Christmas favourites

So today I headed into Ottawa to attend church for the first time in weeks and where did I end up? The mall! This was after our church service and it's the last place I expected to be on the final weekend for shopping before Christmas. Why did I endure such torture? Because yours truly forgot about an order for a gift. I'd ordered this gift a month ago and it only just arrived. I received the phone call on Saturday and knew that the only time I'd be in that neck of the woods was this weekend. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected it to be but there are still some crazies out there. People get nasty at this time of year!

Friday evening I attended what is quite likely my last Christmas dinner with my coworkers. Less than half of the staff were in attendance which was a bit of a disappointment. In years past we have had a party with music and large numbers of people but the past couple of years have seen a decline in the attendance. Our lab director has always paid for the meals for all the employees attending but as of this December he will be retired and the good old days will be just that. It was a lovely meal but a short evening for sure. We were back home by ten and that's after a 45 minute drive.

I spent Saturday evening stitching on Summer's ornament but ended up frogging out a portion when the mirror images of the tree branches didn't match up. I didn't realize just how difficult it would be to frog out stitches done over one. Or maybe it was just the fabric I was using. In any case I put it aside after that and haven't touched it since. I've decided there is a good chance these won't be complete in time for the big day but I'm not upset. No one is the wiser and I would rather take my time at them and do a good job rather than rush them, cursing all the way. The girls are still young and there's always next year.

I promised a few more pics and so here are some I took of my favourite ornaments on the tree.

The first is one of my Dad's picture which hangs on our tree every year since his death 16 yrs ago. What I love about this is that there is also an ornament of a Coke bottle which hangs beside it. Anyone who knew my Dad knew that he was addicted to Coca Cola. Even when he was hospitalized he had family members sneak some in to him. When he died we made sure he was buried with a can of Coke beside him!

This is followed by our new ornaments... a snowman and a cupcake. I loved this little snowman so much that I purchased two more for each of my sisters. A friend gave me the Jim Shore ornament of Santa and baby Jesus. It's really beautiful and although I received it last year, this is the first time it has hung on our tree. Then there is the little penguin which always reminds me of my oldest son. He's loved penguins from the first time he saw them and would beg us to take him to see them at Montreal's Biodome. Now that my sons are grown, they are in the process of dividing up several of the ornaments which they made as kids to put on their own trees.

Not long after Bob and I married 9 yrs ago, I was looking through his photo albums and spotted a picture of him with Santa. I then dug out mine to show him. We put them aside to show the kids. In the meantime I found Christmas frames for them and decided to display them along with the pictures of my sons that had been taken with Santa when they were younger. We have had more comments on these pictures then any of our other Christmas decorations. Last year my granddaughters spotted them and were confused when we explained that one of them was their Papa!! Mine is the only black and white photo of the group and was taken with my sister when we visited the Christmas wonderland at J L Hudson department store in Detroit. I'm the one on the right. Don't you just love the outfits?

Dan & Chris together and my eldest son Jeff in the other.

I'd like to take this time to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2011 bring blessings to all of you. I want to thank you for taking the time to drop by my blog and for all of your kind comments. I love hearing from each and every one of you!!