I can’t believe that it’s the last day in 2006 already. Time just keeps going by faster and faster every year that I get a little older.

I’m currently having a little party with Hayley. Breanna is sleeping soundly, George is playing with his band* and so I’m having some chips with Hayley, she’s drinking “Coke” (the tiniest splash of Coke in a glass of water to make it bubbly and fizzy), and I’m having some red wine. We’re watching Dick Clark’s Rocking New Year celebration with Ryan Seacrest, and taking it easy.

I don’t remember what my resolutions for 2006 were, but I’m sure that I didn’t keep many – if any – of them. I have two resolutions for 2007. One is a resolution that I stole from a friend, to “make the effort” in all areas of my life. It’s such a perfect resolution and takes some of the pressure off of a list of rules that I won’t live up to in the end.

The other resolution is to read more. I’m still appalled at how few books I read this past year. Yes, I have a pre-schooler and a baby, but that’s no excuse, I can still read more than I did.

Now I’m off to apparently dance with Hayley to whoever is singing right now. I hope everyone’s 2007 starts off on the right foot. Happy New Year, and see you all next year**!

* For the fourth year in a row; I can’t believe he never had to play on the 31st back when I could easily go with him. Phooey! Murphy’s Law.
** No, I never get tired of that lame joke. I even told Hayley that if she’s not too tired, she doesn’t have to go to sleep until next year. Groan.

I am so tired and I am going to head off to bed momentarily. It’s a good tired though. Today George was helping his friend with fixing up his recording room in his basement and after lunch he came back and picked us up to take us over as well. I thought we were just going to take the kids out in the snow for a bit and then come home but we actually stayed for quite awhile. We didn’t make it outside but Hayley played with her friend, I kept an eye on Breanna, and I got to have some adult conversation over cheese, pate, crackers, and red wine. We ordered a couple of pizzas and just had a great day.

Breanna was exhausted because she woke up at 8 am and then took a 35-minute nap from noon until 12:35 so she fell asleep on my shoulder for about 20 minutes after supper but she still went to bed pretty easily when we got home at almost 9:30. Hayley was worn out after a full day of playing Barbie, dinosaurs, monsters, and dancing princesses so she was asleep in under ten minutes.

She woke George up early this morning (in the wee hours while it was still dark) and was really sad because she misses my grandmother, so it was really good for her to get out and have some fun with her friend. And it was totally good for me too!

Between today’s unexpected visiting and having dinner with other friends tomorrow, even though I have no big new year’s eve plans I think I’m ending 2006 on a pretty good note.

WordGoddess gave to me…

12 people who’ve made a difference in your life this last year

1. Hayley, of course
2. Breanna, of course
3. George, because otherwise there would be no Hayley or Breanna
4. My parents
5. My sister
6. My grandmother
7. The minister who did the funeral for my grandmother
8. The other minister who spoke at the funeral
9. George’s parents
10. George’s sister
11. Several friends offline
12. A whole bunch of my imaginary friends who live inside the computer

11 things you’d put into a time capsule from the last year

1. A copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DVD (even though it was out in 2005 I didn’t see it until this year, what with giving birth and all)
2. A photo album of all my favorite pictures of the year
3. My favorite pair of sleepers that Breanna outgrew back in late winter
4. Some of my newer recipes
5. A mixed CD of my favorite songs from this year
6. A DVD of the videos I took of the girls
7. Some pictures and the write up from our camping trip this summer
8. A CD of the songs George has worked on
9. A printed copy of the past year of this website
10. A DVD of the past season of my new favorite show, Criminal Minds
11. Some of Hayley’s awesome artwork

10 things this past year has taught you

1. Life can change in a heartbeat
2. People in your family can surprise you – in good ways
3. Other people can be morons
4. Christmas is fun with kids
5. People are incredibly generous, even when they don’t know you face to face
6. Leaving your one-year-old with no milk at the grandparents’ for five hours so you can go to a party and relax is okay and she will be fine
7. Just because you did something one way with your first child doesn’t mean it has to be the same the second time around
8. The people who sucked last year still suck this year
9. Fart jokes and knock knock jokes are the epitome of entertainment for four-year-olds
10. Some cats really are stupid

9 things you could have done without

1. Losing my grandmother five days before Christmas
2. Losing my grandmother, period
3. The Plague cold that ripped through the entire family
4. Taking Breanna to the ER because she dislocated her elbow
5. My grandmother’s house being torn down
6. Assholes on parade with opinions
7. All those temper tantrums that four-year-olds are experts at throwing
8. All those temper tantrums I had too
9. Seeing Britney Spears’ coochie up close and personal in all the tabloids

8 of the best books you’ve read and/or movies you’ve seen

1. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Friend
2. Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (again)
3. The Kite Runner (GOD that book was so good. So, so amazingly good.)
4. Can You Keep A Secret? (Chick lit at its finest.)
5. Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Post-Partum Depression by Brooke Shields (If you have even come close to PPD, this book was so helpful.)
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the movie, I mean)
7. Hoodwinked (I know the movie off by heart I think)
8. Hostel (sick and demented yet terrifyingly good)

7 little (or not so little) things you’ve done to make the/your world a better place

1. Taught Hayley (reinforced) about please and thank you
2. Taught Hayley about graciously saying thanks even if a gift isn’t exactly her cup of tea
3. Teaching Breanna the concept of “gentle”
4. Turned the heat and air conditioners to more reasonable levels
5. Talked with Hayley about the environment
6. Brought home all kinds of crap in my pockets to avoid littering
7. Contacted city hall when our nearest park was covered in litter and had a broken slide

6 things you’d like the New Year to bring

1. More freelance opportunities, whether they’re web design or (preferably) writing
2. Prosperity?
3. Breanna’s freakin’ molars to come in already
4. Enjoyable work for George
5. A move?
6. An ability to fit some exercise in to my life

5 things you’re grateful for today

1. (Currently) sleeping children
2. The joy of watching the two kids playing happily together in the ball pit
3. Labbatt Bleue beer
4. Memories
5. A bunch of new clothes to wear, yay for passed along clothing

4 gifts you’d like to give

1. A teleporter to my family so we could all get together more easily
2. Peace to my mom
3. A profession in music full time to George
4. Self-confidence for the years to come to both girls

3 gifts you’d like to receive

1. That lottery ticket that our friends stuck in our Christmas card? I’d like that to be a winning ticket, thanks.
2. A house and jobs and easy re-location in Halifax
3. A laptop!

2 things you wish you’d done this last year

1. Exercised. I’m always going on about how I should try to do some yoga to ease my freaky aching legs but I never.do.it.
2. Read more. I can not believe how easily reading has fallen off my list of hobbies. My 14-year-old self would have been appalled.

1 thing that surprised you the most this year

1. Somehow everything works out okay.Corny but true.

This has been a WordGoddess Collaboration.

So I guess I should start the recap.

It started on the 24th when we gave the girls their traditional Christmas Eve pajamas to open. Then they had a quick bath, and Hayley set up the cookies and milk for Santa and some water and an apple for the reindeer. I got them into bed and it took Hayley until after 10:30 to finally fall asleep, sheesh.

George went to get the big gift for Hayley at his parents’ house and then we got ready for bed. Breanna ended up keeping me up from midnight to 3 am for no apparent reason, but even though it was so late when I went to sleep, I popped awake at 6 am. I was shocked that Hayley was still in bed. I just slept lightly for the next hour and a half and then we all got up (Breanna had to be woken up twice, that little stinker).

We checked out the table where we found that Santa is a big slop and had left chocolate chip cookie crumbs all over the placemat and in his milk, and the reindeer had sloshed water all over Hayley’s note and even deposited a chewed-up apple core in the water bowl. Next year I’m leaving a rag and a broom out for them.

We did the stockings and then moved on to the gifts. Hayley loved everything from us, and was definitely shocked by the train set. It was a good choice. Breanna was curious about the stuff we got her but was still a little confused and more interested in the wrapping paper.

Once we got to the Santa gifts, Hayley ran to the big box and said it was for her because she saw her name on the tag. She started ripping it open and was really happy to see her vanity set. Breanna was also pretty interested in the piano from Santa because there were already batteries in it and it started playing even in the box.

After we got everything shoved to one side, we set the vanity up and then the piano and let them explore the big gifts before George and I got dressed. Then we kept the kids in their Christmas eve pajamas, and whisked them off to George’s parents’ house for more gifting. Breanna fell asleep on her grandfather’s shoulder for an hour because she was tired and a little overwhelmed. The ball pit tent was from us but had accidentally been left over there so Hayley opened it up and she was pretty surprised by it. She also got an Aquadoodle that she had wanted and both girls got lots of nice clothes.

We came home for about two hours so they could play with the ball tent (BIG hit) and so we could all get changed. At first I had laughed at the warning on the box that said – and I quote – that the ball tent could “pop up vigorously without warning” while being set up, but I stopped laughing when I nearly lost the side of my head as the tent sprang up. Still, once it was done, the girls played long enough for me to get dressed up and get ready, so it was worth it.

We went back over and had a nice big supper. I actually skipped dessert. I didn’t eat enough during the day, so when I had supper I got really overly full quickly. Luckily I have half a pumpkin pie sitting in the fridge now, hooray for leftovers. We didn’t stay too late because Breanna was completely worn out and ready to melt down, and Hayley wanted to come home and play with her stuff.

Once the kids were in bed (Breanna was asleep in five minutes, by 8:30 and although Hayley tried to fight it, she was eventually out by about 10), George and I watched Mission Impossible 3. I can’t stand Tom Cruise anymore but it was on the movie channel and as much as he’s an asshole he also makes really exciting movies, so I enjoyed it despite myself.

We all had a good sleep and then on the 26th we did it all over again with my family. I did some tidying up in the morning and made my sauce after lunch for the lasagna. I had just gotten changed and stuck my contacts in when they arrived. I got to meet my sister’s boyfriend for the first time, and he is just as nice as she made him sound; he apparently has a good sense of humor because he was right in the middle of everything, cracking jokes.

We opened our gifts in the living room and we got spoiled some more. My new toys – all of which I had asked for – included a sandwich grill, a hand blender, a new hair dryer, and perhaps most useful and necessary of all, a new battery charger with four AA batteries so I can stop crying about how my new camera can only take ten pictures before the batteries die. My old ones were just too used to handle it anymore.

Breanna and Hayley got all kinds of cool stuff like a princess Mega Bloks castle with Cinderella and the Prince, Candyland, a xylophone, and Hayley was particularly thrilled to get a stuffed Pablo from the Backyardigans.

After all that chaos, I assembled, cooked, and served lasagna, George made garlic bread, and we ate, laughed, and hung out. We had forgotten to do stockings so we opened those after supper, and then I put Breanna to bed. My family stuck around talking until about 11:15. There was no way Hayley would have gone to sleep with them in the living room so she got into bed at 11:25 and was out by 11:30. She was so exhausted.

Although I had a bit of that post-holiday let-down on the 27th – the feeling you get when it’s all over and you’re thinking, “God I waited all month and now it’s over!” – it was also good to get back into a semblance of a routine. It was good to have meals at proper times and to get settled again. I actually woke up feeling like I had a hangover even though I had only had one small glass of wine at supper – it was because of not eating properly and neglecting my water intake.

I think that this was really the best Christmas since I was a kid. I had so much fun. If you’d like, there’s a whole Christmas photoset on Flickr. Enjoy!

When I wrote about my grandmother passing away, a lot of people referred to the fact that I had written so much about her before that they felt like they knew her too. It was an amazing feeling to know that she was someone who wouldn’t even have known on a computer, and yet so many people knew who she was through what I wrote here. Every so often I would like to tell some stories about my family members to help make sure that they live on.

Tonight while waiting for “Criminal Minds” to come on, I watched a bit of a show called “Men of the Deep” which was about a men’s choir made up of coal miners. They sang songs about various tragedies that have happened in mines over the course of history and they also showed some interviews with wives and mothers of people who had been lost in the mines.

When my grandmother was very young, she hopped on a bus and a train and headed to Val d’Or, which is north and West of Montreal. My grandfather had already gone out there and was working in the gold mines. They got married and lived in a one-room tiny home in the mining village. When my uncle was born, they had little heat so she had him sleep in a hat and layers and lots of blankets to swaddle him; they had no room (or money) for a crib, so he slept in a drawer from their dresser on the floor. My grandmother often talked about how the toilet seat in the outhouse would freeze solid in the winter so she cut a donut-shaped piece of fur to carry out with her to sit on when she would need to pee at night. It was a way of life I can’t even imagine.

And I can’t imagine living with the constant fear every time your husband or son or father or brother walked to work and got on that old elevator that sank so far into the ground. One of the most chilling stories I ever remember hearing was one where my grandmother was sound asleep in bed. Whenever anything bad happened, some sort of accident or explosion, they would turn on a siren that rang over the entire population so that everyone would know something had gone wrong and there were likely casualties. My grandmother was sleeping and the siren started blasting in the middle of the night. She got up and ran out her front door in her nightgown, racing towards the mine and fearing the worst. She was halfway there when she realized that my grandfather had been asleep beside her when she tore out the front door. He wasn’t even working that night but the sheer terror of something happening to your loved ones was so deep inside that it was an automatic flinching reaction.

She must have been so relieved when they packed up and came back to Montreal and my grandfather started working for Canadian Pacific, the train company. It was a whole lot safer and saner.

There are a whole lifetime of memories crammed into my head right now. I’m sure I’ll share some more soon.

Today was great! I got the apartment reasonably straightened up (or as much as you can when it seems like a toy store has exploded in the living room!) and made the sauce for my lasagna, then my family arrived despite the fact that winter finally decided to drop a bit of snow on us.

We chatted in the living room for a bit, then we opened gifts. I got some great things that I had wanted. Amanda and Neal got me a sandwich grill and a hairdryer (my hairdryer worked but the switch was broken so it needed to be unplugged to turn it off), and my parents got me a hand blender and perhaps best of all, a new battery charger with four AA batteries. My old charger probably still works but the batteries were dying out after almost six years. When I tried to use them in my camera, they would fizzle out way too quickly and just wouldn’t hold a charge. I am so happy to have new ones because it’s hard being a digital camera addict when the batteries can only hold out for about ten pictures!

Hayley was ecstatic, especially over the fact that she managed to get my sister and my mother both to come play in the ball pit with her. She showed everyone all her new toys and talked everyone’s ears off. Breanna was in great spirits and charmed everyone. She spent a great deal of time playing ball with my dad and even sat on his lap for awhile. I think that meant a lot to my dad because at that age Hayley was having some strong “stranger” anxiety where she didn’t want to go to anyone other than myself or George, and she was a little afraid of his beard too; Breanna thinks his beard is neat and had a great time playing with him.

Breanna went down by about 9 pm, crashing on my shoulder before I deposited her in the crib. Hayley held out until everyone left at about 11:30. She was exhausted but there was no way she would have gone to sleep with them here, especially Auntie Amanda. I put her to bed, and she was sad because she couldn’t find her baby that she sleeps with (a little bunny in a blue dress) but she hugged her new Pablo of the Backyardigans, a gift from Amanda and Neal, and although I promised to bring her baby in if I found her, Hayley was sound asleep when I came back in with the bunny two minutes later.

Supper was good. I made two big lasagnas, George made garlic bread, we had a bottle of red wine, and we still had some ice cream log cake for dessert. It was nice to meet Neal, he is a really great guy and I’m happy that my sister is with someone who is obviously very good for – and to – her. He fit in well, making jokes and playing with the kids, and it was good to get to know someone important in my sister’s life.

Even though they were here for almost eight hours, I wish that we could have had a longer visit or that there was time to squeeze in one more get-together before they leave on the 28th. I’m ecstatic that Amanda lives where she wanted to be for so long, but I miss her when she goes home. Still, it was a great Christmas to have her here for a day anyway.

The kids got a lot of great stuff too and I think I’m going to have to do some re-arranging to put their new toys on the shelves and whatnot, and pack away some of the old ones. Tomorrow is another regular day after all the festivities so they can just play and take it easy, and hopefully they’ll both sleep in a bit to make up for the excitement and late nights.

I have a ton of pictures but it’s almost midnight and I’m thinking bed sounds mighty fine right now so those will have to wait!

A very merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Ours was absolutely wonderful, and technically it’s not even over yet since we still have to do the get together with my family tomorrow, so we get a two-day Christmas over here.

Lots of fun, two very happy (and overstimulated, tired out) kids. I am off to bed since I got about four hours of sleep but one cute story:

Hayley went with her grandfather to pick out gifts for George and for me. I opened up a gift bag of very pretty, sparkly bracelets and I love them. I helped her wrap up George’s gift. She had gotten him a coffee mug to be used either for drinking or to hold his pens on his desk. I wondered what had prompted her to get that particular mug since it has a pattern of playing cards on it and it made me think of poker. Then, without even being asked, she told me, “it’s a Go Fish cup because Daddy and me play Go Fish a lot.”

I have been telling anyone with ears about that anecdote because it’s so incredibly endearing to me that I can barely contain myself. She may only be four but she can still be so thoughtful in the most surprising ways.

It’s a really good thing Hayley and Breanna are sleeping! Back at bedtime, Santa was all the way in Peru, but according to NORAD’s tracking of Santa’s travels, he’s already in New York right now!

I would hate to think that they were still awake when he’s only a few hours away. I’d better go to bed myself. I have a feeling tomorrow will start VERY early.

It’s all over. Today we bravely ventured out, fearing the worst, and yet we managed to finish up all the shopping we needed to do in just about two hours. We went to an outlet place where you can get really nice, good quality stuff for reasonable prices first. There really weren’t any more people than usual for a Saturday and after a bit of wandering around and discussing the merits of this versus that for so-and-so, we found what we wanted to get and we left. Just like that, my family (plus my sister’s boyfriend – do you know how agonizing it is to shop for someone you barely know, hoping that you picked a good gift?) and George’s family were taken care of.

After that we went to a small local store to get a few things I had seen that I wanted to get; we also got a gift for each of the girls to give to each other. Breanna is giving Hayley a deck of Cinderella cards so that she has her very own deck for all the games of Go Fish that she loves to play (and maybe she’s ready for a few other card games too). Hayley is giving Breanna a new sippy cup which may not be super exciting but it’s very practical since Breanna only has two, one of which she doesn’t like because it has handles.

The last place we went gift shopping was the dollar store for stocking stuffers and gift wrap. I was not looking forward to it because I was sure it would be like the Apocalypse in there, with shoppers scattering everywhere like locusts. Much to my shock it was completely bearable. There really weren’t very many people at all. We went through the aisles and picked up a lot of nice little things for the girls to put in the stockings (a lot of craft type stuff for Hayley and also an awesome pair of really pretty fair wings for each of them to play dressup with) and got our wrapping paper, then we stood in line for less than three minutes. It was great! I’m just glad that at the last minute I remembered that we needed some batteries for a couple of the toys – that would royally suck if we didn’t have any for their new loot.

Interestingly, the worst place of all was the grocery store. We ran in to get something for supper for tonight and tomorrow, as well as a few essentials (hellloooo egg nog!) and some cookie dough so Hayley and I can bake cookies for me Santa tomorrow afternoon. I wouldn’t mind baking some actual cookies from scratch but I’m just not that much of a baker and I’m more of a cake person, so Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies suit me just fine, especially when I have plenty to do tomorrow anyway.

When we got home, Hayley was still with her grandparents, so I took advantage of that and wrapped Breanna’s gift from Santa and all our stuff for Hayley. All I have to do tomorrow is do Breanna’s gifts from us, and George will take care of the two things over at his parents’ garage.

Tomorrow I’m getting Hayley up at 7 or 7:30 at the latest and we’re going to try to keep her busy and active so she’ll sleep tomorrow night. Too bad she won’t be getting the ball pit until Monday, otherwise she could use up some energy that way. Maybe I’ll get her to do some housework while I sit around and sip egg nog.

I feel so festive. I was always kind of Scrooge-y after I grew up, not hating Christmas but not being all “WOO YAY” about it. Then I had kids and suddenly it’s fun again. I can’t wait to watch them open stuff up. I’m most excited about Breanna’s piano and the train set we got spur of the moment for Hayley. She saw it on the back of a magazine last week (it’s a GeoTrax set) and siad she would love one but I said maybe next year some time. I thought they were really expensive. Then we ended up not being able to find Diego’s Rescue Pack and I spotted one of the train sets at Toys R Us for an incredible price. She isn’t expecting it at all so I know she’ll explode. What’s fun about them is they’re like those Habitrail hamster systems – you can buy extra sets and just add on.

I wish Christmas was tomorrow, I’m so excited for the joy of the holiday I can hardly stand it.

I’m not ready to write about my grandmother yet; I want to compose my thoughts a little better and process today before I try. Suffice it to say that as far as a funeral can be, it was a wonderful service with great anecdotes and some lovely thoughts spoken by both the reverends who were there.

Instead, I’ll write about tomorrow. Despite tomorrow being the last Saturday and the second to last day before Christmas, I am a little freaked out about the fact that I have to go out to buy some final gifts, but I think we can do it. We have no need to go to any major chain stores so we can avoid that frenzy. We need to go get the stocking stuffers for the kids and the presents for our families. I know pretty well what I want to get for everyone in my family and although George isn’t sure offhand, I know he has some ideas and he is always amazing at picking out gifts anyway. You know how there’s always that stereotypical guy who goes out and buys a gift at 4:45 pm on the 24th and he ends up bringing home something lame like a toothpick holder or a set of rosary beads for his non-Catholic wife? George is the guy who could actually get something GOOD at that same hour.

Still, I won’t relax until it’s all done. We also have to get some regular groceries for us and the supplies to make the lasagna and salad for my family when they come here on the 26th.

Basically, I just want to try really hard to get everything we need by the end of the day so that we can really relax on the 24th. I’m hoping that if we go out at all on Sunday that it’s strictly for the purpose of visiting friends or family.

It’s a good thing I don’t have an ulcer, considering all my last minute shopping stress. In the meantime I think it’s time for a cup of tea and some cookies to unwind, think about everything whirling around in my head, and then go to bed so I can effectively elbow my way through the crowds.