So happy we are finally getting to start our holiday celebrations!
He said
Last night was Emelia’s besties Christmas gathering. It was an originally planned to be at Bri’s place but her family is going through some unexpected health challenges for her uncle so Emelia offered to host her friends at our house. It was all the usual suspects – most namely Bri, Belle, and Ashley. But, it went out to some of the extended group as well, but the one we were happiest to see was Carter, Emelia’s bestie that she went to Prom with. He and Emelia remain close friends and he tends to always show up as her ride or die bud. We joke that one day they might be a couple, but they really just are great friends and he is such a good kid.
They had a blast. Danielle and I retired upstairs and gave them full run of the rest of the house. Bri, Carter, and Emelia got the house all decorated and ready for their festivities. There were jello shots, candy trays—basically sugar and sugary adult beverages. Enough to turn a stomach and in some cases that came true. There was a lot of laughter, music and singing. It sounded like they had a great evening and we didn’t see or hear from Emelia until noon when we finally check to see if she was awake.
Originally today we were to be heading down to Kitchener to Testza’s new place for the Teeter Family to have their Christmas gathering but when colds and fevers entered the mix we decided to take the cautionary turn of having the gathering in London at our house to allow those that are sick time to get better and those that are not, to not get sick going into a very busy week with work, family and friend gatherings. Quickly we got it all sorted out and organized yesterday afternoon. While it would be nice
This week, I crossed another cycling milestone I thought was possible but highly unlikely. The goal for distance ridden this year was a lofty 12,000km and I managed to hit that about a month ago. Crazily 13,000 all of a sudden got very real and very close surprisingly. This week – Friday specifically – I managed to smash through that number too! I am blown away at the numbers I have hit just be being stubbornly persistent about it. In the last three years I have done: 9,221 in 2023; 11,840 in 2024; and, currently am at 13,047 in 2025. In those three years I have ridden a total 34,109! That number astonishes me and I am super proud of it!
Tomorrow is my last day of work before having the next three days off work, returning for a closing shift on Boxing Day. It will be really nice to have the three and half-ish days off to spend time at a slower pace to celebrate Christmas with Emelia, Danielle and any other friends and family we can find. This time next week our focus turns to turning over another year!
She said
After a crazy few weeks for Emelia she was happy to be done her first semester finals by Tuesday this week. She was burning it at both ends for weeks, so much so that she crashed early Tuesday night and did not wake the next day until 3:00 in the afternoon. Needless to say she really needed it. The rest of her week was wrapping up cheer training and getting ready for her friends Christmas party. As John mentioned the party was much of the regular group, what started out as a the girl Christmas party but as in high school it meant adding in Emelia’s guy bestie Carter. Emelia and Carter were attached at the hip all their last year in high school. They were together so much I think most people assumed that they were a couple. But nope they are the best of friends. Once they were done high school Carter quickly moved up north for the summer for work, and then he was back from school and they all quickly started back to school. Carter was off the Fanshawe, Emelia and Bri were off to King’s and Belle and Ashley did another semester in high school. So they would still talk, they would see each other at things like Homecoming and parties but not nearly as much as they once did.
With exams all tied up they were planning and the larger group of friends were getting together and happily for Emelia, Carter was able to come. They did not miss a beat, they were right back where they left off in high school. The chirping, laughs and love was all still there for all of them. Emelia when the plans moved to our place asked if her friends could crash here, of course that was not an issue. In the end only Shai and Carter stayed over. Shai crashed early and left Emelia and Carter to stay up until the wee hours and catching up. We asked Emelia this morning what time they fell asleep last night, when the answer was I don’t know we knew that it was at least 4:00 in the morning.
By noon they were up and Carter had to head home so we could get ready for our Christmas family gathering. The plans for Christmas shifted suddenly yesterday when Testza told us that Jeremy’s two kids were both sick so going to Kitchener was not a possibility. John and I offered to host and with a few minor edits we were able to quickly shifted and just wrapped up the best Christmas celebration. We were all gathered around the table to celebrate as a family. Another first Christmas without one of our family members, as we said in all our messages back and forth planning today that all we needed was to be together. More than most families this family knows how short life is, how you cannot take for granted that the next holiday together is guaranteed. The house was loud and full of love and would not have it any other way!