New Year's Eve has never been a big deal for me. I have no desire to go out and wait for midnight with a raucous crowd with silly hats and noise makers. Maybe I'm a stick-in-the-mud. So we will do what we have done for the past (decade?)...order Chinese food and over-eat and watch movies at home. We'll let our son stay up later than usual and we'll go outside with sparklers and shout hurray to 2006 and then go to bed, usually before midnight even strikes. I find the whole countdown thing kind of syrupy and sappy. When I was still at home, my parents and I would stay up and my dad would go around giving everyone a New Year's kiss, and we'd hear the ships in the harbour all blaring their horns. The random fireworks would go off and my mother would say it was gunfire. Hotbed of crime we live in (drip drip drip, goes the sound of my sarcasm). I eagerly anticipated midnight on the turn of this century, because I thought the world was going to end as we knew it (did you?). We watched the New Year come and go in other parts of the world first, and after seeing they survived, I think I went to bed.

Tomorrow I will go shopping and then get home in time to play loads of games and have a fun family evening. Mr.C has the next four days off, so I intend to enjoy this extended weekend, before reality slaps me in the face by mid-week.

Good Night Friends. What fun will you be having this New Year's Eve?

I started blogging by accident. I wanted to post on Rosie O'Donnell's blog so I created one myself. Early on my blog was very silly and full of political digs. Katrina was in full force and I was full of my own fury.

And then people started to post comments. I was intrigued by this. Amused. I liked the back and forth banter with these make-believe people. Then I saw some weird comments and thought about stopping. This thought was fleeting, because it was then that I realised that this strange entity connected me somehow, to something, and I still didn't completely understand.

And now, I am connected to many people who I have gotten to know better than some of my own family. So connected that tonight, I can not shake my fear for a sweet baby boy who is so very sick. I rarely pray hard anymore. But here I go. Please pray with me. For Ira, who I have never met, whose parents I do not know, but for whom I have shed a thousand tears these past few days. I have never in my life put a prayer to paper, but blogging has brought me to it.

Our Heavenly Father.
Thank You for Ira.
Thank You for his wonderful parents.
Thank You for placing this sweet baby boy on the Earth to know them and be with them and with his little big sister.
I know that we must somehow understand that you must take us when our time has come.
But please, Dear God, I pray these words with all that is in me. Let Ira live a beautiful and long life on this Earth. His life will serve others in a way that is meaningful and holy. His life will uplift so many. Please God. In all your Mercy. Lay your healing hands on this baby boy and make him well, give him strength, let him feel joy and happiness, laughter and love.
In Your Name, I Pray.
AMEN.

Wake to see a thousand mornings, dear baby.

I am still thinking about you, baby Ira. I hope your head is filled with dreams of dancing fairies.

If you have read this, my hope is that you will go and say a get well wish to Ira and think positive thoughts for him and for his family. I would only hope that the world would be smiling and shining on me if I were in this position. You were brought into this world with love, let you remain in it with love and hopefulness.

I am feeling much better today. Thank you, friends. Really, I was just whining last night. But there you were anyway. My comfort book last night was the same Canadian Christmas story book I have been reading. I thought I'd share another story if you are in the mood. I chose this one because I am feeling like making things simple today.

No, Chloe, I am not pregnant, before you ask!
It is a combination of the fact that...

• Today is Monday (plech)
• I have been home all day with both children (yikes)
• I think I ate bad meatballs last night (barf)
• The weather is unpleasant (ho-hum)
• My mother was harassing me with stupid phone calls today (argh)
• and, well, you know...

When I have a day like this, I like to have a hot bath filled to the brim with bubbles (usually Fa), then put on my favourite pajamas (my tortoise and hare pjs I have had since grade 12; seriously...), have a comfort food (except not tonight due to the meatballs), which would typically be cookies or popcorn, wrap myself up on the couch in my favourite afghan (which is godawful ugly and which Mr.C refers to as the dirty old rag, but I don't know why because it is never ever dirty!), watch mindless television and then crawl into my flannel sheets and pull the cover up to my nose and read the perfect book. Usually the Tao. But tonight my Canadian Christmas book.

What do you do when you feel like shit?

My posts this week were going to be strictly other peoples' writing, from my new Canadian Christmas book. But since I was tagged, I'll post more information that any of you need or might want to know about me...

10 years ago...
I was living in Waterloo, Ontario, and just starting my PhD. I had been married for two years, did not have children and was a part-time nanny for 7 year old twins and a 4 year old.

5 years ago...
I was pregnant with my first son, and in my second year of my job as an assistant professor. I was not living in the house I live in now.

Last year...
I was pregnant with my second son and had just moved into the house I now live in. I was just getting over three horrific months of morning noon and night sickness and was taking a good long break over the Christmas holidays.

Yesterday...
I spent the morning and early afternoon making crafts and baking with my 4 year old. Then we all went to my sister's house for a potluck dinner with her family and other members of my family. It was a really nice evening. Actually, the entire day was nice. I watched the Carol Burnett Princess and the Pea show last night.

5 Yummy things:

Chocolate brownies
Sugar cookies with frosting
Turkey dinners
French Onion Soup
Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

5 things I know by heart:
(this is a hard one for me because my memory is shit)...

Addresses of my old house and Mr.C's parent's house
Birthdays of people in my immediate family
The prepositions in the English language
Twas the Night Before Christmas
My e-mail password

5 things I'd do if I had lots of money:

Give some to everyone in my family
Make huge donations to the Red Cross, World Wildlife Fund, and other worthy organizations
Travel, travel, travel
Invest in my children's education
Invest in Chloe's bookshop

5 Places I escape to:

Bed
My computer
The bookstore
The coffee shop
Cuba

5 things I'd never wear:

Very high heeled shoes or boots
Low-cut shirts ( I am not the type to expose cleavage)
A sequined dress (sequined anything, for that matter)
Animal print
Short shorts

5 Favourite TV Shows:

Amazing Race
Survivor
Ellen
Regis & Kelly
Law & Order: SVU

5 Things I enjoy doing:

Crafty things, including scrapbooking and quilting
Going on vacations and travelling
Researching interesting topics
Teaching
Most recently, of course, blogging....

Mr. C and I went out tonight without either child. This marked the first time we went out in the evening since the babe was born. We finished up our Christmas shopping and bought a few things for ourselves as well.

I had to buy this book because I loved the cover and it felt just right in my hands. It is also a wonderful read. "Sleds, Sleighs & Snow; A Canadian Christmas Carol" edited by Anne Tempelman-Kluit. From the back cover; "Canada's diversity is reflected in the variety of Christmas stories in this book. From horse-drawn sleigh rides in Montreal to dogsledding excursions in Labrador, and from musical feasts in British Columbia construction camps to bittersweet memories shared in a remote Yukon cabin, Christmas traditions in Canada are as varied as the cultures of her people." Would you like me to share a story?

So I pull out one of my favourite books. Random page brings me to: Visby, Sweden. Supposedly an Island retreat rich in medieval history. No, no, no, this is all wrong. It sounds cold. I want warm. I guess I really don't want random at all. I want the warm weather edition of this book, with all the cold places removed. Next random page (this is the truth) brings me to Kauai, Hawaii. Now that's a vacation destination. The Garden (of Eden) Isle. I mean, the Gods are begging us to go. Random page draw number two brought me to it. Let's book it now, Mr. C :)

Can you Spy:

• a blue saw
• a tray of croissants
• a music stand
• a spatula
• 3 grey cats
• an angel
• a red sled
• 6 wrapped gifts
• Santa Claus
• an overturned basket
• the image of the Virgin Mary with tears pouring down her cheek (just seeing if you were paying attention, but if you do, let me know because this could make me rich)

I've been reading through some blog archives and have found it very interesting to read why people started blogging in the first place. Some (like my own) provide no explanation. I am curious to know how long you intend to blog. Have you thought about this? If not, what do you think? I thought (very briefly) about shutting mine down. Now I can't imagine not having this place for me to speak relatively freely and openly. My blog is here for awhile, for better or worse. If and when you do shut your blog down, will you say goodbye, or simply close up shop, and let us see the File Not Found on our screen. And then we will know, you are gone into the atmosphere somewhere.

5 Things that Bloggers don’t know about me…

1. I have weird food fetishes. I drink prolific amounts of coffee, but only until 11:00 a.m. After that I am most likely to switch to other caffeinated beverages like Diet Coke. Most of my food habits are unhealthy. I love red licorice or any kind of jujube, jellybean or jelly candy (Swedish berries are a favourite). I eat microwave popcorn on a regular basis. Oddly enough, there are some junk foods which I do not like at all, such as ice cream and potato chips. My all time favourite lunch is either a beef and bean burrito (I know I know) or spinach dip on bread.

2. I am a shopaholic. I am certain that my name would appear somewhere in the definition, if there is in fact one. My most favourite things to shop for include shoes, jeans, things for my children, and did I mention shoes? I have my mother to thank for this disease or thrill, I don’t know which it is. Her love was manifested in things purchased. I am not going to delve into a psychoanalysis here, but I think you get the idea.

3. I have traveled to three other continents in addition to the one I reside on. I’ve traveled through much of Europe, been to North Africa and Vietnam and Thailand in Asia. I’ll be going to South America (Uruguay) in the upcoming year or two.

4. I have a PhD. In Geography. This does not mean that I know all the names to every capitol city in the world. And I suck at Trivial Pursuit. Especially the Geography Category. It’s embarrassing.

5. When I was 13 years old, my senile grandfather, who was living with us, asked me if I “wanted to go downstairs with him…” . The innuendo was obvious. Nothing happened. He went to a nursing home shortly thereafter. Our family never spoke of this incident again. I do not think it has “scarred” me in any way. But who knows?

I'd love for the following people, if they so chose, to do this:
Heidi, Meow, MomyBlogR, Erikku, and Angel....

I am not the kind of person to complain about how busy I am. I tend to not be a complainer. I stew over things, but don't whine about them. Correct me if I'm wrong Mr.C. Consequently it bugs me when other people complain and whine to me about how busy they are. I tend to just settle down and tackle what I can, and don't dwell on what I can't. Perhaps those who went on and on about the myriad things they had to do wouldn't be so overwhelmed if they actually did something productive with all that time they spent whining. This is a particularly female trait, I think, although I really do not like stereotypes.

I am just as busy as the next person. Most people don't know this, because they don't ask and I don't talk about it. They're too busy talking about everything they need to do, to bother asking me how I am doing. I'd probably just say fine, anyway.

Today, I could, and should, make a dozen phone calls, including arrangements for swimming lessons for January, work, publisher, granting agency, work....I have Christmas presents to wrap, and finish making, loads of cleaning to do, a babe to take care of, shopping to get done, there's more snow on the way, so constant updates on that. You get the idea. I'm not whining, just saying. If I get a little bit of all that done I'll be satisified, and carry the rest forward until tomorrow. This is the time of year to slow down. Slooooowwww Dooooowwwwwn. It takes choices. I make mine. Every day. I refuse to let my life slip through my fingers. And in the meantime, shut up. (not you; those I am speaking to do not come round here...).

"A nice warm tummy, makes a happy heart." Says my son to me while slurping his tomato soup for lunch. "Where did you hear that?" I ask. "I just made it up." He shrugs. My luv.

We watched this tonight. We have the VHS from years ago, and wanted to share it with our son. He loved it, although obsessed about how Miss Piggy was able to get cleaned up before she got to the farmhouse. While looking for this photo, I came across this site, which provides a list of the top 100 Christmas shows. A Muppet Family Christmas ranks 6. What is your favourite? And who's your favourite muppet?

Hello Winter.

We were out of power until 5pm today. That included telephone, and water. It was a rough day. Being without power is like camping in your house. Very frustrating. Actually, I don't feel much like talking about it, because it's over. We didn't get our night out tonight because the roads are too bad for my dad to come out and babysit. There is another storm coming tomorrow, but this one will supposedly be rain. Goodbye snow? We are putting up the tree and baking cookies tomorrow. We need a little relaxation.

I can be an impulse shopper. And it does me no good. Take the irresistible Santa slippers for the babe. On sale, yet still over-priced. But they will serve a function and be cute as a bonus; his little feet will stay warm and cosie. Gotta take a photo of those (even though they clash with the turquoise pants:).













But wait, what's this? What happened to one of the slippers? Where did it go?










Oh, there it is, in his hand, then in the mouth, poor teething babe. He grimaces at their furry taste and looks at me...
"No good, for nothin', mum".















So I turn my back and then look and oh, what's this. Where did the other one go?....









"I threw it away."











Next time I look back, the slippers are scatterd along with the babe. Hey, how'd you get over there? Seems like the babe has now become mobile. I should have bought myself some new shoes. Sigh....

The babe says "When you are teething and your mouth hurts like hell, take this pointy finger here and stick it in your mouth and bite down as hard as you can. It doesn't help the pain in your gums any, but your finger hurts so bad, that you forget about your mouth." My smart babe.

And now they have the fine holiday version of the disposable cup; second only to the Roll-up-the-Rim and Win cup. In very polite Canadian terms (in both French and English, of course), the people of Tim Horton's kindly request that you be Environmentally Friendly and dispose of the cup properly. Why don't they make the extra effort and make a cup that can be recycled!

So, you see, there is nothing particularly useful on my mind, other than teething, spending money and coffee....