The next day, we headed to Penny and Howard's. What a lovely time we had there! Pen made a prime rib roast dinner which was wonderful, followed by homemade shortbread and gingerbread biscotti (LOVE THESE!) Howard and Bern had picked up Bella from daycare so we got to spend a little time with her. She's delightful - full of energy - but absolutely charming! Brad came by when we were finishing dinner and Nev came in after work. Poor girl was so tired, but we were very happy she made the effort to come over to see us. Here are a few pictures from our visit. I'm not too happy with my camera lately - I don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong or if there's actually something wrong with my camera! It's only two years old, but I'm almost 65....so, who knows?
We got up the next morning and had breakfast before heading home. James and Rachel arrived around 5:00 p.m. We had spaghetti, caesar salad and garlic toast for supper. It was so nice getting to know Rachel a little better. We watched a couple of movies complete with popcorn. Rachel had to leave on Saturday to spend Christmas Eve with her Dad in Oakville, so we all opened our "Rachel" gifts before she had to leave. The sweet, sweet girl gave us a Tassimo coffee maker!!! We'd been looking at them and had decided that after Christmas, we'd go out and buy one for ourselves! What a lovely surprise!
On Christmas Eve, Bern, James and I went to the candlelight service at church. I think our whole church family welcomed James with open arms. I'm sure everybody thought he was our imaginary son! Now, they know he's real! He said he felt like a rock star - LOL!
Christmas morning was fun - James got us a Blackberry Playbook! To say I was stunned is an understatement! We're still learning things about it. For instance, today I used it as a camera. I left my digital camera at Fran and Mike's so when the Feere's came over today for a visit (more about that later), I was able to get some pictures of them. Anyway, we're enjoying our new toy very much! He and Rachel also gave us several Tassimo coffee packs to get us started.
Bern gave me a Wacom Bamboo tablet - I love it. And, he also gave me a Zumba CD set, which I'd asked for - and have been using, by the way! He also gave me a Michael Buble Christmas CD and the movie "The Help" which we watched when we got home on Monday. Loved it and I'm sure I will watch it again and again. I gave Bern a couple of magazine subscriptions, a nice sweater and a new MP3 player (his previous one died a few months ago). I had ordered him a cap and T-shirt from Red Jacket Firearms in Louisiana. We've been watching a TV show called "Sons of Guns" - we both really enjoy the show. Anyway, they didn't arrived until a week after Christmas. He was thrilled!!! BUT, the best part of Christmas was having James at home. I know the day is coming when he'll have to share his time, but for now we're loving having him here. I hope one day Brent and Tammy will be home for Christmas, too!
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| We just LOVE Christmas, don't we, James? |
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| Testing out the new MP3 player |
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| Blackberry Playbook tutorial! |
Around 3:00 p.m., we loaded up the car with pumpkin pie, whipping cream and gifts and drove to Oakville to spend the evening with our dear, dear friends. Rachel met us there at 4:30. It was so nice to visit with Paul (Fran and Mike's son who's been living in England for the last 12 years). We missed Katie, though. She was spending Christmas with her boyfriend's family in Ottawa this year. Jan was very brave, I must say! It was the first year Kate wasn't home for the holidays. After a wonderfully tasty dinner, we opened our "secret Santa" gifts, played a really neat game that Heather got for Christmas, and had dessert. We were so stuffed! James and Rachel left around 8:00 to go back to his apartment to open their gifts from each other before driving to Guelph to spend a couple of days with her Mom. Lots of traveling!
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| Jan and Paul |
We stayed overnight at Fran and Mike's and got up to a full cooked breakfast! Now you know why I asked for the Zumba CD pack! We got home around 2:00 p.m. and had a quiet rest of the week. On Saturday around noon, Brent and Tammy called to wish us a Happy New Year - they were already celebrating the arrival of 2012. Even though they were having a party, we got to talk to them for awhile. Brent hurt his foot playing soccer, so he's having to take it easy - something that doesn't come naturally to Brent! They sounded very happy and are counting the days until they get to come home in May.
We spent a quiet New Year's Eve as usual. We watched the Toronto CITY-TV bash on TV because one of my little daycare kids is now an up and coming pop star and she was performing - she was the next to last act, so we had to endure lots of musical presentations that we wouldn't have normally. Anjulie was wonderful and I'm glad we got to see her. She was always kind of quiet as a child - she's sure not any more!
On Sunday, we went to Queen's Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake for brunch with Ray and Shirley. The place is gorgeous! Of course, as I mentioned before, I'd left my camera at the Craig's or I would have taken some pictures. The buffet was beautiful - something for everyone and since it was a buffet, we were once again stuffed to the gills and all swore we would never eat like that again. Never say never! The following Friday night Ray and Shirley called to say they were treating us to dinner at the Mandarin in Niagara Falls. Bern had helped them out during the week while Ray was away resulting in the sale of a truck they'd been trying to sell. It was the crab festival, so the guys each ate three heaping plates full of crab legs and Shirley and I ate everything else!!! Never mind, life is slowly returning to normal!
Last night, we got a call from Wade and Rebecca saying they wanted to drive down from Brantford and meet us at church. They're going on a Disney Cruise in a couple of weeks and if they didn't come to see us today, it would be February before they could get down again. We'd made plans to go to church with Ray and Shirley (they hadn't been coming to church lately, so we were really happy they wanted to come with us again), but we were excited to see the Feere's, too. We all went out for breakfast after church and then drove over to the new Lowes in Niagara Falls to have a look around before coming back here for specialty coffees and a visit. I took the next three pictures with my Blackberry Playbook. It was a bit of a process getting them here, though. I couldn't figure out how to attach the pictures to my email app so I uploaded them into facebook and then saved them to my computer from there.
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| Cole, Becky, Me, Payge and Wade |
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| Hunting buddies! Well, this week I have the Niagara Women's Connection ladies here for a planning team meeting on Tuesday. After that, I'll be busy making up the invitations and posters for our February event. It will also be time to get the updates together for the church calendar. I've also decided to create a digital scrapbook about me. I've got a few pictures of me as a little kid that I've scanned. I think I have some more in a box somewhere, so I'll try to get them into some kind of order so I can tell my story. Somebody might be interested down the line!! I just heard today that one of my classmates passed away suddenly. His name was Ron Wilson. I have lots of good memories about him. He was a good person. It was very unexpected and sad. |
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