New Year's Eve! Some of our small group got together at the Innsville for their New Year's Eve dinner theater. What a great time we had. Dinner was excellent & the murder mystery was very entertaining. When it got close to midnight, hats, leis & noise makers (as if we needed them) were handed out. What a racket we made at midnight! After we all sang Auld Lang Syne, kissed & hugged & toasted the new year in with champagne, some of the tables were moved to create space for dancing. A midnight buffet was also served, as if we had room for more food!

Pictured are, Kathryn & Ron Cornelisse, Jan & Roy Bodden, Janice? & Tony (we met them that night), Tom & I, then we all got our hats, & the last 2 pictures show Kathryn & Jane having a good time dancing.

I got all of the pyjamas finished in time. I had problems with both Brianna's & Zachary's because theirs were bigger & I didn't realize the material was not what was noted on the patterns... grrr. However I did work it out & they turned out pretty good anyway. I hope they all like them. I meant to take pictures of them before I wrapped them up, but forgot all about it.. darn. I'll have to try to get a picture of them later... if I remember!

Today we got together with my extended family for our annual Christmas Dinner! Pauline, Ken & Megan hosted it this year. They were wonderful hosts & made us all feel so comfy. Thanks Pauline Ken & Megan!

Below are some of the people who were there. Not pictured are, Mom, Dad, Carolynn, Tom & myself.

Collage 1: Kerri & Wendy, Stacey & Terry, Brianna, Megan & Brianna & Paige around the table, Pauline & Ken, Megan, Paige, Stacey, Megan.





















Collage 2: Brianna & Megan, Ken with Chloe, Stacey, Marshall (in the kitchen), Terry, Pauline, Kerri & Wendy & Stacey & Terry looking at picture in camera, Pauline & Ken, Pauline & Ken in kitchen.

She evaded my camera, but not Carolynn's. hahaha

After Brianna had opened her Santa gifts, we all got ready to go to Carolynn's for the family gathering. We had a great time.

We missed Jenn, Don, Zachary & Sarah though. They were in New Brunswick celebrating Christmas with some of Don's family.

Pictured below are, Chloe, Paige, Marshall, Brianna holding Chloe, my mom, my dad, me holding Chloe, Tom & Carolynn. Somehow Christine evaded my camera!

Ahhh! Christmas morning. Brianna let us sleep in until just after 6. Thank you Brianna. Actually, I had been awake for a while waiting for her to wake up. She was pleased to see that the carrots, milk & most of the cookies had been eaten & especially that Santa had left her some presents! Woohoo!!

We went to church tonight for the Christmas Eve Service. When we got home, Brianna was allowed to open ONE gift. She chose a small one that contained some new hair elastics. It didn't matter to her what was in it, she just wanted to open ONE gift! Mommy got to open one gift too. It was one that Brianna (with her teacher's help) had made. What a wonderful gift it was too. I wish everyone could see & read the whole booklet.

When it was bedtime, Brianna put out cookies & milk for Santa & delicious carrots for the reindeer.

Today Brianna's daycare closed at noon so I brought her to my home until her mom got off work. We had great fun making Christmas cookies. She was covered in flour! Brianna was very good & helped to clean up afterwards too. Even that was fun for her.

My mom & dad celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary today. Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Tonight we went to a dessert theatre at the church called.. A Christmas Tale. Our own people starred in it, including our own daughter Jennifer. They were really quite good. Tom & I both enjoyed it very much and the desserts were DELICIOUS!

Chloe was dedicated to God by her mom & dad tonight. The Freeway's been talking about values & tonight's value was hope. Both Paige & Chloe were given to Carolynn & Marshall after they had just about given up hope to have children. What a perfect reminder to them (& us) to never give up on God.

Everyone was given a candle. Carolynn & Marshall lit their candles from one representing the hope we have in God. The 4 grandparents then lit thier candles from Marshall's & Carolynn's. We then lit the candles of our other children, & they in turn lit everyone else's candles. It was quite a memorable time. While the candles were lit, Carolynn & Marshall had to respond with their promise to dedicate Chloe to the Lord & to be Godly parents to her & Paige. I don't remember exactly what they said because I was too busy chuckling along with everyone else. The reason for the humour was Paige! Marshall was holding her, & the whole time Paige was trying to blow out his candle. Poor Marshall & Carolynn had a hard time reading.
Too bad I couldn't get a good picture of it.

Dec. 6

Poor Brianna had allergy testing today. She had at least 36 pokes. We already knew she was allergic to cats, smoke & dust. The only surprise was an allergy to dogs as well. Funny thing is, she's been around dogs but has not reacted to them as yet. Hope that keeps up. She was not very happy with her mom or me after the pokes.. can't really blame her but she soon forgave us.
We took mommy back to work & to make up for being poked, I brought Brianna home with me for the afternoon. We had fun making mince tarts & cookies. Brianna got right into her work...even helping to clean up afterwards. (hey! that's part of baking too)

Dec. 3 was Ecodyne's kid's Christmas party. We took the 4 older grandkids & Jennifer, Carolynn & Chloe joined us too. The children got to make crafts... decorating foam Christmas trees & doorknob hangers, wooden Christmas trees, bells, & stars. What a mess! but sooo much fun for them. Unfortunately the glitter glue on most things were not dry enough to take home. They each got an egg with a stuffed toy inside. There was a blind clown who made balloon critters etc. Also a magician... can't say he was all that good though :) but most of kids liked him (I think). Of course the main attraction finally arrived & the stampede was on!

Ok.. so it's been a few days since I last posted. ok.. more like 3 weeks :) what can I say? I'm not a writer.

Jim & Muriel couldn't make it up here until the 26th when the weather cleared enough for them to travel. Although it was nice here, they were getting a lot of lake-effect snow. The open house was a great time. Most of the people showed up around 2pm, & didn't leave until around 9 or 10 that night. John & Sue made it just after we had eaten dinner, but there was still plenty left for them.

I have all my decorating done.. whew!! I don't have all the lights outside done, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do it this year. I used to put lights on the Rose of Sharon bushes at the front of the house, but one of them died after last winter & it would look too off-centre if I just did the one. Maybe I'll look for one of those figures, a deer or sleigh, to put in the empty spot. Or I will leave it the way it is for now. I still have my trees to put up, but I'm not going to do that for a couple of weeks. I wanted to have the rest of the decorations done for the Christmas open house on Saturday. If the weather doesn't co-operate, there won't be an open house... hmmmm all the more goodies for us hahahaha. Cheryl & family won't be joining us now due to children's things.. not sure what. Muriel says they will let us know tomorrow if they are coming or not. John & Sue won't be coming until 7:00 pm as they are both working Saturday. If no one else comes.. we'll enjoy ourselves anyway.

I just received this photo, taken Saturday evening at the dance.

Last night we went to a dinner/dance sponsored by the Social Club where Tom works.
It was a great evening. Of course the people who were at our table made it so enjoyable. Ben & Barb Grant (Ben is Tom's boss but also a friend), Jeff & Marie Woods, Mark & Marlene Anderson.. all really nice folk. Mark won a door prize which was a Christmas moose. Stands about 18" high & is really cute. Barb & I kept trying to shag it, but Mark was too vigilant!

The food was excellent. A lovely buffet with butternut squash soup, different salads, cold cuts, cheeses, & for hot food.. roast beef, turkey & dressing, ham, roast potatoes, delicious pasta, mixed vegetables.. & I can't remember what else. Deserts were lots of different things.. chocolate cake, tiramisu with fresh strawberries on top, cheese cakes, tarts, squares, delicious pecan pie, apple crumble... so much! I was good & only had 1 piece of pecan pie... of course, I would have had a 2nd but it was all gone by the time everyone had gone through .. oh well!

I got to dance this time too. My knees weren't too bad last night & I was fairly careful even while dancing the twist & other fast dances. I'm surprised I'm not feeling it this morning too.. my knees just feel a little tired. Thank Goodness!

Well, that was my fun evening. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Today was a fun day even though it was rainy & miserable. I went to Niagara Falls to have lunch with a friend of mine. Claudia had bought my Christmas turkeys for me. I got 2 - 15+ lb. turkeys for $20!! hmmm Wonder why I like getting them down there!

Claudia is quite a nut (she should be a Martin!) & lots of fun to be with. We had a delicious lunch in the Seneca Casino. I'm not a gambler, but Claudia sure is. She's not exactly poor & she loves to play one of the games there... this time she had a cheer leader. After watching her donate what to me was a lot of money (about $150) we left. She to get her groceries, & me to find my way to KMart & then home. KMart made me wish I had a lot of extra cash.. the decorations & toy departments were amazing. However, all I brought back with me were those 2 turkeys! (last of the big spenders)

Driving was not fun, but it was a good day anyway.

When I got back, I went to Len's Mill to see if they had any flannel I could use. I picked up some that will go well with Sarah's pj's for the 2nd pair of pants. All I have left to do is Zachary's & then to tackle Brianna's. The leftover flannel will make great pj's for the girls dolls if I have time to do them.. if not..there is always next year.

I can hear Carolynn now... Mom.. you haven't added anything to your blog in days!! ok ok.. guilty as charged.

I'll start with last Friday... Nov. 11.. Remembrance Day.

As usual I went to the Remembrance day service with my mom. For a change it was a lovely day. No rain. No snow. Not freezing cold. The number of veterans was down, but the number of people attending was up quite a bit. I was pleasantly surprised. It was nice to see how many young people & school children were in attendance. It won't be important for them to remember unless it is important to those of us who are older.

Today was a great day. It started out with me taking my mom shopping. We went to The Thistle in Burlington for lunch... delicious!!! Mom really liked it too so I think she & dad will have another place to eat out.

Afterwards, I had my picture taken... for the renewal of my driver's licence. I can't wait to see what it looks like.. NOT!

After that we went to Michael's. Mom just loved it there. She found a couple of things she really liked for Christmas gifts. I had a 50% off coupon which I used toward a Christmas gift for someone special. We agreed that we would return another day when we have more time to look around.

I then took mom to get her groceries & then back to her home. It was a fun day.

Chris had called while I was out to see if I could get Brianna as Chris was asked to work late tonight. Of course I didn't mind & Tom Brianna & I enjoyed our short time together.