, ready to be read in a cozy chair after school, snuggled into bed at bedtime, or any time we feel like it!

A few of my favourites.

Yes, here is where I make my confession to the world (although all of my closest friends already know), I suffer from a serious Christmas book addiction. It started as a collection, but it got a bit out of hand. We have so many Christmas books that we cannot possibly read them all every holiday season. But I love them! I love to look at them. I love to hold them. I love to read them. And most of all, I love to share them with my kids. And now that I'm not teaching (and therefore not running a Scholastic Book Club — yeah, that was my downfall, all those reward coupons!) I have decreased my influx of Christmas books to only one or two a year. And this year I haven't even bought one yet! Isn't that a sign that I'm breaking free of the addiction? (Unless you count that Barbie's Perfect Christmas book that Janelle bought at the book fair, which you really can't count because #1 Janelle bought it, and #2 it does not meet the standard of my Christmas book collection.) There literally are hundreds. I haven't even gotten them all out this year. I'm sure there is a box missing, but I'm not putting much energy into finding it because I think we can live without those books until next year. I think we have enough to keep us reading until 2012. We have our favourites, old classics and new stories that must be read every year. The kids are happy. I'm happy. The Christmas season has begun.

I'm thankful for Christmas books.

Favourite Christmas Movies

There's nothing like family movie night, and there's nothing like a good Christmas movie to bring on the Christmas spirit! Last night after we got home from the basketball game, the kids decided they wanted to watch Elf, so I dug into the back of the entertainment cabinet and brought out all of our Christmas movies. We all love Elf. We watched it with the kids last year for the first time, and just like then, this time we were all rolling on the floor laughing. It is hilarious! So many one-liners that are just perfect, that we all repeat over and over again. When I came downstairs this morning the kids were watching it again, and this afternoon when Connor and I came home from church, Chris and Janelle were enjoying it again. I'm sure it isn't the last time we'll see it this holiday season. We love it.

After lunch Chris settled into the Lazyboy for a nap, and the kids were starting to act a little stir crazy. It was pouring rain outside, and I wanted to get most of the Christmas decorations up, so I decided to put on another movie for the three of us to watch while I worked away at decorating. This time I chose The Polar Express, another of my favourites. I loved it originally as the beautiful picture book by Chris Van Allsburg, and was thrilled when Tom Hanks and Robert Zumekis made it into such a great movie. Connor shared memories of his Polar Express day in Grade Three, when his class wore their pajamas to school, made train tickets, drank hot chocolate, read the story and watched the movie. There is one part of the movie that frightened Janelle a couple of years ago and she wouldn't watch it last year, but I thought this year she might be ready to try it again. She flinched at that part, but otherwise, she loved it. And I did get some decorating done, but not as much as I had hoped. I spent too much time watching the movie!

There are many other Christmas movies I love: Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street (the original), It's a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon), to name only a few. Christmas isn't Christmas without a viewing of each of these at least once a season. Today I'm thankful for great Christmas movies. What are your favourites?

I LOVE Being a Basketball Mom

Last week I wrote about how I'm thankful that basketball is a part of Connor's life. He loves it, and it is so good for him. Today was the first game day for his team. They played two games in Guelph, one right after the other, so we pretty much devoted our day to driving to Guelph, watching two games and driving home. But you know what? I would not trade today for anything in the world.

I have never claimed to be a sports fan. This is the sixth year that I have driven Connor to practices and games and warmed a bench, usually with a book in my hand. Okay, not during games. During games I usually paid attention to the action, unless of course there was someone to talk to, and then I was often far more involved in my conversation than in the game. I have even declared on occassion (much to my husband's chagrin) that the last couple of minutes are all that really matter anyway.

White number 7 is my boy!

But all that changed today. Today I was riveted! The first game was an easy win. We were ahead from the first minute on, and ended up taking the game 57-12. It was a great way to start, though. The boys' confidence was building throughout, and although Connor wasn't being very aggressive, he was really concentrating on defense, and was getting his hands on the ball some of the time. But it was the last few seconds of that game that took my breath away. My boy caught the ball, looked around, made the decision to shoot, focused on the basket, and sunk a three point shot! Wow! He was so excited! When the buzzer went I could hear other kids on the team congratulating him: "Nice shot, Connor!" "Way to go, Connor". High fives all around. He was so proud! He was still walking on air when the next game began.

It was just the boost Connor needed to get himself in position and sink another basket in his first shift, and another three pointer later in the game. This time the teams were much more evenly matched, and kept within a few points of each other, trading the lead back and forth for the entire game. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat, and so was Chris. So were all the parents. Only Janelle, with her DS and activity books, was blissfully ignorant with her back to the game. In the end, we won by four points, and the boys were pumped! It took quite a while to actually get them off the court and ready to pile into cars and head home. The coach told us before we left that every single player had scored, which is his whole philosophy in coaching. They all took part; they all contributed, they all shared the win. I am a very biased mom, but I think that was the best basketball I've ever seen.

Shortly after we got home, while Chris was preparing supper and I was upstairs hurrying Janelle into the shower, I heard a bounce, bounce, bounce outside on the driveway. I peeked out the window and sure enough, there was Connor shooting baskets in his uniform (shorts and tank — at the end of November), flying high from his victory. Something tells me he'll always remember today.

And I am full of thanks.