We’re having a Christmas party on Saturday, December 10. You out of towners are welcome to come, please wear something festive (red, green, Christmasy).

I know y’all are going to copy this from me, so please credit me for starting it. 🙂

* When is the best time to open presents? Always open one on Christmas Eve, then the rest go early Christmas morning.
* Have you been naughty or nice this year? Mostly nice.
* Real tree or imitation tree? This year both.
* Favorite Christmas cartoon character? Hermey.
* Did you ever write Santa a letter? For sure!
* Buy any Christmas presents online? Naturally.
* Save the ribbon and paper or rip right through it? Rip rip rip.
* Sharing Christmas with family this year? Just immediate family.
* Ever ride in a one horse open sleigh? No 🙁
* Ever roast a chestnut on an open fire? No
* Favorite Christmas pie? Not a fan of pie.
* Favorite Christmas movie? Come on, A Christmas Story! (but for a non-traditional movie, I have to say The Ref)
* Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night, Angels We Have Heard On High.
* People on your Christmas list; more or less than ten? I’d say it’s 10 exactly.
* Will you have a white Christmas this year? Most likely.
* Do you believe in Santa Claus? Santa’s got the spirit of Christmas, so I’ll say yes.
* Who would you like to kiss under the mistletoe? My hubby, and Elijah. 🙂
* Who gives the best gifts? Geoff
* Do you send Christmas cards? Yes, a ton of them!
* What color best represents Christmas? White
* Do you own any Christmas music? You bet.
* How many Christmas parties will you attend this year? Maybe 1
* Does the postal worker get a gift this year? Maybe, he’s pretty friendly to me. I used to share cookies with my UPS guy.
* Giving a present to a pet? Of course.
* Your shopping: All done, half-way done, just started, not yet started? Half-way.

If you aren’t reading Rick Mercer’s blog….
A letter from Stephen Harper
(warning: may contain bad language, but it’s funny)

Just a bunch of misc thoughts today.

I think we’re going to have a Christmas party. Short notice sure, but we just wanted to gather our friends near. In Irvine, our couples group would get together for a progressive dinner and ornament exchange. In Edmonton, Diane & Glen would throw a Christmas open house, where friends would gather for food. It’s in that spirit, of being with people whose company you enjoy, and laughing and eating. I only wish our out of town friends could be there. 🙂

I sent out all the Christmas cards this morning, and hope they are well received. Though I doubt the letter has much to say that people didn’t know, perhaps they enjoy a refresher of what the year held for us. It’s fun to look back on the year and see all that God has blessed us with. If you haven’t read the letter online, don’t worry, chances are it’s coming to a mailbox near you. It was a bit of a challenge to take the family photo, but nice that we could do it in the comfort of our home.

The coming year holds a few trips I think, for certain we are going out to CA in early June. Geoff was invited by his friend Sean to run in a marathon in San Diego. I am really looking forward to seeing more of San Diego, and hopefully to meet our friends Anna & Francesco’s baby girl Julia. She was born a few months after Elijah. Of course I can’t wait to see all my Irvine friends. And perhaps a trip to Disneyland. We’ll have to see. I don’t know how much Elijah will get out of that.

I also want to get up to Edmonton to see all the new babies, especially my newest nephew or niece. I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to do that, and it will likely be just me & Elijah going up. Perhaps in the summer, or we might push it to fall. It’s all about timing and money. And I probably wouldn’t stay too long, maybe a long weekend. I know, that’s not enough for those of you who can’t get enough of the Armstrongs. But when you add on that I am determined to get to D.C. to see Kelly, it makes for a busy year.

I am hoping that now we have a basement, I can buy Christmas stuff after the holidays for next year. Space has always been an issue until now, and if I can score a good deal (and that is my specialty), wouldn’t it be silly not to? A lot of our neighbors are going all out decorating their yards. We hope to get out in some warm clothes and walk the neighborhood to see what everyone has done. Inspiration for the future, and just to get in family time.

I LOVE that Prime Minister Paul Martin got booed coming onto the field at the Grey Cup. That totally rocked! And the icing on his cake this week, a no-confidence vote. Looks like Canada’s having an election in January. Get out and vote you hosers! (P.S.- visit Rick Mercer’s blog for a funny letter from the P.M.)

Alright, I’m going to sign off now with a quote from Clue.

Mr. Green: But this is ridiculous. If he were such a patriotic American, why didn’t he just report us to the authorities?
Wadsworth: He decided to put his information to good use and make a little money off of it. What could be more American than that?

Kelly often posts quotes on her blog, and since she is in Prague, I will post one on her behalf.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. -Marcus Aurelius

Thanksgiving was great, both of the dinners were very tasty. I love going to Curt & Jan’s, there is always a lot of people, they have a wonderfully large house to seat everyone (12 of us), and you get to leave with leftovers. We played Catchphrase, a staple of Thanksgiving at the Jones’. We got in two rounds of Scattergories before we had to get Elijah home for bed. But he enjoyed himself, he crawled around their floor and played with one of the 4 dogs there. He still needs to learn to be gentle. Thankfully it was a very understanding dog, she didn’t react too much to him pulling her hair.

Geoff prepared our Thanksgiving meal last night, and as usual the gravy was fantastic. No one makes gravy like Geoff. 🙂

We decided that since we have the space, and I really want to put up the tree, we are going to have two trees this year. We dug out Cornelius (the fake tree) and decorated it with all the Hallmark ornaments, a few other store ornaments and ornaments from places we’ve visited. The rest will wait for the real tree, which we will probably buy in a few weeks. I’ll have to take a picture so you can see how it’s worked out. But the real tree will go in the front room, in front of the window, the fake tree is in the living room by the fireplace. Elijah really likes the lights of the tree.

I don’t know if it’s age, or the holidays making me miss loved ones lost, but I really feel like I want to make the most of the time I have with family. I don’t know when I’ll get back to Canada for a visit next, but I would like to try to see family at least once a year. Part of what spurned this was reading my Christmas Memory book. We got this great book the first Christmas we were married, that lets you write how you spent your Christmas, who you were with and other special memories. I was reading about Christmases past, and I missed all the people mentioned. I miss Christmas Eve walks around the Legislative Buildings with Doug & Barry. I miss a big family meal with the Kroliks. Progressive dinners with the couples group. I miss going to Uncle Kim’s, or out to the farm on Boxing Day. I miss being in jammies opening presents with family.

My dream Christmas has all these elements. I’d like to have my friends & family come to church with us Christmas Eve, then all come back to our place for food, and caroling, with Geoff playing his violin. Christmas morning, we’d wake up just the 3 of us, and open presents, then spend the afternoon or evening with family. That is my dream Christmas. And I get to have all my friends and family across Canada & the U.S. there. Impossible, sure, but that’s why it’s a dream.

We’re going to watch the Grey Cup today. Elijah is wearing his Eskimos shirt (thanks Auntie Dawn). Last night we watched The Ref, which is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I’ll close with a quote from that.

John Chasseur: Mom, the TV’s broken. What are we gonna do all night?
Connie Chasseur: Celebrate the birth of Christ!

Bem, Bem, Maria – Gipsy Kings
Sadness Grows – Spirit Of The West
House Arrest – Bryan Adams
Witchy Woman – Eagles
Time (Clock Of The Heart) – Culture Club
Breath – Pearl Jam
Buona Sera – Dean Martin
Wicked Garden – Stone Temple Pilots
Good – Better Than Ezra
Miss United States – William Shatner

Happy Thanksgiving!

First off, let me tell you that I am feeling better today. I am at the hump of the sickness, meaning I’m less clogged, and instead of a sore throat, it feels coated. So I anticipate that tomorrow I’ll be coughing. In any case, I certainly feel well enough to enjoy turkey today. I will try to take it easy though, but good luck if we decide to play a game. Apparently I can be a little competitive and get excited when playing games.

Our turkey meal is set for 2:30pm, which I like. I feel like it won’t disrupt Elijah’s routine. He’s been such a good boy this week, well he’s a good boy a lot of the time. It will be nice to have this long weekend together to spend as a family.

The Christmas cards are mostly addressed (we’re sending out close to 70 this year), all I’m waiting on is the picture we took on the weekend. Since I had grand ideas of being early this year, and that fell through, I’ve going to give you all, my loyal readers, a look at our annual Christmas letter. The photo we took you’ll have to wait for. I also had hoped to get Honey cat to join us in the picture, but if you’ve met her, you know her. There is no way she would have sat still for that.

We’re going to go for a family walk once Elijah gets up from his morning nap. So I’ll close now with a picture of my turkey and a quote from Scrooged.

Earl Cross: All day long I listen to people give me excuses why they can’t work. My legs hurt. My back aches. I’m only four.

I’m sick. I’m nursing a sore throat, and it feels like all the holes in my head are plugged. I have to get better by tomorrow, I refuse to miss Thanksgiving at Curt & Jan’s. My plan of attack? Plenty of warm fluids, resting (while I can), and a nice hot shower. Elijah seems to be better from his cold, now we need to make sure Geoff doesn’t get sick.

Alright, I am going back to bed. Here’s my closing quote, from Friends.

Joey: You can’t have Thanksgiving without turkey. That’s like Fourth of July without apple pie, or Friday with no two pizzas.

We have some friends who live in OR, and they had a son born a month before Elijah. They are pregnant again! Due at the end of July. Exciting, but crazy! While I love the thought of adding to our family, I am enjoying my time with Elijah right now too much to consider a 2nd child. Elijah may not remember this time we spend, but I sure will.

There is so much drama going on right now with people I know, I’m happy that my life is quiet. I don’t have teens being murdered on my block. I don’t have someone breaking my heart or hurting my feelings. I have a wonderful husband and darling son to spend my holidays with, instead of being alone. I am blessed, and I am thankful.

I am also lucky. Today I found out I won a contest I entered, and I found two dimes on my walk this morning. Shaping up to be a good day! 🙂

Tonight House is on (yay!). It is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows, especially since Scrubs isn’t airing yet. I am trying to get House season one from the library to catch up, but you can easily follow the show without it (or so I have found).

Nothing else to say. Bought most of the stuff we need for our turkey brine. Just need to find some fresh sage at King Soopers tomorrow.

I am going to close with a quote from Seinfeld.

Elaine: Oh. So, you’re pretty religious?
Puddy: That’s right.
Elaine: So is it a problem that I’m not really religious?
Puddy: Not for me.
Elaine: Why not?
Puddy: I’m not the one going to hell.