Tag Archives: christmas

happiness

An Abominable Evening

It feels colder outside today, and when we got home (in the dark) we were hangry and tired. Hungry is bad enough but the hangry combo of being so hungry you are angry can be quite scary!

I made our supper as quickly as possible. I had started a veggie curry soup in the slow cooker this afternoon, so there were just bits and pieces to add to it – the kids each had a steak because they were having a red meat craving. While we waited for supper to start I reminded Jenna that we had some Christmas shows that we could watch at some point.

With a vote of 3-0 we decided to opt for supper in front of the TV tonight and choose An Abominable Christmas. Apparently the kids had seen it before but it was new to me. It didn’t make my list of favourites, but it was cute.

Part way through supper my parental guilt kicked in and I said “tomorrow we will have to sit properly at the table and have a fancy supper to make up for this one.” To which Jacob responded “mom, you’re lucky I’m wearing pajamas.” So I looked at him closely for the first time and realized that somehow he had managed to sit and eat with  only the pajama bottoms on (sadly this is a reoccurring theme in our house). I appreciate his wit though.

I love these Christmas shows – partly because they’re cute and funny – but mostly because it means that we stop what we are doing, cuddle up on the couch, and spend some time together watching a movie. To tie down a teen and a tween for forced family fun time can sometimes be a challenge and I’m grateful that they also look forward to this time. My happiness moment.

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Pay it forward (West Jet Christmas)

Today we got to prove the fact that it is actually better to give than it is to receive (although it was pretty awesome to receive as well). Jacob and I made our morning run to Tim Horton’s and fell into a delightful and unexpected happiness moment. First of all, a kind gentleman came up and held the door for us to go in (this happens a lot here, the customers have great manners). Then when we went to the till and two ladies came running up, barely able to contain themselves with their giggles, and announced that they were buying our coffee for us.

It’s West Jet’s mini-miracles day and they were doing their part to pay it forward. They jumped around, huge smiles on their faces, as they explained what they were doing and we took a group selfie so they could post it on Instagram.

When Jacob got his coffee and we sat down we could still hear them at their table giggling away and trying to upload the picture with all the right tags. I said to Jacob that even though we had thoroughly appreciated their kindness, it really seemed that they had received a lot more from their gift than we had. He looked over at them with their heads together laughing as they talked about what they had done and agreed with me.

As we were getting ready to go a lady walked into Tim’s and I said to Jacob that he should go buy her coffee. He grabbed my money and ran over to her as she stood at the till. I couldn’t hear them, but I saw him jumping up and down with excitement (just like the ladies before had done with us) and I saw a huge smile come across the lady’s face. Jacob said afterwards that she had said to him that he had made her whole day.

All the way to Jacob’s school he smiled and bounced and talked about how wonderful he felt having done something nice for someone else.

He had both received an act of kindness and given one within a half hour. He was thrilled to have been given the free coffee, it made his soul sing to have given one to someone else.

Both giving and getting are pretty sweet, but the feeling is euphoric when you  surprise someone by doing a small kind act for them. It may sound cliche, but happiness really is contagious and it is easy to spread.

If you can, make someone happy today by performing a small act of kindness. It makes for an awesome happiness moment.

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Mary’s Boy Child

I’m finding this Christmas season a confusing one emotionally. I keep looking around for Dad to do my getting ready for the season things with and then remembering that he’s not here. I miss him so much I am left with a sad tinny like taste in my mouth. How can it be that he’s gone?  Then on the other hand,  I’m so happy that for the first time since 2004 I’m either not coming home for the holidays and pretending to be ok with that, or packing up all our presents and fly home as soon as the kids are done school (lots of work).  We would decorate our house, but not get to fully enjoy it, and by the time we arrived home there would be only a few days before Christmas so we were behind the game there too.

So, I’m so happy that we are here, settled in one place for the holiday season. We have more things to decorate than we have time for. The kids and I can bake cookies and make hot cocoa whenever we want. I found the recipe by the girls who own Crave Cupcakes for their shortbread cookies (the article includes an interesting story on how they became Crave) and we made cookies tonight. They are supposed to be for Jenna’s school tomorrow, but we may have eaten enough of them I’ll have to make another batch. Totally worth it though, they were melt in your mouth delicious. It’s a great recipe!

I have had my Christmas Carol playlist going for about a week now, but somehow I forgot all about Mary’s Boy Child, it’s one of my favourites. It came on the radio today and when I got home I had to pull out all three of my versions: the Anne Murray one (which reminds me of childhood and home and good feelings), the Boney M one (which is the one I always heard on the radio) and one that was on a kid’s mixed cd. We sang the carol over and over and ate too many cookies.

My happiness moment was an evening of cookies, carols, and then a cuddle with my girl while we watched a bit of Home Alone.

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Sew it together 

My happiness moment today was being with Jenna and our multi talented friend Alysha while she helped Jenna with her Christmas projects. 

Jenna loves to sew and has been wanting to for so long. Now between her Grandma and Alysha she’s got some wonderful teachers.

This definitely falls under the it takes a village to raise a child motto as this is not a skill she will be learning from her mother. I am so grateful we have this awesome tribe of people around us. 

   

A bonus happiness giggle was when Jenna put down her almost empty glass of eggnog tonight and left the room. Ella the cat thought she was alone in the kitchen so she jumped up on the table and tried to fit her face in the glass for a little drink. When that didn’t work she stuck her paw way down in the glass, scooped up some eggnog and brought her paw up to her mouth for a little lick. She sat by the glass doing this over and over until Jenna came back into the room. Then she hopped off the table and pretended nothing had happened. 

Jacob and I were in the next room howling with laughter.  

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Just keep swimming, just keep swimming 

It is almost impossible for me to wrap my mind (forget my heart) around the fact that Dad has been gone for 6 months today. I can convince myself for a while that he’s gone away on a trip or something, because usually over the last 10 years at least 6 months would go by without us seeing him. But, it’s harder to keep deluding myself now that we are home and he’s not here. His absence is felt so deeply I can feel it deep in my soul, as can the rest of the family.

Little things come up… like I was thinking about the fact that when we go get our Christmas tree (a big production here), that I will be the adult who has to do stuff now. Dad would normally do most of the gross hard work of getting up the tree and we would help and decorate. There were thousands of little things that he did for us, quietly and without fuss, that we are just now realizing weren’t done by magic.

But, we keep moving ahead. That’s all we can do. Dad was so full of life and loved doing jumping into activities, so the best way to honour him is to keep on swimming – Just like Dori.

My sister and her kids are down this weekend and we’ve had some Christmas cheer injected into our lives with songs and gingerbread houses. I know it makes Dad happy to see us all gathering together and having fun.

One of the gifts Dad gave me in the last months before he died was the desire to dig deeper into finding and following my spiritual path. He used to talk to me a lot about how important it was for him to work on his spirituality and to connect with God in the most intimate way possible. He may not have been ready to leave us all here, but I think as the time got closer he was ready to move on and be with his Maker. He taught me a lot about giving love and having faith. At the end of the day those are the things that matter, not the superficial stuff that is so easy to focus on.

Here’s a couple of photos of my Dad from a few years ago doing what he did best – playing and laughing with his grandkids. I have a childhood full of memories of him taking us out riding, skating, cross country skiing, hiking, and flower walking. To be able to engage fully in an activity that brings joy to everyone involved is a real gift.

I love you always Dad, thank you for everything.

Life in a bubble…

My happiness moment was sitting at the table in my mom’s kitchen with her, my kids, my sister, and her kids; while we decorated gingerbread houses. We need each other, for good times and sad times. It’s just better to be part of a tribe.

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A healthy dose of gratitude. 

Poor little Jenna has been so sick for almost four weeks. This constant cough has been the bane of her existence. We have been to the doctor many times and the children’s hospital twice trying to get her some relief. None of my home or Ayurvedic remedies have made much difference. Frustrating, especially when the respiratory specialist said to expect her cough to last a few months. Good thing we don’t give up easily, nor do we accept someone else’s word as our reality.

Yesterday I wrote about how we had had caring people in the community who were  offering their home remedies to us when they heard Jenna coughing. Last night we tried the solution offered to us by Guy, the guy from Guy’s Cafe. It involved a hot tub and a cold drink of water.

She went to sleep, woke up, coughed all morning, went to school and coughed all day there, got in the car coughing, and then…. After about a half hour she stopped coughing. Just STOPPED.  No more cough. A miracle. My happiness moment. It’s been so difficult watching her be so sick and uncomfortable. I am so grateful that my happy, spunky Jenna is back.

As a bonus happiness moment the kids decorated gingerbread houses today.



I love how into it they get. There is a special magic about Christmas.

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The community hall 

One of the most difficult things about leaving home 10 years ago was the loss of our community. We moved to three very different places with three very different cultures (Quebec, New England, and Southern Virginia). We learned a lot, made some friends and did our best to settle in, but nowhere was home like it is here. 

My family is lucky enough to be a part of a very special community. Being from an old ranching family, most of the people in our area are either related or have been neighbors for 150 years. This makes for some strong bonds, some strife, and some fun parties. 

We have an old community hall which is not far from my house. My grandparents generation built the hall and brought the community together there. Actually, I learned today that the same people who put the wood on the old house I’m living in did the inside of the hall. 

There are old pictures of parties at the hall. My grandpa playing the fiddle, and various other relatives playing instruments while people danced. As a kid, I remember going to dances there. Well, to be clear us kids got to go to the pre dance dance because later on it got a little wild (as an adult later on I went to these dances and I agree with that assessment).   We would dance around, do the Butterfly, giggle with friends and cousins, and sit on the phone two seater outhouse and talk about how cool it was (they have indoor plumbing now thank goodness). 

At Christmas time, families would gather there for the annual Christmas concert. We would preform whatever talents we had, and at the end of the evening Santa would arrive and give us all presents. We used to call Santa on one of those old fashioned phones attached to a wall to see how much longer he was going to be. Some of my favorite Christmas memories are of those parties. 

Every year there’s a Stampede breakfast and the community comes together to visit and eat. It’s a great way to catch up on what everyone’s up to and it’s one of those events that you know all the old aunts and uncles are going to be at. 

It is a true community and I appreciate it now even more than I did before we left. Being a part of this tribe has always grounded me and made me feel at home and safe. 

My happiness moment today was going to a bridal shower at the hall. The bride has also been gone from the community for quite a few years. Yet everyone showed up to support her and celebrate with her. We sat around and looked at presents, visited, drank tea, and ate all those yummy treats that only show up at hall parties. This happiness moment made me shine from the inside out. I am so blessed to be part of this community, and I now to get to bring the kids up here in this safety net of love. 

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This Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve began watching Peewee’s Big Adventure. An embarrassingly loved silly old movie. This year I got to share it with 13 year old Jacob who also appreciated the hilarity of it.

We did our usual slow paced organizing for Christmas Day which included a drive into Cochrane to pick up last minute supplies. As a warm surprise, the best part of the day came here with Jacob and I barreling into town singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs. It was a beautiful, joy filled moment.

In the spirit of finding more of the beautiful and joy filled moments, I paid attention to the second verse of “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” at the evening church service (it seems I only pay attention to the first verses of carols, they’re the only ones I know).

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now! For glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing.

Here’s to spending more time resting beside the weary road listening to the Angels sing. And to looking for more glad and golden hours. Like bellowing out Christmas carols on the drive into town and to being HOME for Christmas.

Merry Christmas

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