Morning in the Park

Dave gave me a Flip video camera for Christmas and I LOVE it — so easy to use!

First Buzz Cut

Ha! Better Late Than Never!

We were slack about getting Christmas cards out this year — and so we didn’t. Didn’t even write our usual blah-di-blah-blah holiday letter.

Instead we were crazy busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas and then spent yesterday leisurely opening gifts, cooking and eating way too much food. Dave and I did a delicious Moroccan Lamb Tagine with couscous and two North-African veggie dishes. All with a lovely bottle of British Columbia Blackhills Nota Bene 2005 (thanks Stu-ee), finished off with a apple, pear and berry crumble for dessert.

Our Christmas photo set is here.

We plan to take the rest of the holiday period easy, and do some clearing out of cupboards before the new year starts.

We hope your Christmas was warm, cosy and full of love, and that the coming year brings many happy surprises your way!

Love,
Sue, Dave and Tau

Start ‘em Young

“Tau, what are we going to leave for Santa when he comes?”
“We leave carrots for the reindeers.”
“And for Santa?”
“Wine … and some cookies …”
In that order.

Reindeer Caught in the Headlights

Yes, that’s our kid in the grey sweater not singing a word. You wouldn’t think he’d been practicing the holiday concert songs for weeks. Or that he’d sung Jingle Bells with great gusto all the way to daycare that morning.

Part of me wanted to stop filming, run over and hold him tight.

The other part thought, “Way too funny — this is one for posterity baby!” and kept going.

Notes to Self

When constructing a gingerbread village with a three-year-old, keep the following in mind:

1. Assemble all five houses the night before and let them dry fully before even letting said three-year-old know that there are gingerbread houses to be decorated. He will want to crack open the candy packets immediately. Can we do the candies now, Mommy? … Now? Can we do the candies now? Is the houses dry … can we do the candies now?
2. Despite what the instructions tell you, only mix up enough frosting to join the house parts together. Then mix up fresh batches of white, green and red frosting just before you are about to decorate. That stuff dries FAST and squeezing half-set frosting out of a skinny piping nozzle is HARD work.
3. Alternately, have a backup bag of frosting in the pantry.
4. Said frosting dries tough enough to crack your teeth. Keep some handy in case you ever need to hang heavy pictures or re-attach a side mirror to your car.
5. Any resemblance of gingerbread house pieces in the box to those in the picture on the outside of the box — or to drawings in the instructions for that matter — are purely coincidental.
6. House components in the box are WAY smaller than they appear on the outside of the box. Fleas would feel comfortable kicking their feet up in these houses.
7. Shroud all dining room furniture with heavy sheets. Dishtowels are not big enough to keep said nasty frosting off your seat covers.
8. Next time, choose the single house kit … or the single gingerbread man to decorate. One item = quicker to decorate = the length of time a three-year-old can focus on any one project.
9. And definitely choose a design that doesn’t require using tweezers to get the minuscule candies onto the already small roofs.
10. Let your three-year-old put the “lights” on the tops of the trees any old how he likes. Yes, uptight perfect-design Mom, a tree can have a white light on top of it. Had to control the urge to swap it out for a red or yellow one but then remembered how grateful I am that he has the motor skills to maneuver the tiny bauble onto the top of the tree and have it stick there!

Mr. Picky Pants

Tau jumps out the shower this morning and I wrap him up in a big towel. Brrrr! It’s chilly.

“You want to get dressed over here in the sun?”
“Ummm. I think I want to get dressed … over there in the shade.”

Weirdest Request from My Husband … Ever!

As I leave yoga class on Saturday, I dial to return a message from Dave on my phone …

Sue: Hey.

Dave: Hey.

Pleasantries ensue as I’m turning out of the parking lot, heading out to go grocery shopping. We’re having friends around for dinner that night.

Sue: So whatch’you need?

Dave: Do you think you could stop and pick up a bunch of aromatherapy candles?

???

Stunned silence on my end of the phone.

Turns out, he’d shampoo’d the livingroom carpet the night before and it hadn’t quite dried and the whole downstairs smelled like miffy carpet.