The 12 Events of Christmas.

Well another Christmas come and gone. Fun was had by all and now all that remains is overflowing toy boxes and a copious amount of material to be recycled.

Christmas seemed to be a drawn out event this year. The first event that was Christmasish was our 2nd annual care group gingerbread decorating night. Fun Fun Fun and some nice looking houses.


2nd event was Fred's Christmas Party. It was fantastic! His company flew up to Phoenix for the weekend and it was great. My mom came up to stay with the kids and we were footloose and fancy free. We rented a car directly from the airport and ended up with a brand new dodge charger. Equipped with a borrowed GPS we set out to shop. It was fun to have no obligation or agenda for a weekend. No bums to change, no nap times to interrupt the day and no melt downs or sibling brawls. I will admit I missed our two blond kidlets very much and was quite anxious to return to get some great hugs. I don't know if I could go longer then 2 days without them....Not yet anyways.


3rd Christmas event was the kids party at Fred's Work. We went to playtopia in Okotoks and was great fun. Complete with a visit from a very believable santa! Samantha was over joyed after receiving a Tinkerbell doll and suddenly would talk to everyone to show it off.

4th Event. 1st Annual Care Group Christmas party. We invited others from Church to join us and had a pretty full house. What a grand time. We borrowed the idea from a good friend and had a White elephant gift exchange. People had to bring a item they already owned- no money was to be spent. Then we played one of those games when you could steal or pick new... Fun Fun Fun. Some gifts were a 50's radio, a petrified tarantula, books, Bible on tape. So Fun. The rules were nothing could remain at our house. We did however open our fridge to find a tarantula. Payback will be interesting!! Another fun thing we did was invited people to donate the money they would have spent a present for the gift exchange and donate it to our cause. We decided to pool some resources and bless a recently single mother with some Christmas surprises for her and her son.

5th Event. Our Mom's group baked and Decorated Christmas Cookies.


6th Christmas event. My mom's Company throws a kids Christmas party that they invite grandchildren too. So our family and my sisters family go down from Calgary and niece April from Medicine Hat joins us also. So we all spend the afternoon swimming at the leisure centre followed by a pizza supper and of course a visit from Santa. This santa no so believable. Very fun event and I can't believe the company buys a $30 gift for each kid and grandchild. Also swimming and pizza for everyone. So Great.




7th Christmas Event. Christmas with my Dad. While in Medicine Hat we celebrated with my Dad. We joined this with a little Birthday Party for my niece April who turns three today!! Complete with Ice Cream Cake.


8th Event. Christmas Eve at our house. My sister and family and my Mom and Buba(her long term boyfriend that our kids call Buba) and my cousin and her boyfriend and My Aunt and her kids. We had a appetizer night and all ate too much. We also made a castle Birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. We had a little mishap with the color but it still tasted great.


9th Event Christmas Morning. A grand event of blur of wrapping paper and smiles that light up my world. Followed by a time of unpackaging adult proof packaging, followed by a time of sorting disgusting amounts of cardboard and plastic to recycle.

10th Event. Opening presents at My sisters house. The kids each had a present from my Sister but mostly watched Cam and Reece open there gifts from Granmda who had slept at our house. Also got to give Grandma her gifts which I think we did good on.

11th Event. Turkey Dinner. This is its own event because it was amazing. My sister got a Fresh Turkey from Sunterra Market and they smoked it on the BBQ. It was fantastic coupled with Garlic mash potatoes that my Brother in Law makes the absolute best in the world. My brother in Law took the picture below, doesn't it look like a photo from a magazine? It is not though- that is the actual turkey we ate. Yummy!


12th Event. Off to Fred Parents. We arrived after they were done there meal and got to see our uncle and cousin before they left to feed puppies. Then had a little present exchanging there. We gave our gifts to Grandma and Grandpa that we joined with 2 of Freds siblings to buy. They seemed excited with the gifts so Yahoo!

Very exciting times. So fortunate that we have family nearby and that we got to spend time with so many of the people we treasure. We did miss not seeing my younger sister Jessie and Fred sister Jenny and her family. That would have made Christmas the best ever. We enjoyed the kids joy immensely and our so thankful for them. By far our greatest gift. We are happy that we were able to pick out gifts that our loved ones appreciated. We are thankful for the opportunity to bless a family becasue we could. We had fun times with Friends new and old. We value the reason for Christmas and what it means to our souls and try to spread that Love and Joy to others.

1 year

Today marks one year since my Friend Stephanie passed away. She was 28 and she died of ovarian cancer. Although we had drifted apart and let life happen and were not close in recent years - I miss her a lot. I always thought there would be time to reconnect..... I think of her often. It just doesn't seem fair.

I was in Medicine Hat this weekend. In the recent years whenever I would go to Medicine Hat I had thoughts of calling the girls and trying to connect. This weekend I visited her grave. It seems surreal. Because I hadn't seen Steph in a couple years it just doesn't seem real.

There is a Church in Medicine Hat that is rather famous- well to Medicine Hat standards. Everybody knows it. It is St Patrick's. It is located on Riverside. This is the neighborhood I spent my first twelve years in. This Church roof line can be seen from everywhere on Riverside. It was a fixture in my Childhood. But I never went in it. I wasn't catholic. After I became a church goer myself my Friend Steph often asked me to go to mass with her. She wanted to go the Saturday evening versus having to wake up on Sunday Morning. I went at first because I wanted to learn the difference between the catholic faith and my new found faith- and I wanted to see the inside of that church. So I went with her probably half a dozen times. Then the next time I went was for her wedding and then I last went again for her funeral. I can't see the church without thinking of her. She was a pretty amazing person. She was Beautiful, Funny, Sarcastic, Kind, Blunt.- She had a particular affirmation for public flatulence. She was one of a kind and I will remember her till we meet again.