a lot of christmas but not all of it

christmas... did i really not write anything for the whole month of december? yep. i really really didn't.  

i had a nice and of course sometimes crazy christmas this year.  i love being in the cantata because it helps me get in the spirit. i love singing with super-star rich alto-ess krystal.  her voice is so beautiful and strong.  my favourite song we sang was the hallelujah chorus.  krystal very much disliked it because we were not very good at it.  we needed more practice.  but that song is so powerful.  it didn't matter how poorly we sang it, i cried almost every time we sang it.  and i studied the scriptures from the messiah, inspired because of my connection to that song.  and it was so good.  so good to me.  sweeter than honey.  i did some posts about it on the so called family scripture blog... :) before christmas got too crazy.  wuuuut christmas is not crazy.  people are crazy.  i'm crazy.....hahahha ahh.... ahem.

                                       

we are not blue from lack of oxygen or because we are smurfs or any other reason but that blue lights are shining on us. (melissa, krystal and i.  i feel that melissa and krystal are supah cute in this pic.  i also appreciate that over my shoulder is the good fairy aka. melissa's husband and over melissa's is shauna's husband who looks like he is a bad fairy (but probably isn't))

so anyways after the cantata i almost forgot about the christmas devotional but the key thing is that i didn't forget.  so that was good.  the next project to tackle was my work christmas party.  we were expecting 150 people.  but we got around 100.  that week was just a blur of work and prep and cooking and exhaustion.  our main meal was maple glazed ham with toasted marshmellow yams (sweet potatoes for dad) and roasted lemon parm brussel sprouts.  vegetarians got a roasted tomato and mushroom and spinach goat cheese tart.  some people called it pizza.  i got mad at said people.  the big issue on the day was oven space.  so we made the swee-yamatoes the day before (this was not fun.  i had swee-yamatoes dried on me for days afterwards.  no i did not shower the whole week.  just kidding i did, that's where i discovered it.) and the day before that we trimmed and halved 52 lbs of brussel sprouts.  yeah, that is a mountain of brussels buddy. on the day of the party i had 5 crock pots of glazed ham in various spots all over the clubhouse because our electrical can not handle too many crock pots per area.  i kept sending lindsay and kaz all over to check on the ham.  one in the kitchen, 2 in the office, one in the thrift store, one in connie's office, and one in the clerical unit. :).  then the sweet spuds went in the oven, and were promptly tooth picked and foiled by beryl to keep warm.  then the tarts, and last were the brussels.  in the end we had so much food left over i let all the helpers eat twice and they gorged on it on the weekend, took it home, and still there was more left over.  after the dinner was the dance where there were snacks (that anyone wanted a snack made me mad, truth be told) and desserts.  it was a 12 hour day and by the end i was so exhausted.

the next week i only worked 2 days before i was on vacation.  kaz got another job in the usa and so he's leaving us pending visa success.on my last day we exchanged gifts. i got lindsay and she got me.  kaz and pascale got each other.  i got lindsay a gift certifricate for her favourite store aritzia and i made her white chocolate macha sugar cookies from my christmas edition of bon apatit.  i saw her drooling over them one time, so yeah i'm cool like that. she got me a lovely scarf, some body mists, a christmas mug and a candle.  

ginger drink is the bestest!

i was so ready for vacation. i had this idea to make natalie an 'N' to put on the wall of her room.  dad said he had some wood and he would help me cut them out.  by the time i got to ma and pop's i had decided why not do one for michealah and elizabeth too?  it's not right to leave mom out of the letter making party so i showed her the style of letter i wanted for each girl and she drew them on the wood for me.  then dad jigsawed them.

and i helped!  you can tell from my safety goggles that i mean business.  you can also see my new scarf ala lindsay.

 i spent a number of days at mom and dad's working on ze project. on this particular day my ring (that i bought myself while christmas shopping--cardinal rule broken) matched my sweater perfectly and i admired it while i drove.  now you can admire it too.

the sides of the letters are in gold.

saturday i stayed late painting coats and waiting for them to dry and painting more coats.  

sometimes i felt tired and discouraged and sometimes i felt my hair matched dad's chair.

 another day, i stayed to work on ze projject while mom and pops went to baby sit for tracy and jojo (one can alternatively say this nickname with a spanish interpretation --hoho (christmassy))  after they left i went around the house and documented some of mom's christmasness.

the pinecone christmas carolers led by a pine cone mom and dad:

the notorious scented pine cone basket made by me after a craft fair visit with slavica at beban park, and kept alive by mom since the early 1990s. 

mom's babies watch over the christ baby.  i can't help it if i'm the cutest one.

  cinnamon pine cones in the bathroom.  mom is out of cinnamon. she can't find it anywhere.  help her.  help christmas.  what am i sitting on?? the bathroom throne of course.

 a mom and dad bear grace a poinsettia and christmas lights wreath over the wooden sign bethany and i made them for outside their front door. do you think the 'C' is too big???

after documenting i turned off all the lights in the bathroom except the pine cone lights and listened to the radio version of the christmas carol while languishing in a hot n steamy bath.  a luxury a girl with only a stand up shower doesn't get often.  when the water would cool i would add new hot water.  when the hot water was gone, so was i.

another day: by this time i had a new phone.  praises be.  i caught mom and dad in the living room just about to read from one of their books on the atonement.  i joined them.  sarah texted me that she was sad she wouldn't be with us all for christmas. i said we were sad too.  then i told mom and dad to make sad faces and i took a pic of us all at the same time...

 so on thanksgiving bryan complained that he was the only one without an owl.  so i made him one.  and i wanted to give it glasses so mom gave me a pair of hers that she doesn't use...

 dad philosophizes in the background, "in my day owls bought their own glasses!"

  this is my christmas advent calendar that i robbed and plundered before the middle of december. and these are my christmas pomwonderfuls, one of which i just cut open this morning and sucked the delight right out of it like a dementor who survives on wonderful.

well sunday came and we had our christmas program.  our choir did alright.  krystal said so and she doesn't lie about things like that.  i constructed my whole outfit because i wanted to wear a turquoise bow in my hair...  after church i had a cozy and a delish nap.  

 you may think that i'm a present under the tree and i am.  

a while after my nap i went to the ferry to pick up one amy leigh aka speshul.  amy was tired.  amy wanted to go to sleep.  but i wanted her to decorate with me and guess who won?  me.  and guess who enjoyed herself.  that's right.  amy.  familiar pattern...  the truth is, it was nice to decorate with someone.  gave me a stomach for it. (say stomach like you're from yorkshire). 

 then i let amy sleep in my room with the christmas tree lights on and i watched some christmas movies while i wrapped some presents in the kitchen.

one was the nativity.  i love that movie.  and another was journey to the christmas star, which i realized afterwards was a scandinavian story.

next morning this happened:

we decided that it would be extra extra special and christmassy to go out for breakfast and so we did.  we went to ricky's and we did not regret it.  i had a 3 cheese and mushroom omelette with stuffed hashbrowns and sourdough toast.  yummers!  amy had naught with benni sauce on the side.  she's like that.  we delighted in our yummies and never needed to eat again until supper.  after that i did my last five minutes of tanning... oh yeah.  i joined that curious population who use tanning beds.  because...well... i had a rash.  an itchy one.  pityriasis rosea isn't pleasant.  anyways i was getting pretty golden brown all over.  in spots that never saw the sun if you know what i mean... the tanning ladies knew me by name and i had my own purple goggles that i kept there.  the tanning lady said all the girls pick purple and at that point i wished that i had chosen green.  durn it.  after basking in artificial rays amy and i went shopping.  she hadn't shopped a drop yet!  i had to get mic and a nat some clothes.  we lucked on some good t-shirt finds for fubman in old navy.  amy told me he wanted to show off his hour glass figure, which gave us much jul-tide merriment, although not as much as bum 3.  we giggled as we imaged shawn with a big booty and a cinched in waist under broad shoulders.

soon i dwindled in unbelief... but we trudged on.  there comes a point during the holidays that one despairs of malls.  amy and i also despaired of our appearances because we both chose unwisely that day to slum it with our hair and every mall mirror reflected the start truth of what we had done to us.  i bought something for lisa at sephora and got a free sample because of my points. so i got a little velvety matte red lipstick.  amy and i sat down outside of sephora to see if its charms would bless our visages.  let's just say that it blessed amy's but mine was beyond blessings. never mind.

steaming cup of ginger

 the caption for this photo is "dead"

 i sent this creepy pic to fatima. she said it was the creepiest pic anyone ever sent her and that she couldn't even look at it. lol.  this gives me a lot of pride and joy.

when the shopping was done we went home and tried to have a 30 minute power nap but it was repeatedly and hopelessly interrupted by judy on the phone and judy at the door.  so i got up and finished packing (i was weirdly almost done the day before), cleaning up (ie dishes and litter box) and amy lugged item after item out to the car.  before too long we were on our way to surrey first to pick up the letters (thanks to mom for touching up the painting on sunday as i lay like a present under my tree) and then on to chillywack.

unbelievably katie and brent's house was the one with a giant blow up santa outside.  i didn't take a pic but i should have.  inside we people were eating the most delicious version of shepherd's pie.  a version made with left over turkey and trimmins with cheese too.  some people, mic and nat, do not like stuffing.  what a sad existance...

after dinner i went with katie and the girls to deliver secret santa cookie packages to people's door steps.  there was a considerable amount of teenage angst, and there was laughing and breathless tales of running from door steps, and admiration of lights along the way.  elizabeth tucked her copper hair into a toque, explaining that if they saw her hair through the window they might think there was a fire.

natalie kindly gave me her bottom bunk to use for the duration of my stay.

 and i was so excited to look over this:

it's a book i made for mom.  it's a scripture journal.  it has blank pages and pages with pics i took and scriptures i paired with the pics.  it turned out beautifully i think.  i got it sent to katie's because i wasn't sure when it would arrive. if you would like to preview the entire book i think you might be able to here.   or here i started this book at 4 in the evening on december 10th and finished it at 4am on december 11th with little break. (it had to be ordered by the 11th) it was an emotional and spiritual experience and by the end i was fried of brain. i missed a scripture for two pictures.  one for andrea and dean's pic and the other a leaf.  mom can chose her own for those. :)

queen elizabeth herself 

 the next day we did all the shopping that chillywack and 'buttsford could afford us.  but first we had breakfast.

 and some of us squished it into our toes...

katie tricked me into going to cyattonwood for 'one' thing.  but i found my final gift--a my little pony blanket for the queen.  and we battled with the old ladies of sears.  katie found an online deal for a suit for a hundred bucks.  me and her were going halfsies.  the ladies tried many things to try and dissuade us.  their tricks included disappearing when we were about to show them the online deal.  and then chris who pretended to be helpful explained that they needed a hard copy for their accounting, and they couldn't print it out, we had to.  and then she continued to show us other suit combinations for double or more of the price we wanted.  not to be deterred we went home and had lunch.

and i had a much needed shower... (vo) and then we all went to 'buttsford.  this is where while helping michealah and natalie find gifts for their mom and searching for a purse for brent to give her, i yet again dwindled in unbelief.  but amy, after some time on her own, and being tricked into buying a nail care set, felt refreshed.  she came to my rescue and together we found katie exactly the right purse at aldo, one i had missed before, because i had been blinded by stiffords.  that night we wrapped a few more...

i don't know who's this is and what it is, but i know that it is good. and i know that it was opened because i got the orange ribbon back.

i stayed up until 2am i believe.  pff.  pfff, i say.

christmas eve day was not a day i ever saw.  amy left to get fubman and i started my long day of wrapping and helping others wrap.  natalie was a very good apprentice.  katie and i made a yummy chipotle and sausage amongst other things chili to have with fritos underneath and cheese and sour cream on top. brent made his yummy caramels with a hint of peppermint and a handful of fateful marshmellows.  mom and dad left home without the perogies and had to turn back.  the sister missionaries came and katie kept us wrapping until the bitter end before the table had to be moved out of the kitchen so it could be extended.  we had a yummy meal of perogies and frito chili pie.

we went caroling.  the first couple of places weren't home but the rest were and we had fun like always.  some people gave us cookies and drinks or chocolates.  a guy named pierre with a little dog named sunshine inexplicably joined us along the way.  he introduced sunshine to everyone and even asked for treats on her behalf.  pierre and sunshine ended up coming back with us to katie's for the end of the night candle program.  i barely got my candle statement out without crying because i feel like i've been given a special gift this christmas, not that i can explain it very well, but i know that i have.

after the program the serious wrapping began.  katie and i were joined by amy and shawn, and mom, and michealah all in a frenzie of wrapping.  soon they all melted away to their beds and only katie and i were left.  i wrapped for dad, i wrapped for brent, i wrapped for...shhh...(santa).  we wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and searched for boxes and became silly with what we wrote on gift tags...

one of my faves was a joint effort by katie and i.  it said "to my piglet from your porkchop" (to mom from dad) this creation, mostly katie's genious, sent us into gales of tired giggles for quite some time.

 dad picked this one up by the ribbon on christmas morn.  like the ribbon was a handle.  and i reprimanded him for it and he reprimanded me for reprimanded him and the cycle continued...

sometimes a ribbon stumped me.  at one point i fishtail braided some yarn to use as a ribbon.  it was the most ridic looking present but i liked it.  

this is it.  i saved it for future generations.

when we finished it was christmas morning and almost 6am.  biffy would already have been awake, durn her, dearrrr dearrr child, chin cup.  katie and i stumbled into bed for a two hour nap.

  it doesn't look like a lot but it is ok.  it's a big tree and they're stuffed all underneath and around.

 then we opened our stockings and presents and everybody got good things including me.  this year i was very blessed in the jewelry department, especially earrings which is nice because i've been wanting more earrings.  but bracelets were not far behind. i also got lippies, and leg warmers, a soft grey eternity scarf, a huuuuge step up from my 8gb memory card aaand...

 i'm excited about this.

katie and i made the overnight coconut french bread that karen so kindly turned us on to.  it was a yummy addition to christmas morn.

after all the morning glory i eventually made my way back to bed and slept until 4pm when katie woke me up.  i chopped my broccoli and we all went to doug and delanies and had a late christmas dinner.  it was late because things happened and this is our family we are talking about.  i mashed delanies sweet potatoes and added sugar and butter and cinnamon and i think i made them quite tastey.  doug gave me the extra lemon i needed for my broccoli.  i am deeply indebted. dad carved both turkeys and mom did useful things that cannot be repeated.

where is the bun? i et it.  brent's gravy was divine.  tracy's stuffing was a star player on the plate.  those are my commentaries.

 i am trying to show off a bracelt from amy and danglies from natalie here but really i am just showing off my new phone.  hi phone!

i forgot to say that weirdly i pulled a muscle in the arch of my left foot really badly from my 7 plus hours of wrapping on christmas eve.  i guess i sitting on the balls of my feet for long periods of time and not noticing it.  i spent the next couple days noticing it.

boxing day was a day of lounging and eating left overs and treats.

 o'mally is seen here longing for a nutella jar of his very own.

sarah taunted me with this and so i sent this back:

katie makes the yummiest peppermint bark.  please note her christmas cardigan.

katie and i went for an evening walk/limp and when i came back i took this pic of me.  note my christmas grey.

then queen and i took a series of candy pics...

while katie tried out her hot new boots (from me! only 27 bucks!) and other christmas outfits.

here she is in...gasp! leggings!!

 sass much?

then we tried to watch some of north and south but katie was too tired. she tried my suggestions of knee raises and arm pumps and upper cuts and jabs but it was no use.  we went to bed.

next day we indulged natalie's new found obsession for pride and prejudice before watching north and south.  then it was time for me to leave because all good visits come to an end.

on my way home i stopped to see fatbud and we exchanged gifts.  she gave me a pretty and unique necklace to  complete my christmas jewelry collection.

and then i came home to my kitties and my cozy but very chilly home.  judy left a thermometer for me. 10 degrees inside.

ps. i'm the 1st counsellor in young wheemins now.