We love you, Charlie Brown!

(Christmas photos are included in the post below this one.)


Well, the secret's finally out...On Christmas morning, Bryanna and Cassidy were beyond thilled to learn that they were soon to be the owners of their very own guinea pig...a cousin to Ms. Alice in California.

(To be honest, this was my concession to the incessant, never ending, pleading for a new dog. I figured this would be easier...we'll see.)

Nanny and Papa and mommy bought all the paraphernalia that a little guinea pig might need and placed it under the tree on Chistmas morning. Everything except the little furball itself, as the excitment of the day might have cranked up the little one's anxiety level just a notch too high.

But today we were off to the store for Bryanna and Cassidy to choose the newest member of the family. There was quite a group of the little ones, and after looking at the smooth haired variety and the mussed up fur ones, they kept coming back to one that seemed lively, adventurous and daring (leaping as he was over his brothers and sisters to get to food and to dash around the cage). So without further debate, they picked a little white furball (really, he is!) with some brows and gray around the neck and face. And before we had been in the car for more than a couple of minutes, the name was decided...Charlie Brown. When we asked why, Bryanna just confirmed repeatedly that it fit.


When we returned home, and settled him in his cage, he initially seemed quite happy...checked out his food bowl and water, wandered around the cage, showed some energy when the girls carefully held him. Cassidy, was a little nervous at first though that changed quickly, but for Bryanna it was love at first sight...



But then Charlie moved into his house, and there he remained for much of the next 9 hours. No squeaking or squealing, no resistance when we carefully removed him from the cage so that papa could make some adjustments and place the cage on its new table.

Personally, I think he has been in a stress-induced coma...imagine moving at only 6 weeks of age from a cozy warm home with 5 or 6 siblings to the Thompson home where, ah-hem, all is not always quite peaceful.

However, Charlie finally emerged under his own steam a few minutes ago, took a stroll around the cage and headed back in. I figure this will continue for some time to come, but the girls are delighted and being so careful around him...the volume in our home today was actually several decibles less than the norm.

He is very cute, and hopefully when his heart returns to a normal rate, his energy level will also return.

Enjoy meeting our newest family member!



Love to all,

Lianne

Christmas Snapshots

(This is strictly a photo chronicle of our day. See the post below this one for our Christmas wish for all of you.)

The St. Matthew's Christmas Pageant...


Lianne and Bryanna reading at Christmas Eve service; our friends Vanessa and Maddie:

Falling asleep on the way home on Christmas Eve...

Christmas morning breakfast - yum!

Enjoying our gifts...



A mid-day walk to the pond to prepare for the feast! (What a glorious day.)

Christmas dinner - prepared and enjoyed by all...the end of a peaceful, relaxing day.

But there was soon to be a new addition to our family...

See post above!

God bless us, everyone!

At our Christmas Eve service this afternoon, our priest spoke about Peace on Earth...that the arrival of the baby Jesus did not simply represent love and peace, but that He arrived on earth to urge us to take up the call to create peace on earth...each and every one of us, reaching out to our friends and family, to our neighbours and co-workers, to the people in our inner cities and in the middle east and all the war-ravaged places on our tiny globe. With love in our hearts, with peace in our hearts, we can change war to peace.

At this most wonderful time of year, we wish a very Merry Christmas to our dear family far away, and to all whom we love.

God bless us, everyone!

Christmas Construction

My girls have been taking on the roles of architects and building contractors lately.

Yesterday, it was a gingerbread house...a pretty darn good one, I thought, considering it was their first full-size one ever (yes, I know, I've been delinquent in that department)...

Thanks, Auntie Ann, for the kit!

And today they built a fort outside in the beautiful but extremely frigid weather...

It really makes me happy that they are loving all these little enjoyments of the season.

Because, of course, they are not just building gingerbread houses and snow forts, they are building memories and I know that these are the things that they will remember.

This was a great day.

Lianne

Family Time Fun

Tonight was the annual Christmas party for Dad's side of the family...it has grown over the years to include various branches and several generations...tonight there were about 50 in attendance and the age range was 6 months to 80 years!

For Kim and family who are so far away, here are a few pictures of the party to bring you a little closer...

We also know some of our friends are going to love this so we'll start with cousin Jonathan's surprise for the kids...a cart, complete with fluffy bench covering, pulled by his amazing Benjamin! (Click to enlarge.)

Cool, huh???

Cousin Connie Lee (centre in the apron) cooks the meal for the entire group!!! She spends the day cooking a full turkey dinner in the kitchen of the club where we hold the annual family fest!


And the following pic shows Connie (Connie Lee's mom) and cousin Jennifer - Jen and I spend most of the evening every year catching up on 12 months of family happenings. And next to her are her two super sons, Grant and Patrick.




You all "met" mighty Benjamin above, and here is the other end of spectrum, Doris!




(One of the 4 dogs who joined our party tonight!)





Here is Cassidy with her candycane ice cream and sprinkles in a sugar cone bowl.

And beside Cassidy's pic, is the youngest of our clan at the moment, cousins' Rick and Julie's son Scott's son (get it?) and his lovely mom.

Bryanna has been seriously longing for dangling earrings. Hmm, guess what her Christmas present was?



And the party ended with kids playing out in the hallway (that's Grant and Cassidy pouring over a monster maze that he received) as the adults chatted and sang a few songs.



Another lovely time with family though we very much missed those who were far away.

Love to all, and goodnight!

Snow-mageddon!

I know, what a silly overly-dramatic name the weather people came up with. However, at 4:00 this afternoon when I was standing in a gale with snow gusting in my face as I tried to move the 2 foot drift of snow off the driveway with very little success, I kind of agreed. hee hee


K, just for today, be happy that you are in warmer climes!

Now, however, we are cozily inside and despite the storm it is a MUCH happier day (no baking, schools out for the holidays, and lo and behold, B. did well on that math test yesterday!)

Lianne

Detour on the Road to Christmas

Ugh. Why do I do this to myself?

You see, a couple of posts ago I talked about the road to Christmas and how it is sometimes a long road but the kids make it worth it, and the joy and the light and the spirit comes. So this week I was zooming along that road...the kids' school Christmas concert was a couple of nights ago and was lovely...here are some fuzzy shots and a really brief clip of Cassidy on stage...


(B: on the far right..serious but happy)


(C: beige pants, brown topped reindeer, clapping)




...and on top of that fun night, I also finished nearly all the Christmas shopping, my house is decorated and looks good, work is done as of Monday & I'll be on vacation for 2 weeks and snow is on the way - woohoo, white Christmas!

So I decided to have a fun, lovely evening with the kids...I bought a new Christmas CD, planned for Bryanna's favourite dinner (perogies) and bought baking supplies so we could all bake cookies from a new recipe together.

screeeeeeeechhhh!!!!!!!

Hmm. Apparently there was a sign on my road to Christmas saying

STOP! Bridge out ahead!

Okay, perhaps I missed a route marker earlier in the day when one of the recipe ingredients couldn't be found and I substituted something that looked the same.

And, yeah, there may have been bright flashing warning lights a little later saying go back! go back! when I picked up the kids from daycare and daughter #1 was in a really bad mood over a math test today.

But I finally took notice when I caught sight of the emergency vehicles circling around my visions of sugarplums as I overheard my dyanmic duo discussing the kid (@$#!!!*&!) in the grade 1 class of daughter #2 class who carefully and deliberately and harshly laid out the "truth" about Santa Claus today.

And still I kept going...surely Christmas was just ahead if only I could push on a little farther.

*sigh* Two batches of cookies later (varying the recipe) - baked on my own because daughters were doing their own thing and not in the mood for music, lights or baking, and mom had lost it at least twice - I ended up with a platter of these things...what looks like mud patties with bits of crayons in them:



(To see what they are SUPPOSED to look like, see the blog here of Conversations With a Cupcake.)

However, I guess mine taste okay. Bryanna did eat 2.

Maybe tomorrow the bridge will be fixed.

Crazy-Busy Weekend, Part 2

(See post below for Part 1)

It’s always a balancing act to get ready and out the door on Sunday morning in time for church. This past Sunday was more challenging than usual as we wouldn’t be returning home until the evening and had to pack gifts, clothes, food and directions for an event later in the day.

Bryanna was reading a lesson for the first time during the church service and it was a looong one! (Isaiah 61: 1-4 and 8-11). She did fantastically well – clear, loud, and confident (and there are some hard words in that reading!) I think she was overwhelmed with the number of people who came up to thank her afterward for the lovely job she did.

Then we raced over to the church gym to join the rest of the Club Matt children’s program in practicing for the final Christmas pageant being held next week (Sunday, December 21, 10:00 am).

The kids are a hoot and the pageant is a puppet show that has been filmed and edited over the last few weeks and will be shown to the congregation on Sunday. If you’re in the neighbourhood of St. Matthew's, feel free to drop by!

THEN, after church, we got back in the car and headed to Ancaster for our annual Christmas get-together with friends from Bryanna’s china travel group 70 (the reason for the baking I did on Saturday). Knowing this was the final event in our busy weekend, I gratefully accepted a glass of wine from our hosts and collapsed onto a chair for a lovely afternoon…

...the kids played, the adults chatted, we all filled ourselves with a wonderful meal and then sat back and enjoyed watching the kids open and exclaim over their gifts.

When we finally returned home, B. finished up some homework and Cassidy coloured. Later while B. played online with a new Webkinz, Cassidy and I watched Rudolph on television while I finished up my Christmas cards.

This was probably the busiest weekend of our Christmas season this year, but at the end of it all, I felt a warm glow…we had spent time with family and friends, the kids had had a great time, our home was warm and cozy and filled with twinkling lights and music, and in another week I will be on vacation for a nice long stretch.

Ahhh. All is right with the world.

L.