A Few Of My Favourite Things

We just love our little baby Shadow. She is completely delightful, she gives the girls something to agree on, she's too young to be yappy, and contrary to what people warned; it is NOT just like having a humanchild baby. Here's the difference: I get to keep my shirt on at all times- DRY, and as far as I know, its not illegal to lock her in the bathroom and go out for dinner.

This year, I fully embraced the last minute. I worked on more than one gift within the 12 to 24 hour period before the moment I wrapped and delivered those gifts. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

My nieces got chenille pillowcases with their names on them, (unphotographed), my friend Cheri got a framed "raggy anne" (unphotographed), there was the last minute bag that is shown above, and I did a few button collages. There was no pressure, since these were not obligatory gifts, but something that I simply wanted to spend time doing. That time became available after 5:30 pm friday when I knew that my stretch of daycare holidays began.


Brian and I went to the mall on Christmas Eve. That was a highlight, because I love watching the culture of Christmas.
We spent a tonne of time at Chapters where I found a fabulous book on ideas with textiles. Brian bought me the sweetest mug, which has housed an unholy amount of Baileys and coffee since that day.
The girls bought me gifts this year. It was good, because we went to the thrift shop together a few weeks before Christmas and found a number of really great old things. Then the girls wrapped them up and kept them under the tree until Christmas morning. I got a really great pair of tiny, ancient boy's skates which are hung on my front door with a supermagnet from Lee Valley. Jane got me those amazing vintage bulbs in the photo. They are so exquisate that I can hardly bear to look at them. Arianna got me an old bundt cake pan that is perfectly perfect for storing buttons in, an old sparkly star for the Christmas tree, an enamel bowl, and some other stuff. Its a great gift to see your children grow in thoughtfulness for others.

Then if that wasn't amazing enough.... This morning I had the privelege of meeting two fabulous women (Leah,and Leanne ) who happen to be the faces behind two blogs that you can find in my links. If that wasn't amazing enough to have such a wonderful time visiting and listening and cuddling babies in their presence.... It was in the home of my dear cousin Rosella, whom I love more all the time. Her kids have grown into these dads and moms with interesting brains, who chose lovely wives and husbands, and are bringing lovely, sweet children into our world.

And those are just a few of my favourite things this Christmas. I've not mentioned the amazing curry we've eaten, the Christmas eve candlelight service, trying to skate after a lot of winters of not skating, Sammy air banding to "Frosty the Snowman", Micah's new racetrack from uncle Mel, seeing my nieces at grandma and grandpa Kehler's, spending time ALONE (seriously one of my mostest favouritest things), taking my daughter to FutureShop at 5:30 this morning, sleeping with a wee puppy, not potty training other people's children, my crazy stash of gifts from my generous and kind daycare people, playing with fabric and buttons, stacking my new books that I can't wait to read, getting the fridge cleaned out after a seriously long hiatus, drinking wine with every meal, or without a meal, not being bound to the clock, letting Brian do the cooking....................