Thursday, December 20, 2007

One More Day of Work

I'm counting down the minutes, I must admit.
I'm so ready for Christmas. I'm ready to stay up late (okay, in my world these days that's 10) and sleep in till at least 7! I'm ready to go to a Christmas party on Saturday night. I'm ready to wrap presents and start baking and cooking.
I'm ready for Christmas cheer.
I have been trying hard to tie some stuff up at work for my week off. I know it's not a long time off, but I hate leaving stuff for other's to sort out.
Luckily everything seems to be working out so far which means that come Friday afternoon I'm turning my blackberry off (or at least only checking it every few hours) and taking a holiday!
Today Matt's letter from Santa arrived. It was so cute and Matt was thrilled that Santa wrote him a letter. It was pretty sweet with a personalized note and everything.

Of course with the upcoming season I've been thinking about the past and toward the future. It's my first Christmas without my Grandma. Last year she wasn't doing that great, and we were sad for her. So, even though this year I'll be missing her, I know that she and Grandpa are with us in spirit. I keep thinking about how this year my cousin's baby is almost one. Last year she was just days away from giving birth. Now this year I'm the one who's pregnant, though thankfully (hopefully?) more than a few days away from giving birth!

But, I'm also looking forward. I can't believe that next year's Christmas pictures will include another member of the family. It seems a little crazy to me right now. The last few Christmases have centered around Matthew and making it magical for him. I'm so excited to share this with another baby.

The Christmas fun starts tonight. My good friend (and who am I kidding, someone Matt LOVES) is coming over. It's our first chance to let someone sample our Christmas goodies and matt's sooooo excited to give her the gift that he helped to make. It's all very exciting.

Five days to go!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Less Than a Week

And we are ready for Christmas.

Thanks to a fellow blogger and Star Wars fan we were able to get Matt's final Christmas gift ... a red light sabre.

The funny thing is, this isn't a terribly expensive gift. It's a $10 toy, but he has been asking Santa for it non-stop. And, no matter how hard I looked the stores were sold out. So, I was more than thrilled when I got a phone call saying one had been located.

And, thanks everyone for looking.

Tonight we also finished up our daycare gifts. Well, almost. We ran out of cellophane, but other than that we are done. Matthew made cards for each of his teachers and then I wrote personal messages. It was kind of fun asking him what is special about each teacher. One sings good songs, another reads good books, another is a good hugger. And, then there is one, a substitute teacher for a month who "isn't a teacher. She's just a person." So, I had to be creative with that one. But, all in all I feel like the teachers will know they are loved and appreciated both by us and by Matthew. And, that's what Christmas is all about.

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Tomorrow I go for my last OB appointment before Christmas. I've had lots of doctors appointments over the past couple of weeks (just various tests, etc), but I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Lately everything has felt a lot more real to me. I'm definitely looking pregnant and feeling pregnant. And, this baby is moving around a lot. We've also been debating names AGAIN. See why we keep the name thing a secret? The name we loved now we just like and we have moved on to a name we love more.

The thing I find funny is that when I'm making lists of names, most of the names are variations of names that I gave various dolls growing up. In fact, if we stick with the name we have chosen, it's just a reversal of one of my favourite doll names ever. Trust me - this wasn't a conscious decision. It just is. (this will now drive my sister crazy because she knows all my doll's names).

Is it me - or are we feeling the Christmas spirit these days?

Best Friends

The other day we asked Matthew who his best friend is.
Of course his answer was first Kyla (his cousin), but then I asked if he had any other best friend.
His answer was Austin, a friend of his at daycare.
It's pretty cute because he talks about Austin. All.The.Time.
If we ask him what he did during the day it's always "me and Austin ..."
He and Austin sit together at snack and lunch. They colour together when it's colouring time. They play together outside.
He gets along with a lot of the other kids, but it seems that he and Austin are a team. They are close in age, they like the same things (Diego, Transformers, Lightning McQueen) and they seem to have a really similar attitude. Both are "all boy" in many ways. They can be a little rough and sometimes wrestle.
One day Austin cut Matt's hair. Another day Matt closed Austin's finger in the (toy) microwave. If there's any sort of accident report we know who the other child involved was.
But, there's never any malice. They are just playing.
And, the thing is, I really like Austin too.
His parents have the same attitude we do. Boys will be boys, but you have to draw the line. It's not a big deal if they come home covered in paint, have done some silly crazy thing during the day, or been a little rough with each other. But, stuff like swearing, hurting each other, and general bad behaviour is not okay. (though I have to admit that his mom and I were laughing one night about some of the words they call each other, and how we have to try not to giggle when they try out certain words).

Last night I went to pick up Matt. Just he and Austin were there, and they were colouring. I was chatting with them, and they both drew me a picture. After a few minutes it was time to leave. Mike and I were talking to matt's teacher, and we realized that Matt and Austin were saying goodbye.

It was adorable.

Austin came over and gave Matt a hug.
Matt kissed Austin on the cheek.

Then Austin whispered to Matt "don't forget we have to be good."
And Matt said to him "yes. we know Santa is watching us."

It was the CUTEST thing ever. I hope they never lose this innocence.

Monday, December 17, 2007

It's all fun and games ...

Till the snow buries your child's beloved snowman.
Sadly, last night when we were tucking Matt into bed he started sobbing. He had named his beloved snowman "Mr. Matthew Snowman" and after all the snow we got yesterday poor old Mr. Matthew Snowman was completely buried.
As were the little lightbulb lights we stick in the snow and our reindeer.
In fact, Matthew was so upset that we needed to take action.
Mike went out in the snow and had to dig out Mr. Matthew Snowman and our reindeer.
It was bad enough when raccoons ate the poor snowman's mouth and nose.
This was inexcusable.
So far today there has been very little snow, so we're assuming we will come home to an intact snowman.
I keep reminding myself that at least it will be a white Christmas.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Snow Day!

I awoke this morning to the sounds of ploughs driving up our street.

And, like a little kid I ran to the window to see just how much snow we got. It wasn't the 20 inches or whatever was predicted. It was more like 5 cm. But, it's snow. And it's beautiful. And, if it stays like this we will have a white Christmas!

There's lots that we could do today.

We were planning to visit a friend to return something of his (no biggie to pop it in the mail). We had debated driving to visit my grandfather (we would have called him today - so he won't be disappointed by us not coming). But, considering that the roads are supposed to be crappy and we are all a little tired from planning for Christmas, we are declaring a snow day!

Matt wants to make his snowman bigger. We need to shovel the walk. I love taking pictures in the fresh snow. We may even let Rosie play in the snow for a couple of minutes. (I know indoor cats should stay inside, but I'm sure letting her run out to sniff the white stuff is perfectly okay).

Yesterday I made some Christmas cookies that have chilled overnight. And I am going to see how they turned out. We have all the stuff for rice krispie squares and I've promised Matt that we can make some.

All in all it's going to be a fun, quiet day.

Luckily I stocked up on hot chocolate so we can enjoy a yummy cup while watching a Christmas movie and cuddling on the couch. Sometime in there I may take a nap or write a couple more christmas cards.

What we're not doing is worrying about Christmas gifts not yet purchased, rooms that need to be tidied before we have visitors on Christmas or last minute stocking stuffers that really should be purchased at the last minute.

Sure there are lots of Christmas memories yet to be made this year, but when I think back to when I was little, the one thing that stands out in my mind was watching White Christmas, drinking hot chocolate out of our Santa cups, with candy cane stirsticks and opening one of the many boxes of chocolates my dad got as a gift (and being allowed to take a bite of a chocolate and if we didn't like it putting it back in the box for my dad to later eat).

I have a feeling that today will be one of those days to remember.