What a surprise!

We received a Christmas parcel in the mail from Brent and Tammy! I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. Girls are more likely to spearhead buying, wrapping and mailing out gifts than guys are. Anyway, I emailed them to let them know it had arrived safely and to thank them very much, and to say how much we'd love them to be here to celebrate with us and to suggest that maybe next year might be nice. Tammy wrote back to say she was very surprised that the parcel got to us so quickly and that she will talk to Brent about maybe coming here for Christmas next year!!!! Wouldn't that be great?

It's been busy around here. I baked shortbread cookies on Monday to take to the Christian Women's Club meeting on Tuesday. It was lovely, by the way. We were served Christmas pudding with our coffee and tea. If you don't know what Christmas pudding is, it's kind of like mince meat only coarser. It's served warm and you douse it with custard and/or sugary icing. Very sweet! Some of the ladies had their grandchildren come to do a little play for us and we sang Christmas carols and exchanged little gifts amongst ourselves.

Tuesday afternoon, the second of three counter guys came in to give us an estimate on replacing our kitchen countertops with granite - he still hasn't called back with the quote (I hope he give us a good one, cuz I think he'd be the best candidate. On Wednesday, the third guy came in and gave us a quote right then and there. Not a bad price, but didn't have such an easy feeling about the company. But, we'll see. Nothing will be started until the new year, anyway.

On Saturday morning, Bern and I are going to Oakville. The girls (including Heather and Kate) and I are meeting Maggie in Toronto for a late breakfast and a stroll around St. Lawrence Market (always fun!). Then, at 2:00 we have reservations for "high tea" at the King Edward Hotel. Can't wait! After tea, the plan is to go over to the Eaton Centre to ogle the Christmas lights and do last minute shopping. We should get back to Oakville around 9:00 p.m. Mike and Bern will have the day to do whatever they like - maybe they could pick up James and go see a movie. It's in their hands!

I'm in the process of dyeing my hair and then I'm going to get it cut this afternoon. I know it seems funny to be dyeing hair that's going to hit the floor, but it seems to help with cut to do it that way. NO MORE SPIKES, though. I finally got it to lie down!

I took a few pictures of our decorations - before all the needles fell off the branches I'd placed around the place. This is the tree Bern and Ray chopped down out in the wilderness - definitely not the domestic Christmas trees you buy in your local lot! Today, I gathered up the twigs that used to be branches and vacuumed up thousands and thousands of needles! Hopefully, the Christmas tree will hold together until after Christmas!! I didn't do LOTS of decorating - just enough, I think.