Merry Christmas & Best Wishes for 2010

From My Family to Yours...

6 Sleeps

It's December 14th. That means it's only 6 Sleeps until this.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you & yours!

Losing is Winning

That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before...Losing, in a curious way, is winning. (RICHARD BACH)

The My Rona Home (Calgary edition) finale has aired and the winner of their home mortgage-free was...well, not the Yellow Team. But you know what? The Yellow Team, a.k.a. James & Nicola are winners, without a doubt.

Not only do they have their dream home, one they thought would not be a part of their 2009 before getting the call for the show, but James & Nicola stayed true to who they are, what they believe and what their dream was from beginning to end. As the quote above says, James & Nicola, as well as the entire Yellow Team, showed that it's not about whether or not they won or lost, it's about how they handled the results and what they will take away from the whole experience.

Congratulations on an amazing journey James & Nicola, as well as to Aly, Greg, Mike, Dean and everyone who helped in the building of this dream home.

James & Nicola final diary

The only kind of Blizzard I like is the Dairy Queen kind

Our friends Colin & Kara timed their week-long trip to Mexico perfectly. They left Friday morning before the big storm hit Calgary. And by big, I mean BIG. We're talking blizzard...and not the kind we like to eat from Dairy Queen.

The temperatures weren't too bad sitting at around -5 celcius, but when you factor in the wind, it felt more like -15 celcius. Initially the Weather Network had said the snow would start falling around 5am and it was going to snow right through to Sunday night. I got up Friday morning at 6:45am to get ready for work, looked out the window and it was clear, no snow falling and the wind wasn't too bad. I went through my 'going to work' routine with good intentions on being out the door by 8am. Silly me.

By 7:45am, our trampoline netting was struggling to stay connected to the trampoline, the snow was falling heavily and I no longer had the clear view of the highway that we usually have from our living room window. Visibility was reduced to maybe 20-30 feet. So much for going to work.
As the day went on, visibility became even worse and the snow began to pile up. I'll let the following pictures tell the story (these pics are taken with my blackberry and I borrowed a few pics from a friend who took his with his iPhone - he actually ventured out in the storm!!!).

3 days before the blizzard hit...
The same shot on Blizzard day...

The wind blowing the snow against our screen door...
Our poor camping chairs...

The morning after. This is the depth of the snow on our deck...

The morning after. Visibility is a lot better...

The morning after. Can somebody turn the heat up on that big, bright fireball in the sky?...

The streets are not fun to drive on. This is the snow drift up against our neighbours truck from the insane winds blowing yesterday. You can see the end of our driveway at the bottom of the picture (next the rocks). The drift went almost the whole way across the road...
Our friend Jason's pics from being out in the blizzard. He & his family ventured out to the mall... They got caught behind an accident on their way home. Stuck in traffic for almost an hour because of it...

Christmas is my Favourite Holiday

I love Christmas. I'm pretty sure it's my favourite holiday of the year. Now that I'm a grown-up (although some may argue that fact! lol), it's not about getting presents that I love. Now that I'm a mum, it's about seeing Keegan, Josh & Connolly's faces light up at the first sight of the almost-empty glass of milk and cookie crumbs left after 'Santa' has been to visit. I wonder what I looked like as a kid when I saw that.

I love how excited KJ&C get when they open their presents, even if it's not what they've asked for or everything they asked for (which is pretty much every 'boy' toy advertised on television). Connolly said to me just yesterday, 'Mummy, you know what I want from Santa?'. I assumed it would be a yo-yo which is what he's said that last several conversations we've had about presents, but no. 'Mummy, I want Santa to bring me a Connolly doll and a Gwen doll'. Hmmmm...not sure even Santa can pull that one off. 'Gwen' is the female character from the cartoon 'Ben 10'. I don't even think they sell Gwen dolls. And a Connolly doll? I wonder if Matel would make one special. Keegan's request from Santa is an umbrella and Twister (or as he likes to call it, 'the hopscotch game') and Josh would like a yo-yo and a game for his leapster.

Looking forward to Christmas is no different for me this year than any other year. It seems to have become a tradition that we go away for the holidays since the boys were born. We have been home for only one Christmas since 2005. 2005 we were in Winnipeg, 2006, we were in Mexico, 2007 was our year at home, 2008 was Disneyland and 2009 is Mexico again. Who says your Christmas tradition has to be staying at home? We haven't even left for Mexico 2009 yet and we're already thinking of where to go for Christmas 2010.

Anyway, my point is that I love Christmas and I am really looking forward to an early Christmas dinner with my parents on the 13th and a 12-day trip to Puerto Vallarta (with Steve's family) on Dec. 20th.

Christmas is a good time to be reminded how very blessed we are to have what we have and to be able to celebrate the holiday season the way we do.

From my house to yours, I hope this Christmas season is everything you wish it to be and that you get to share it with the people you love the most.

YELLOW revisited

Hey my blog readers. Just a reminder about why YELLOW is my favourite colour these days. Less than 48 hours to get your votes in for TEAM YELLOW over at the My Rona Home site. You can also call 1-900-630-7662 to register your votes or #8683 for Bell Mobility subscribers.

To see my original YELLOW blogs, click the following links:

'YELLOW'

and

'YELLOW IS MY FAVOURITE COLOUR'


GO TEAM YELLOW!!!

Saying Sorry

I hope the quote 'It's easier to forgive your enemies than to forgive your friends' doesn't hold any truth today, cause I need forgiveness from my best friend.

I went through the whole day yesterday, November 26th, and not once did I pick up the phone or sit down at the computer to send my BFF of 19 years a birthday wish. It's not that I didn't have Jie on my mind several times throughout the day, but I didn't think to call her for her special occasion. I can honestly say that in the 19 years of our friendship, this is the FIRST time I have ever not called her.

I hope she can forgive me because of all the times that she needed me to be there for her after the rough 2009 she has had, it was on her birthday to celebrate her life. Jie's life deserves to be celebrated and I hope that somehow I can make it up to her. As a side note to this, there is a gift on its way to her that she knows about from email conversations we've had over the last couple of weeks, so she knows that I didn't just forget. Though I know the gift is not the same as the phone call.

Jie, once again I am so sorry and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I hope you had an amazing birthday and celebrated the awesome person that you are. Bm4E...A.