Baby, It's Cold Outside

When my parents were here, we had some issues with our septic tank (yuk!!), and so the men had to go outside to check our tanks.  Of course, I think that night it about about -30, so here they are, suited up!

Don't you think my dad looks cozy and warm?!

Art was doing his token, "Deer in the headlights" look...

Yup, I'm a lucky lady....

All I Want for Christmas

On Christmas Eve, Molly and Abby were playing...something.  Anyhow, Abby has the end of a tie from a housecoat in her mouth (I think she was a puppy), and Molly pulled it.  Abby didn't let go of the tie, and out came 3 teeth.  They had all been loose (I think), so apparently this just helped things along!

After the weeping and gnashing of teeth, her theme soon became, "All I want for Christmas is my 3 front teeth!"

She wrote a very nice note to the Tooth Fairy (yup, we do that too!) explaining what happened, and that she could only find 2 of the 3 teeth (we think she swallowed the other one), and asking if the Tooth Fairy would please take them.  So, we had a busy night at the Goerzen house - the Tooth Fairy and Santa came!

It's Over

I am always surprised at how much work Christmas is....and how quickly it passes.  The season that we all look forward to, all the events leading up to it, the planning and preparation, and then, *poof*!  It's done. 

As always, Christmas with kids is the greatest experience.  It's so fun to see them excited about Christmas, anticipating Santa's arrival (yes, we do the "Santa thing").  And then, in the morning, the excitement of stockings and presents.  It's priceless!

This year, Art's sister Elfrieda joined us Christmas Eve, just in time for dinner, and is staying for a few days (yay!).  We watched Christmas movies, played with new toys, ate (and ate and ate!), and relaxed.  Here are a few pictures of our festivities...

 pj's from Nana and Grandpa

 Christmas Eve dinner

 pj's opened on Christmas Eve.  They say "Daddy's little Cowgirl" or "Too Cute too Boot"

 Art reading The Christmas Story...in his new pajamas

 Art's present - tickets to the PBR event in Edmonton in January

 Ellie Mae and her new American Girl, Elizabeth

 Abby and her new American Girl, Josephina

 Hannah with her Kindle....after she realized that it can hold 3500 books!  We recorded Molly opening her new camera, which she was every excited about!  She has been "taking care of" an old, broken camera that we had for 3 months to prove that she was old enough to have a camera.  She even left it out with Santa's cookies for him to see....and Santa left a note saying, "Good job, Molly, on taking care of your camera!"

 The table set for dinner

 My studly husband, carving the bird

 Chill-axin' with Auntie Frieda, watching a movie

 Christmas Dinner

The Girls in their Christmas dresses

What a great Christmas we enjoyed with our family.  Hope yours was great too!

It's Christmas....almost!

Well, it's finally arrived...almost.  The day my Girls have been waiting for all year.  Christmas Eve.  All the planning and preparing will (hopefully) pay off as I work my tushy off today so that we can enjoy tomorrow. 

The groceries are all bought (which I was a genius, by the way.  I drove to a small town about 20 min. from here to do my shopping...not a line-up was to be found, and many people to help me navigate my way around an unfamiliar store!), the presents are all wrapped.  The turkey in unthawing, and my little family is all around.

Tonight we will have appetizers and play games and open one present before the Girls go to bed (pj's, of course!).  Tomorrow morning, we'll get up and start breakfast cooking while we open stockings, and after breakfast we'll read about the reason why we celebrate Christmas, taking a moment to reflect on the Perfect Gift.  Then, watching the Girls open presents is always a highlight.  Hanging out together is how we'll spend the rest of the day, enjoying turkey dinner and all the fixin's.

It will be a quieter Christmas - only Art's sister is joining us.  But it will be good.  And I am thankful.  For family.  For friends who "see" me and love me.  For a warm home.  For an abundance of food on my table.  For clothes to wear.  As I look around, I see the abundance of what God has given us.  And not only abundance, but extravagance.  And I am thankful.

Merry Christmas, everyone.  Enjoy this magical season with the ones you love.

Sweetness

It was Christmas at our house this past weekend.  My parents were out for a few days to celebrate... We went sledding, skating, swimming, shopping, did LOTS of baking and playing games.  It was good times, good times. 

Check out the sweetness that my Mom bought for me from my most favorite store, Anthropologie...

She also got me another vintage, calico apron that is oh, so sweet.  Some of you may know that I collect aprons, so these were a very fun addition!

Sitting....

....by a crackling fire.  I don't know what it is about a fire, but it instantly adds ambiance and a warm cozy feeling to a room.  Since rearranging out living room to accommodate our Christmas tree, our couch looks directly into this loveliness...

And I must say, friends, it's fantastic!  We sit and talk and eat chocolate and stare into this little scene....and I love it.  With my whole heart!

A New Experience

Every year, Art's sister graciously agrees to babysit our Girls for a Saturday in December so that we can go and do all our Christmas shopping.  In a day.  It's a fantastic was to go!  This year, she had a great idea of asking The Girls if they could have a sleepover at her place.....um, yah!!

So, Saturday morning we headed out to drop them off.  We of course, had to stop at Tim's for a very healthy breakfast.  When we drove up to pay, we found out that the car in front of us had paid for our food.  What a great way to start the day!

We dropped the Girls off at about 10 am, and didn't have to pick them up until the next day around dinner.  So, off we headed.  We did our Christmas shopping, meandered around, have fun conversations with complete strangers, went for a yummy dinner at the Keg, did some more shopping... It was pretty much a perfect day.  Well, my feet didn't think it was perfect, but that was minor!

Our oldest daughter will be 10 at the end of the month, and we had never been home without them for a night, or evening, or really any amount of time!  It was quite a bizarre feeling, really, but one that I totally appreciated!!  The funny thing is that as much as we all want a "break" every once in a while from our (wonderful) children, when we are apart from them, all we end up doing is talking about them!   

The next day, we slept in and lazed around for a bit, and them went for a drive down some backroads that we've never driven.  I love driving around the country, because you never know what you'll see!  Look at this beauty!

An old well pump, maybe?  Anyhow, I really wanted to take it home, but we all know that my conscience sensitive husband wouldn't let me steal it....how rude!  Just kidding...I wouldn't have taken it, probably!

After our leisurely drive, we headed back into the city to pick up our Girls, where they were exhausted and elated to have had such a great time with their beloved Auntie.  Thanks, Auntie Frieda...from everyone!  Hopefully, she's recovered!