Let the organizing begin!

  Today began the purge and clean.

Amazing how much STUFF came out of my pantry.

Mind you Diane once said if she didn't have something she could always come over the hill and find it in my pantry. She actually did it once when I was on vacation, but replaced it before I got home. :-)

  Empty and clean pantry!

 How many boxes of crackers and cookies can one have......

 .......and multiple boxes of the same kind of pasta?

 The  clean produced 5 bags of compost, 

 and lots of plastic and cardboard to recycle.

When I put it all back I had one empty shelf, so I moved in the pots and pans I use on a regular basis.

I will try it for awhile and may make more adjustments.

Snow Storm - December 30th, 2012

Mary.........how can you possibly miss this ;-)

Chocolates from BC

For the last few years, Pauls sister in Burnaby, has been sending us theses chocolates at Christmas.

You may notice a couple are gone.......That would be me. 

These chocolates are fantastic, they have exactly what a woman likes: chocolate and salt!

Christmas Morning

Once Brenna was up, we had breakfast and then opened presents.

Santa treated us all very well.

Santa has arrived

 Pauls stocking

 My Stocking

 Brennas Stocking

Now we wait for Brenna to rise from her sleep :-)

Ginger Cookie Making

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with the Van Kessels.
Isaac had a hockey game, he got one goal and one assist.

While at Peters we made ginger cookies.

  After the cookies cooled, it was all hands on deck to decorate the cookies.

Someone had an injury that needed repair.

Sashas Cookie.

Van Kessel Boys

Isaac and Sasha

Christmas Centerpiece

This is on the coffee table in our family room.

It consists of a glass christmas plate given as a gift many christmas' ago,

2 evergreen trees, 3 santa tree ornaments and vintage christmas ornaments.

New Cushions

Today I made red cushions for the sofa in the family room.

Backyard Lights Tonight

Christmas with the Andrews

Yesterday we spent the day with the Andrews in Fredericton. 

They are spending Christmas in Ontario with Jeremys family.

Brenna had the day off so we were all together.

In the above picture, Charles is dancing with Pap (this is Charles version of Pappy and I think it will stick)

Helping Pap put together his toy organizer.

 

After his afternoon nap it was time to open Charles presents.

We had opened the adult presents while he was napping.

 

Today

This is the weather outside today.

Christmas Party

(It's hard to take your own picture.....this was the best we could do)

Friday night we went to a christmas party at Riverside Golf Club.

It was provided by the orthopaedic department.

There was staff from both operating rooms, from the orthopeadic floor, physio, recovery room, all the surgeons admin. assists and company reps.

Fun was had by all.

Christmas Baking

I was off today and decided to get a start on my Christmas baking. 

The day started out snowy and I played christmas all day.

LOVELY!

 Almond Fingers.

These have been a Christmas tradition since I was a kid and I have continued it with my family.

 Cherry Balls.

My Nanny would make these each Christmas,

but last year was the first time I made them.

It makes a small batch but they are very rich.

 Swedish Tea Cakes.

Mom has always made them, so I added them to the baking for this year.

Shortbread Cookies.

Theses were not made when I was growing up, but they just melt in your mouth.

So easy to make.

A Day With Charles

Last week Charles spent the day with Paul and I.

He loves to play on our bed, crawl among the pillows and pretend he is sleeping.

He went for a walk with Paul, learning to walk in shoes (he loves to go bare foot in the house), exploring the neighbourhood, watching the trucks go by.

 

We got out the christmas lights and this year he is very aware and vocal about all the new sights and sounds.