Merry Christmas to YOU!!

Wishing all my wonderful friends and family a very Merry Christmas! Peace, love, health and happiness for all!

Love Char

Christmas Eve Setback

Christmas Eve is a busy day in general for people. We usually have an easygoing day, but still full with traditions - we bake, watch White Christmas, Christmas stories and family time.

I was baking a ham, Sean's fave, and getting things ready when Sean yelled for me to grab a bucket. Out of the hood of the range water was trickling out - at a fast pace I might add. This is not something we needed - especially on Christmas Eve! We have had a lot of snow and it was raining out. I thought we were going to have serious water damage somewhere but was trying to maintain calmness.

Sean removed the hood of the range and found.......

....yes, that is a birds nest. The whole time I kept saying, "Please dont let there be a bird there, please don't let there be a bird there!" No bird, just some feathers.

We cleaned it all up and in the process I found TWELVE cookbooks that I haven't looked at or used in years. So they will be freecycled. But more importantly, no more leak!!

We didn't get around to watching White Christmas because we were behind "schedule". Still lots of wrapping to do. White Christmas will need to be another day.

Happy wrapping, happy santa tracking, happy night to you!

Laughing, Scrapping and more Laughing

I spent a fabulous day in Mississauga with two freaking fantastic women - Lee and Cyn!

Cyn came up from Georgia to visit her family in Guelph so we HAD to plan a scrapbook day! We went to this store called Scrapalicious - if you haven't been there, you MUST check it out. It is a husband and wife team. We had the pleasure of scrapping on a day when the hubby was there - his name is Mike. He is wonderful! He actually did me a HUGE favour of picking up a movie for me that I had forgotten to buy, which meant I had to do it on Christmas Eve - the WORST day to shop! But he had errands to run and said it was no problem!! How sweet!

OK, back to my girls. It is so amazing to me when women can get together and talk....about ANYTHING. Nothing is ever off the table, our conversations are always so frank and we can throw out opinions with no holds barred and still laugh and smile with each other - even if we dont agree! We even talk about taboo subjects - politics, religion, money, you name it, we can discuss it! It is so refreshing.

Our intention of the day was to scrap together. But I think we gabbed and laughed more than anything! We were there 7 hours and I got one page done - LOL. Regardless, it was so much fun.

And of course, there were Christmas gifts! I love the reactions I was able to capture from them!

For Cyn, I got her the Tonic Border Punch set that she has been wanting and had on her wish list. I think she was surprised.....what do you think?

And for Lee, hers was a non-scrapping gift (perish the thought, eh?!?). A couple of months ago, Lee had a tragic event occur in her kitchen - her pampered chef food chopper passed on in an accident LOL And when we had stayed over for dinner one night, her thermometer joined the chopper. So I had been hoping neither had been replaced - luckily they hadn't! So I bought Lee the chopper, a thermometer, mini recipe book and a "Believe" ornament.

Now, I already knew what Cyn was bringing for me, but to see it in person is much different than a webcam. LOL. Cyn made me a beautiful altered "C" and an altered notebook for my sketches and quotes!! They are beautiful! She also gifted me a sketch magazine now that I have been sketch cured! Lee also gave me a wonderful generous gift certificate to Scrapalicious, which I had NO trouble using thanks to the enabling! My sincere thanks to you both.

Here is a pick of my presents:

And here we all are! The cupcake pillow is there because that is the store logo.

I was sad to see our day together come to a close. We had so much fun and I didn't want to leave. But we were getting hit with another snow storm so we needed to head out. It took me 3 hours to get home, but it was so worth it!!

To my Cyn and Lee - thank you for a wonderful day, you are true friends and I just love ya!

My Boy and Santa

A Family Tradition

Every year my family carries out a tradition. We have dinner and we hang our "Name Balls" on Mom's "Do not touch" tree. Santa does not visit this tree, it is only for admiring ;)

My sister Dawn and I have balls (I usually call them bulbs, but people think I mean lights), anyway, we have balls that are dated 1982. That seems like forever ago! We all also have personalized balls that we hang.

My ball from 1982

Everyone gathers in the living room and one by one, Mom calls your name and you hang your ball on the tree. There is often competition to have your ball front and center, or at the very top!

Jonah loves when his name is called!

Jonah shows off his name ball.

Jonah hangs his beside his Momma's ;)

Jonah also loves to watch Papa's special train run around the Christmas Tree. And of course, we have to have a family picture for the scrapbook!

Christmas is such a magical time and it is my favourite time of year. Sometimes traditions fade and it really is a shame. Whatever traditions we have with Jonah, I want them to last and be meaningful, just like my family traditions growing up were. I remember my Dad reading to my sister and I on Christmas Eve. The last time we did this, I was 22 - YES 22!! It was the year before I was married. And in all honesty, I really miss it.

So here's to all family traditions! May they be passed on thru all generations.

Do you have traditions? I would love to hear about them!

Sweet Gesture = Mail Present for me!

What a pleasant surprise I had in the mail today. It has been a yucky week with me having this chest infection and feeling so drained and just plain BLAH. But today I had a great pick me up!!

In the mail was a package for me!! It was a very thoughtful and generous gift from Kari Ann, whom I had met at Feeling Scrappy. Kari Ann has been one of the very talented gals who have inspired the change in my scrapping style. She is also so very sweet and I miss the daily chat with her!

So what was inside, you ask?

THIS!

A FISKARS Leave it to Weaver Border Punch!! How great is that!!

Kari Ann knew I had wanted this punch (after she enabled me on it! LOL) and she went out and picked it up for me! I knew it was on its way because KariAnn needed to know where to send it, but it was still a nice surprise for me today.

So thank you Kari Ann! I promise to make a wonderful layout and send you a picture of it!!

MWAH!!

I missed the moment :(

I am such an idiot. Maybe I can blame it on being sick, I don't know.
I had created a special video message for Jonah from the big guy - SANTA.
It was offered thru Sympatico and it was free of charge. Even better, it was personalized. You put in your childs name, province, age, something he wants for Christmas and something he did this year (i.e did well at school, listened to Mom and Dad). Then you upload a picture and voila! It was the cutest video.

Here is the link to Jonahs if you are interested in viewing it:http://portablenorthpole.sympatico.msn.ca/watch/4132cfd83859930ca6a2821c3e81e1f9

Anyway, Jonah was so surprised! So excited! The look on his face was PRICELESS!!! And guess how I....Char....the one who loves to scrapbook......the one who takes pictures of EVERYTHING....c'mon....guess how I captured the amazing moment......give up?? Well, I'll tell you...... I FRIGGIN DIDN'T!!! UGH! I am so mad at myself. I was so excited to show him that I didn't grab the video camera and I didn't grab my digital camera. What the flying frig was I thinking?? Apparently I wasn't.

I hate not capturing those moments.

Sigh......

Just one thing to say.....

Being sick... SUCKS ASS LARGE!!!

That's all...just had to say it.

Just Fabulous!

Adding a twist to a famous quote by Coco Chanel, "A Blog should be two things - Classy and Fabulous".

My friend Shirley has bestowed upon me the Fabulous Blog Award! Thanks Shirley! I think I will need to get a new pair of shoes to go with my new fabulous award!

Here are the rules for this Award.

#1 - You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous blogs in a post.

#2 - You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.

#3 - On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.

So here are my 5 Fabulous Addictions:

#1 - I am addicted to my husband and son. Some may find this crazy, but I miss them every moment. I think about them all day at work, anywhere I am without them.

#2 - I am addicted to Scrapbooking - I love it, everything about it. The pictures, the memories, the creativity, the circle of friends - it just rocks!

#3 - I am addicted to Jelly Tots candy. I blogged about these before. LalalaLOVE them. Unfortunately, they no longer sell them in Canada :(

#4 - I am addicted to TEA - I am doing better on cutting down. I used to drink about 10-15 cups a day. LOVE the tea farmers. In particular, I love my Tetley. It is the best.

#5 - I am addicted to my shows! In particular, Grey's Anatomy! I love this show and get very excited for Greys night. Even have a special dip to eat when it is on!

Now for the nomination of my peer Bloggers (who made this award possible in the first place):

#1 - Cyn

#2 - Carrie

#3 - Brynn

#4 - Nadya

#5 - Trudy