Food! Glorious Food! And that was just my Christmas...

Well, I am stuffed! As for most people the last few days have been about culinary indulgence.  Christmas Eve I do okay because our family's tradition of Oyster Stew is not one I over indulge in (I eat my bowlful - it is not Christmas without the taste of it).  I did do some damage to many a cookie, however.  On Christmas Day I am the meal preparer and we have whoever is in town over for the big turkey dinner.  Mark asked me about making 'extra' stuffing - to which I replied - "It doesn't matter how much you make, there is never any 'extra' stuffing".  And I was right.  I made a tonne of it and it was all gone. So I told him I would make him more a few days afterwards to compensate - the bread is currently drying right now. We had a group of 11 this year.  Gibson had probably the best time this year.  He had so much fun with all the cousins and before they came on Tuesday, he kept asking "When are the people coming?!?!" The meal turned out very well - although I clearly do not know how to thaw a turkey.  Mark had to do some cold water baths until the wee hours of the morning to make sure we had a nice thawed but still cold bird in the morning!

I skipped any real action on Boxing Day.  I always look at the piles of stuff under the tree and think "what more could I want?"  I tend to have a hard time when people ask me what I want because I don't really need anything.  So the idea of boxing day seems like over-kill.  Plus, I don't like crowds. As a parent I am finding it a bit hard to cope with this season of excess.  It's hard to make your kids appreciate what they have when there is simply so much of it. The starving kids in Africa story only goes so far. It's also hard to explain why we think an 11 year old doesn't need an iPod Touch when his younger cousin gets an iPad. In his eyes, he feels either deprived or punished.  The latter is sad, because he has been a really good kid this year and that is not why we aren't getting it. The former is sad because we have so much stuff.  Sigh, again. I'm not going to give too much more thought to it.  I am not caving and getting the iPod, and have no problem stating why, but it's a challenge.

I did check out Oliver! at Festival Place with Gibson last night.  It was great to see my friends onstage. I did the show many (read: about 20) years ago in Fort McMurray and although I am not sure how good the show was, it was one of my most favorite theatrical experiences. It's where I met Wanda and where Wanda and AM and I really bonded. The grown-ups in the show have a lot of time backstage together and boy-o-boy we were silly.  So, it was nice to see the show from the other side.  I realized that when doing the show myself I hadn't paid much attention to the play as a whole.  Gibson commented that he thought there were a lot of horrible people in Oliver's London.  He enjoyed it, but it was a bit long for him so he spent some time at the end of the show snuggled up to me snoozing. I thought that Nadine Veroba, as Nancy, was phenomenal.  Yes, I know her. She was Claudia in Nine and is the only person to ever make me cry during an audition and she is lovely to work with, but I make this assessment of her from an objective stand point.  There is something about her that is electric and her singing - wowsers! There were many other nice things about this production.  I was glad to have caught it.

Oliver! marked my 60th show this year that I either saw or was involved in.  It would be more if I counted each Fringe show I went to, but I count the days I went to Fringe instead. I had a goal of 40 so I am very pleased with the number.  That's an average of 5 shows per month.  Pretty good! I will make a new goal for 2013 and it will be closer to the 60 number. I may not win another fabulous ticket prize though, so I am not sure I will be able to match it. We shall see.

A New Year!

I had a nice, relatively quiet Christmas with fun for the kids at Grandma and Grandpa Strand's on Christmas Eve and then having them (G&G) over for Christmas dinner on the actual day. The turkey was smaller to reflect the smaller crowd and that meant a later start time to the preparations and a much more relaxed day as a whole. I was surprised and delighted by a new camera (Yay!) and a few days later the arrival of The Tudors - Boxed set. Both were on my wish list. I recognize more and more as I get older that I am hard to buy for because I feel like I have everything I need except time and how can you give that? I also got 3 hours with a personal trainer from the Mom and Dad and that will be put to good use. My eldest brother and his wife got mine and Mark's names and they overwhelmed us with movie and restaurant gift certificates. We have used one of the movie gift certs to see the latest Harry Potter when the boys had school Monday but the store was closed. Very nice to be able to go out without the chilluns and although some of you might think 'what?! and you went to a kid's movie?!?!' I have to say it is not one that they are old enough to see in my opinion and although Oliver might be old enough, we have a rule that he has to read the book before he can see the movie and he is only on book 3 so far.

The boys were over-blessed again with bounty. Legos were assembled as were bionicles and puzzles and DS games were played abundantly. They wore the clothes that Mom and Dad got them and looked cute in their new pyjamas from G&G Finlay and Mom and Dad. I got to play a few Board Games because an adult was needed to figure out the rules and referee. Much fun. They also decorated their gingerbread men and ate their fair share of Lindor and Purdy's chocolate!

The week immediately following Christmas struck the household with illness. Mark and Oliver were throwing up for a few days and I was hit by something respiratory/achy all over/dry coughy... I am still in recovery as I feel okay for the most part but am still dealing with coughing fits that prevent me from sleeping well. I am hoping it is over soon... please... pretty please. Luckily I had The Tudors to keep me company as I lay on the couch for about a week.

This week is the week of beginnings... rehearsals start for Threepenny and re-start for Rabbit Hole. I have a very busy month and a half ahead of me. I am not sure how much singing I will be able to do tonight at the first Threepenny music rehearsal but I will bring my digital recorder to capture all the work and practise with that if I can't sing much myself.

Merry Christmas Everyone

This has been a nice Christmas so far. Some sporadic eruptions of fighting between the boys, but not too many and a lot of laughing in between (especially when I do the crazy Mom saying Merry Christmas! It has become the new holiday shtick and I plan to keep it for years to come). Today I tried to take photos of the boys and I think I have 2 good shots out of about 30. Plenty of "goofy" ones. Played Scrabble with Mark last night - he won, but only just barely. Baked cookies with Gibson this morning. Did all my Christmas shopping in about 5-6 hours. Not bad at all!

Anyhow, Merry Christmas!

This Past Weekend Was Crazy Busy...

So I expect Christmas to be the opposite. I had many things on the go this weekend and I think I managed to get them all done in a satisfactory way. The weekend followed a very busy week wherein I was at the boy's school for Child Check, 2 field trips (one in-school, one out of school), and 2 Christmas Concerts. The blizzard that hit on Wednesday prevented me from doing what I had planned to do in the daytime on Thursday, but alas, that is what happens. Annie (my sis) came to visit on the weekend and while we dealt with the constantly imprecise schedules of our siblings we managed to work out a pretty good visit. She played Wii with the boys a couple of afternoons/evenings and they were in heaven with that. She and I visited and caught the latest Narnia Movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (not the best book to film adaptation).

Sunday I was at Walterdale for 2 rehearsals - Rabbit Hole in the afternoon and Threepenny in the evening. Around the rehearsals I squeezed in studying for my Drama 208 (Theatre History) Final. I wrote that on Monday morning. I think I did okay. The first half was delightful. I knew it all. I knew the second half too, but my brain was very tired and I do not think I crafted my answers as best as I could have. We shall see. I keep telling myself that I am not doing the course for marks, but I have never been the kind of student who could let things slide so I have a hard time letting go of that. It's done now so that's good.

After the exam I squeezed in a visit with Wanda. It was almost not to be as she was in a wee car accident on the way to lunch, however she managed to get the police report done and her vehicle and self were not injured so she came up to the house and we visited there. So good to see her! I must plan a trip to Calgary to see her for a real visit!

Then Monday night I had my final rehearsal for Rabbit Hole before we break for Christmas. We finished early (always a bonus) and I am resting today doing cards and cleaning a bit. Tomorrow I will attempt the 'shopping'. My list is short and since the crowd expected for Christmas dinner is smaller this year I expect a restful weekend. We do not plan to travel either weekend (that could change) and I really just want to relax and maybe work on my lines...

Home Again... Head Hurts...

We got back from Olds yesterday late afternoon. I caught some sort of Christmas Cold so my sinuses hurt and I have a bit of a sore throat. I also needed sleep. So, instead of sleeping, Mark and I watched the 2 movies I got him for Christmas - Terminator: Salvation and Inglourious Basterds. Awful lot of violence for the holidays! I liked the Terminator movie, but it felt thin. I wonder what someone unfamiliar with the other three movies would think of it, because I don't think it would stand up on its own. Inglourious Basterds was definitely a Tarantino movie. I don't know why I was surprised by the blood and the guts and the gore. I had to avert my eyes many times. It was a good movie, but I am still thinking about what he was trying to say. It would say something quite different without the blood and the violence. Think about it.

Anyhow, I slept in a bit this morning. The boys Wii'd and fought and played other stuff and we did more gingerbread men. The living room, which was tidy last night, is a complete mess again. I begged off a meeting due to my head hurting and my intense desire to where a grungy t-shirt and sweatpants all day and I will reschedule that for later in the week. I will have to get in gear soon. Hopefully my head will feel better sooner rather than later!

Aftermath...

It all went very well, but perhaps we let the boys stay up too late and eat too much crap. We are off to visit Mark's family tomorrow and he would like to leave by 11:30 a.m. I do not think that is going to happen. I want to sleep in. I still need to pack. They boys need to not be rushed around on someone else's time table. They have had a couple of very exciting days, and very late nights and excited early mornings.

I got a Webkinz. A Hippopotamus. I think someone heard me singing.

Tradition!

Tonight we will head over to Ma and Pa Strand's for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Oyster Stew (it's my Dad's family's thing). Despite not being overly fond of the stew, I will eat mine, because it takes like Christmas for me. I think there has only been one or two years when I did not have Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve. Once when I hosted Christmas Eve in Fort McMurray, I made Lasagna. I think Mark and I spent one Christmas Eve in Olds early on in the marriage. After supper and after the clean-up, we will all gather in the living room and in a somewhat organized chaos, we will open all our gifts from family (Santa's gifts are for Christmas morning). Some time during the evening Annemarie and Paul will either call, or be called and in that way, we will all be there. It is the best night. After all the gift opening, there is usually game playing and visiting and eating lots of sugar cookies and possibly chips and dip.

When we were little, we used to get big boxes from the States from our Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents. We were the only ones in Canada and we would eye these boxes with such greed. They wouldn't be opened until Christmas Eve when my dad would use one of his jackknifes to slice through the tape. One Christmas I got my first Narnia book (my older brother and sister also got one, so we have the first three books of the series) from my Aunt Janice and Uncle Adam. The gifts were small, but precious, as they came from afar. And this tradition, as well as our semi-regular family reunions, helped to keep our extended family as close as it is.

As I said before, it is the best night. I would rather miss Christmas and the turkey and deal with oyster stew than miss Christmas Eve at Ma and Pa Strand's.

Prepare for the Onslaught of Boydom

Only 1 more school day until the Christmas holidays officially begin and I find myself 'dealing with both boys' for 2 weeks. Luckily Mark is closing the store for 2 consecutive 3 day weekends. That will help. No doubt he will want to travel on one of them, but nothing has been mentioned, so I am hoping for real down time. Funny thing about holidays. For me they are often much more work than everyday. Some people get to rest, but they don't think about the other people who are facilitating their rest. Ah well, there are many things I like about the holidays and I shall cling to them and deal with the other stuff when it happens. Any way you slice it, I am one of the lucky ones on the planet (http://www.100people.org/statistics_detailed_statistics.php) so a little imposition in a time of extreme plenty should not be drama-worthy.

I have held off on the tree and I am hoping I can keep it at bay until Monday so that it can be our 'activity' for that day. I plan to get a pre-cut, but not assembled, gingerbread house for construction on Tuesday. Today we started some of the tree decoration crafts I picked up at Michael's the other day. Gibson (with my help) made 3 and I made 1. There are 24 in the box so we can make a few more over the next few days. Although the Wii and DS can entertain to a certain extent, I am hoping for warmer weather so that frolics in the out of doors are possible to augment the crafting. This is only for the first week. The week after Christmas is usually okay because of the discovery of the new toys.

I will be doing the Christmas meal as per usual and I have to get my turkey and all the other required stuff tomorrow (at least the stuff that will keep). The rest I will pick up during the week prior. Mom and Dad will be hosting Christmas Eve (oyster stew) and I need to sort out everything to make sure I have all the required gifts for that. I have cookies made so that's good. I need to get Mom and Dad presents and a couple of thing for my nieces and nephews. It's a lot, but I should be able to get it done.

Productive Day

I am almost done my Christmas cards. So far I have 'finished' 67 of them (about 10 of those need stamps, however. I have more to do, but I ran out of pictures of the boys so I will have to get more of those tomorrow morning and finish the cards off tomorrow afternoon. I postponed my big shopping day until tomorrow because I was worried about my sitter having to drive all the way up here on the roads in their current condition. It is supposed to be better tomorrow and that will be nicer for me, as well. It may get warm enough to not make gassing up the car physically uncomfortable.

Tonight is Gibson's Christmas Concert. Oliver's is tomorrow night. I wish we could have gotten the same night. I don't know exactly whey they don't just put the French Immersion classes on one night and the English classes on the other night, but it may have to do with numbers. I think there are significantly more English classes than French ones. Oh well. Two nights out, wrangling kids on my own and trying to get decent parking. Sigh. At least they will be insufferably cute!

Smells Like Christmas!

I baked cookies today. I had to replenish all the ones I obviously made too early because they are gone! These ones will go in the deep freeze instead of the kitchen freezer and that should 'help'. I am enjoying having more nights home. I have a few things to get done and this is the last week of school before Christmas so I have to get a lot of it done before the kids are off. We are no longer YMCA members so I am not doing the YMCA camps this year. It's getting easier with both boys. They can usually do 3-4 hours of relatively pleasant interaction and play before a flare up. I am waiting for the day when Gibson is big enough to teach Oliver that it is not a good idea to hit him. I discourage the violence, with consequences, discussions, strategies for better communication etc... but nothing beats a once smaller child standing up for himself and teaching the older one that it's time to stop or get hurt yourself.

My sister comes to visit tomorrow. It is a busy weekend, but I am looking forward to it! Yay! I told Mark he needed to get his present for her before she leaves on Tuesday morning so he is likely shopping tonight before coming home from work.

Snow Falling on Cement Patio...

Well we finally have winter. We were a little spoiled in it coming so late so I am not going to complain about it. Between Mark and I, the sidewalks were shovelled 4x today and although I have not looked in a few hours, I am willing to bet you can't tell. I also did the driveway and that will help in future as the layers that pile up should be thinner. Let's hope.

I am also hoping the weather did not deter people from getting to Lend Me a Tenor at Walterdale Playhouse. I saw the show in all it's glory on Opening Night and I think they did a fabulous job. It isn't 'high art' but it is hilarious! I could sense some Opening Night tightness off the top, but about 10 minutes in they heard the laughs and loosened up and just ran with it. That's what you do with a farce, get it rolling and hang on! I heard lots of wonderful comments afterwards and I laughed quite a bit despite knowing the script inside and out. Loved so many of their choices!

I cancelled a Best Little Whorehouse (BLWIT) meeting tonight. I did not want to brave the streets in my go-cart, particularly not with the boys and I would have had to drop them off at the store first. Everyone seemed relieved at the cancellation. I did some of the meeting work via email and will try and get more of it done that way since many of my team-mates are super busy people so getting them all in the same room will be a challenge. I am getting excited about the show and now that I cleared a few things from my life I can refocus on the work I started in the spring on it. Yee haw! I get very excited contemplating possible casts and I know I need to banish those thoughts until I see people at auditions, but it's fun to speculate!

I baked cookies today and froze some for Christmas. I will have to hide them in the big freezer so they will still exist at that time. All 3 of my boys snitch if things are too readily accessible! Not fond of the monster cookies and I won't make those again. The shortbread is delightful!

No Tinsel, No Lights, No Tree for Me... Not Until December

I have read several updates on Facebook this week about people decorating for Christmas already. I am not there. It shakes me when there are Christmas things in the stores before Halloween is done. Decorating this early for a festival that occurs on December 24th/25th seems ridiculous to me. I know, some of you out there might decorate this early. That's your prerogative. But this is the nature of our society of excess. We take a 12 day Festival that is supposed to START on Dec 25 (I Believe - possibly the 24th, but Christmas kicks off the 12 days of Christmas, not ends it) and then we start the festival atmosphere on November 15th or earlier and then we lose the specialness of the actual holiday. What makes Christmas special if we celebrate it for a month and a half? I can see the coordinated holiday parties occurring prior to the day, but I just think that we live such spoiled lives in our society as it is, that to demand the lengthening of the Christmas holiday just 'cause we can seems self-indulgent and kind of misses the point. I don't want to be a scrooge, 'cause that's not what is motivating this. I love the holidays, especially Christmas, I just think that all this early decorating and celebrating dilutes it and it loses it's meaning (whatever that is for you).

Merry Christmas!

This time of year is busy. It was busier still coming out of a show. The craziest is done. I enjoyed a somewhat restrained Christmas Eve at my folks place replete with the traditional oyster stew and iced sugar cookies. On Christmas day the clan came to my place for a big turkey dinner. All went well. This was my second solo on making the meal. I made one security phone call and I figure that next time I shall be able to get through it without the phone call. I feel a great sense of accomplishment at being able to complete this meal without recipe book and with only a single phone call to check on times and procedures. I made far too many mashed potatoes, just the right amount of stuffing (although Mark would eat it for days and days so he might say there wasn't enough), the turkey was juicy and browned perfectly and certainly no one went hungry.

On Boxing Day we drove to Olds for a revisit of the Christmas meal. There was ham as well, so I escaped having to overdose on turkey. The visit was okay, but somewhat strained for no discernible reason. This is typical. I have learned to take a book. My being sick also allowed for a trip to the hotel in the afternoon on the 27th for a nap. We did not see Mark's sister. She did not come over or call and Mark is tired of doing all the work. It is easier to play the avoidance game. Too many imagined injuries from the past that we are unaware of to deal with. Perhaps she really did have migraines...

We returned home on the 28th. The drive was good. We had a flat tire in Olds that Mark got repaired but he said the truck handled funny the whole way home. I am sick and tired of the car troubles we have been having! I received good news regarding the position I have applied for via e-mail and a phone message. It has to go to the Board, but I am fairly certain of the outcome. Yay! More to come on that, when I can...

Using Stress to Get Things Done...

Last night I stared at the mound of unopened Christmas cards that sat on my table and I started to feel the stress of not having started my cards. You have to understand, for years I have been the Christmas Card Queen. Even when I was in University I sent out at least 40 cards. This surged to over 80 in my heyday. Since we moved, or even since we had Gibson, I have faltered and this inability to keep up with the past causes me stress every Christmas. Some years I stalled the activity until January and called it a letter for the New Year. I still felt guilty about it. I know I shouldn't. I know some people send no cards out at all. But I like doing them. I just haven't had time. Anyhow, I stared at those cards and started opening them and reading them and the letters that accompanied them. And the stress that started to well in me cause me to scrabble together my 'year at a glance' and print off 40+ of them. Today, I started with the envelopes and in just 3 hours I completed 37 cards. There will be more to come, but at least I have written a card to everyone that sent me one and also to those who I usually get one from and those that I feel need an update (like Grandmas and Aunts and Uncles). I feel good as I look at the stack of cards.

Now I need to buy stamps.

And After the holidays....

Well, the week was a whirlwind as I knew it would be. It would have been nice to have had that last day before Christmas Eve to do any last minute shopping and make sure I had everything I needed, but I didn't have it, so I dealt with my missing items by phoning Mom to bring them. It all worked out, but I knew it could've been better. The trip itself wasn't so bad, but there was little in it that enriched my life. No one asked about me, despite my asking about them. It was good for the boys, but a little too good in the presents department and I worry about that. As it is, only one of Gibson's 3 big trucks has been opened and played with and I don't think Oliver has picked up the Spiderman helicopter since being home. The kids get so much stuff. We may hide some of it away for a while and bring it out later when a "new" thing is needed. Christmas Eve was less chaotic than usual. The kids are a little older and better able to negotiate with each other. I was pleased with the books and clothes that came on that day. It wasn't all a big toy fest. And Christmas went well. I did have to call for a few items (milk, onion, cranberry sauce) but whatever wasn't there we did without. My sugar cookies didn't work so we didn't have them. Maybe people ate less sweets because of that. Through it all I was sick, doped up on Tylenol Cold, but that actually helped because I just wanted to get it done and be there. We had a few games in the evening and it was all good fun with none of the usual brother-sister badgering (strange that).

Tis the Season...

So tomorrow is December 1. That means that the tree will soon come out of the closet and I have to find the Advent calendar. I only have one. I know that some people get one for each of their kids, but I think it is important for them to learn to take turns. On the 25th, the pocket in the calendar is big enough for 2 candies so they each get one on that day. Once again I face this season with mixed feelings. The gift giving thing is fraught with peril. With some people I feel like I never get the right thing and that it one of my major issues. I am trying to "give it away", but I want to feel like the thought was appreciated. The other major gift issue I have is because I find the season so excessive especially with the kids stuff. I don't want my kids to feel deprived because they didn't get as much stuff as others, but they don't really need anything and some people give way too much to their kids. I shouldn't worry. My kids are pretty good about appreciating what they get. I know that no matter how restrained I think I am being, after the wrapping paper is disposed of, I will feel like it was all too much. So, what to do? I don't know.

I put lights up on our little tree in the front yard. I have always wanted outdoor lights on my house and for some reason Mark has been resistant to doing it. I couldn't handle getting on a ladder, but I bought a couple strings of lights and popped them up on the lilac tree. I also have indoor lights hanging in the front window so it feels festive to me. I don't really know why I want them, but the kids like them and so do I. Gibson actually gets distressed when they are not turned on - but I explained to him we turn them off in the daytime.

I also wrote my Christmas letter. Then I read a smarmy article in O magazine about those letters and I feel crappy about it. I don't write the letter to brag, but because I like to read what others are doing so I assume other people do too. Some things, particularly negative things, don't feel appropriate for those letters because they go in every envelope. What I might say to my best friend is quite different from what I would tell Mark's great-aunt. The letter has to be generic enough for everyone.