Making The Most

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!