Dec
2016

Everything’s comin’ up Christmas!

fullsizerenderI got to see the CP Holiday this week and we put up the Christmas tree! I am so excited for Christmas.

img_1116He said

As the title this week and Emelia’s intro suggests, this week we became wholly focussed on Christmas. Monday night after work I was down in Waterloo for the night to compensate for a very early meeting at our Conestoga store. But Tuesday afternoon I was back in town in enough time to go with Danielle and the kids to pick Emelia up at school. And with the night off the work, it meant we could take in the CP Holiday Train as it was due to make it’s stop in London that evening. It has been coming through for the last few years, but somehow we’ve never been able to go—either the weather has been terrible or I have had to work. Thankfully this year we could make it and the weather could not have been better!

img_1115Despite it meant having to keep Emelia up after her bedtime, it was so worth having a tired girlie the next day. They closed down a section of Richmond Street where the CP Rail tracks cross, and the train came in completely lit up for Christmas and the car that stopped had a drop down stage and we were treated to an hour of songs by Kelly Prescott and Doc Walker which feature some of their own material as well as some festive favourites. We managed to have a great vantage point and Emelia definitely enjoined it — dancing along to the music. Almost a full hour after her bedtime we had her home and in bed, but full of great festive memories.

img_1112Wednesday was a day about catching up on sleep and taking the evening a quiet pace. Thursday I had the day off work and two of our favourite bands (Great Lake Swimmers and Elliott Brood) were on the same bill at The Aeolian Hall. Against our better judgement, I decided we would take Emelia along with us since she regularly complains when Danielle and I go to concerts without her. No amount of us explaining the reasoning: the concerts are after her bed time and she would be more exhausted and that’s worse than missing out ever suffices. So this time, I thought I’d show her.

img_0799The show was amazing and the perfect mid-week remedy. Emelia was as predicted tired and gained full understanding why we don’t always bring her to every concert we go to. She went to bed close to 11pm and she was deep asleep in minutes. She did say she really enjoyed the show and they were two of her favourite bands and lord knows Danielle and I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

img_0922Saturday was another day off for me, which worked out great as our friends Michael and Paulette were having the grand opening of their bakery they have taken over from the family who ran it and wanted to retire. After we got done Emelia’s swim class we were over to The Artisan Bakery for the open house. They were packed and it was great to see Paulette and Kaleb so happy in this space. We bought tons of yummy stuff after spending a good amount of time visiting with Paulette.

img_0925After that, it was over to Mom & Dad’s to pick up our Christmas tree and decorations so that we could spend the evening at the house putting them up as that has been on Emelia’s want-to-do list for a couple of weeks. Given that we crossed into December, that we wanted to get Gord acclimatized to the notion of the tree, and that I had the day off, we felt it was the perfect time to get the tree up. Danielle threw together an amazing chilli in the Instant Pot and up went the tree, and all of a sudden the house and our spirits were feeling a lot more Christmassy.
fullsizerender-3Today, I was at work and that flew by in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it I was back home with Danielle, and Emelia just as she was off
to bed. Thinking back about the week we had, it was a fantastic amount of festive type things coupled with some music which as far as I am concerned is the perfect kind of week. I am sure Danielle and Emelia agree.

She said

This week was all about getting into the Christmas spirit and getting things done for the upcoming season. John captured much of this weeks activities in his part of the post, it is easy to see why by the end of the week we were all a bit tired, especially Emelia.

img_0932Anyone who knows me knows I prefer things to be organized and done in advance for my own sanity but also to assure that we were always taking things like budget into account. I am so happy to say that other than teacher/coaches gifts I am done my part of the Christmas shopping. All the presents have been purchased, I did a fair bit of shopping on the Black Friday sales and this week everything that was ordered online arrived and I could spend last night and today getting everything wrapped. Even this week our Christmas cards that we ordered arrived so we can spend this week slowly picking away at those and just sit back and wait for the big day to arrive.

fullsizerender-2Emelia is over the moon excited for this year, it is not to say she hasn’t always been excited for Christmas but this year she is crazy excited. She has really taken to the Christmas spirit and the whole ideal that it is about giving and not receiving. It is not to say she still isn’t a child and does have a list of wants for the holidays but this year more than any other she is more focused on what she wants to give others and how she can help others.

img_1166A few weeks ago she was talking to me that she wanted to give more this Christmas and really wanted to give to children who would not have the best Christmas this year. After a few ideas were thrown around she was back to giving back to Merrymount, a charity that has been close to her heart for a while. She brought in her two best friends Anna and Grace and the girls are driving through their classroom a used book and toy drive to donate more resources to the centre who helps families in crisis. She has such a big heart and has really taken to giving back which of course makes her father and I so proud. The next week or so the girls will continue to collect toys and books and before Christmas I will arrange again to come to Merrymount with the girls to bring all that they have collected for the children. I am so proud of our girl.

The rest of the week was about spending time as a family, getting ready for the holidays. Yesterday with John’s day off we got a few more things done for Christmas and did the one thing Emelia has been wanting to do for a while which was put up the Christmas tree and put up the decorations.

fullsizerenderWith the new addition to our family of a kitten this year I wasn’t sure how it was going to go with a tempting tree and a curious kitten. I had hoped to wait one more week before putting up the tree but our little Christmas obsessed child would hear nothing of it. Well that meant the tree was going up. We got home from taking everything out of storage (AKA Helen and Doug’s cold cellar) and spent about 2 hours putting up everything. We simplified things with decorations and stuck mainly with just the tree, stockings and some limited but cherished other decorations. The house is so festive and Emelia is thrilled to have the house all ready. Gordie has been not as curious as I feared, he has a couple moments where he had to be told not to touch the tree but otherwise he is being pretty good.

With the presents wrapped, the return of our elf on the shelf,  the tree up, the Christmas cards arriving and to be addressed and set out it seems we are in pretty good shape for the holiday season – and we have a little girl who just cannot wait!

 

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