Nativity 2006?

I am the "stage manager" for our school's Christmas program. While the 5/6 choir sings, Grade 4 students are acting out the Nativity. At our run through in the gym we weren't using the costumes or props but I grabbed a doll from the kindergarten room for the baby Jesus.
I handed it to 'Mary', who said, "What's this?"
"Aren't you Mary?, " I replied, "Wouldn't you hold the baby?"
"Why can't my husband do it?" she said, looking quite put out!


Thought I had to share that.

Not in the Christmas mode yet.

Oliver is four weeks today. Time goes really fast when you are thinking about a new baby.

And it is only a little over two weeks till Christmas. I haven't done anything except hang up two wreaths and buy Oliver his present when we were in BC. He probably won't care! No baking, no shopping, no tree, no decorating. I don't think I am Scroogish - there have just been other things to do. Maybe this weekend I'll get a lot of this done.

Day Off

Tomorrow is my day off. The day I have off varies from week to week so it doesn't fall into a regular pattern. I always really enjoy the night before a day off. It feels a bit like a holiday - I can stay up a little bit later, read an extra chapter in a book. I don't have to think about what to wear in the morning or what to pack for lunch. And I can look forward to a great morning - reading the paper cover to cover while drinking a good cup of coffee. Then I will have time to do the Daily New York Times Crossword. Wednesday and Thursday have really good puzzles, Friday is just too hard. I am in relaxation mode alreday.

Tomorrow I have to do several errands but the most fun one will be to go to Don's Photo and get prints of the pictures we took of Oliver. He is two weeks older already and changing I am sure but it will still be nice to put a picture of him on my desk at school. I want to make a nice print of one of Scott and Margaret - we don't have a good couple picture of them. The only one we took in BC has me in it too. But it will have to do for now.

I may even do some Christmas shopping...........

It looks like Christmas

Its snowing again - that's the third slippery driving snowfall for me in one week - one scarey one in BC and two regular winter snowfalls for MB. It looks so beautiful, though. All the trees are covered in snow, outside Christmas lights are one and it looks like a Christmas card. I like it. At the grocery store, the people in line a few days ago were complaining about the snow and cold (This was MB, of course) and I couldn't get into the mood. I LOVE snow in December. Its the snow in April I complain about!

Its report card time at school right now and the photocopier/printer quit. No on could print their report cards and the repairman can't come until Monday - the day the reports are supposed to be handed out. Why is it that technology which makes things easier also seems to make things so difficult for us? If we had hand written reports, no one would mind that the printer didn't work - but they'd have really tired hands. Hmmm.

Snow, Sons and Grandson

Hank and I are home again after a wonderful weekend in BC. The talk of the weekend for most people was the snow and there was a lot of snow! And people in BC are not used to the white stuff like Manitobans are. There aren't snowplows or other snow clearing machines and the drivers are unsure of what to do. We don't have that many huge hills to naviagate either. So being in a blizzard in BC was an interesting experience. We even got a bonus Snow Day and saw Oliver one more time. The sad part was that the weather was so much worse in Abbotsford than in Surrey that we were only 5 miles from Scott and Margaret and didn't get to see them again. We met a couple of semis in a white out that pretty much did me in for traveling further onto the Sumas Prairie!

Visiting with Scott & Margaret and Ryan & Steph is always great. I feel so blest that we can just hang out with our kids - talk, share iMac hints, play Settlers of Cattan - though we may have to ban Steph if anyone else is ever gong to win! Kayla and Harley, we missed you!

And Oliver! It was just so wonderful to hug and cuddle this little guy. I didn't know being a grandma would be so sweet. He just feels like he belongs!

Wine - not Kool-aid or vinegar

I love my days off. But today was rather odd. I have to go for regular blood tests - nothing serious - the bane of many middle aged people - cholesterol check. But I have to fast for 12 hours before the test. I like to do it on a day off because then I sleep in a bit, take a shower and go and the waiting for water and coffee in the morning doesn't seem so hard. Today at 9:30 I'm ready to go but I cannot find the form from my doctor I need to take to the lab. I remember moving it from its regular place to another place 2 weeks ago - somewhere supposedly better, but I can't remember where! I went through every drawer and hiding place I could think off, tried calling my doctor for a new form but couldn't conncect and finally at 10:45 when I was very unhappy and hungry I gave up the search and went to Tim Horton's for coffee and a treat. So I just came back from the doctor's office this afternoon with a new form and I can to this all over again tomorrow.

We leave in two days to go to BC to visit our kids there and the star - Baby Oliver. Its funny because I can't really anticipate going to see a grandchild because I have no reference for this. When I see people my age with their grandchildren is looks really appealling but I can't picture myself doing this yet. I am looking forward to seeing the little guy a lot so I can try on grandmotherhoos first hand. I also am excited to see Ryan and Steph and celebrate their new life as parents. I think they will be wonderful. But I am looking forward to seeing Scott and Margaret too. Its suprises me how much I miss them. They fit into the flow of our house so well last spring.

I also cried for Kevin twice in the last few days. Maybe its just that my emotions are so sharp again. Such joy with the birth of Oliver makes the sorrow more real again. Sunday in church we sang, Jerusalem the Golden. I usually don't like that song but it fit so well with the sermon that I was singing the first verse very lustily. We were celebrating that believers will go to heaven when it suddenly hit me that Kevin was there. I was not able to sing the rest. It wasn't so much sadness but just overwhelming awe that he is gone.

Life brings many joys and many sorrows all interwoven and we have to be willing to experience both. Henri Nouwen talks about this in his book, "Can You Drink This cup?". He says life has to be like wine - a mixture of the bitter and the sweet otherwise it would be Kool-aide or vinegar. (My very meager retelling.) But it is a concept that is good to remember.

Good trip to the mall

For me that seems almost an oxymoron - I don't like shopping and being in the mall at 5:30 always seems a little creepy. BUT tonight I had to pick something up and thought I would just walk around. After trying on a few shirts and deciding I'm just not the right body type for some stores I decided to call it quits. I went and got a guilt free decaf, low fat latte and a huge puffed wheat square. YUM. The latte had about the best foam I have ever had so that was great. Then as I was walking out a little blond girl , about a year and a half, in blue jeans and a pink shirt toddled up to the Santa's shop that is there, stopped infront of one of the trees and said, "Oh WOW!" She did not remember seeing a tree before. It was so cute. It made the trip worthwhile.

A smile and a blog

I am totally new to this blogging thing and I am not sure why I am here. Its taken me awhile just to figure out how to set things, where to find things and what the process is. But I'm learning - and I haven't even called Scott yet!
I have also noticed that a lot of the blogs I've looked at are written by people my kids' age - maybe I am just looking in the wrong places. I don't know if anyone wants to read a blog by someone over 50 but I can try.
But its almost midnight and I think I have to get a little philosophical before I sign off. (Is there spell check in this process!). I just became a grandmother (grandma?gram? nana? ....... not sure) and so am walking a somewhat new path right now. It's a much bigger and newer path for Ryan and Steph but its still a slighty different journey for me too. I will walk some of it on line. So her I go...entering grandma-hood with a smile and a blog!