Lights

On Sunday morning, I got up early and pulled out all of our Christmas decorations. I wanted to get the Christmas lights up outside before it got too late. I did have a couple of opportunities earlier, but the rain caused me to postpone my task. It wasn't raining on Sunday but it sure was windy. I can deal with the wind, it's one of the reasons I like Victoria.

Laura helped me hold the lights as I strung them along the gutter, then we plugged them in an found out that one of the strings of icicles didn't work. We had to take them down and start over again. I'll have to try and remember next time to see if the lights work before putting them up. After that was done, we put up the rest of the lights around the door, the window and around the bush in front of the window.

It is so nice to see the lights shining when I come home from work. It feels so festive and warm. A couple of years I've not bothered to put up the lights because we've been too busy and it was so disappointing. I think I have to get some new lights though, the ones we have are getting so old and worn out. There's also the power factor as well, because the old lights use so much electricity. I'll have to see if I can find some discounted lights after Christmas is over so that I can get them cheap for next year.

We also have a wreath on our door which Laura made when she was at her Grama's house last week. It adds a nice touch to the entryway.

On my next day off, we are getting a tree and then decorating the inside of our house. We used to have an artificial tree but we stopped using it a few years ago because the kids out grew it. Every year they asked if the tree was shrinking. It was only a five foot tree so as the kids got bigger it did seem to them that it was getting smaller. I used to have to lift them up to put the angel on the top of the tree (they take turns each year) but when they could just reach up and do it themselves, it seemed funny to them. It's not as though I could lift any of them up anymore.

December, Faster Than the Speed of Time

It starts out with people saying, “Only a month until Christmas” and you think: “I've got lots of time.”

It sneaks up on you. It gets busier at work, you get busier at home, you have more meetings to attend; and then there's the parties. Before you know it, it's nine days before Christmas, no more pay days and only two days off. What happened to the month? There's still so much to do. The tree isn't up, the shopping is not done, you have people to visit, food to buy, the house to clean, laundry to wash; the list goes on.

Why couldn't December go at a February pace. The shortest month of the year always seems like the longest and December, one of the longest, always seems like the shortest. And it seems to get worse every year as you silently curse the people who are organized as they tell you they finished their Christmas shopping in October.

I think that we do it to ourselves though. We thrive on pressure and December is when we can get the biggest mouthful, trying to choke it down as we run off in a panic to our next imperative task. We need to be busy and we like to have the attention as we tell others how much we still have to do before the big day. We all know it's coming and we could really prepare ahead of time but we don't. Everyone has the same 365 days in a year. That's why some stores will be open 24 hours a day before Christmas and some will even be opened on Christmas day! There was a time, not too long ago (I think it was the year before we went from a paper dollar bill to a loonie) everything was closed on Sunday -- every Sunday. Everything was closed and no one worked. Can you imagine what that was like? Maybe things were slower then, less commercialized.

Were things better then? No, different. We are evolving. I'm sure that, back in the time when everything was closed on Sundays, that people felt busy as well, remembering back to a time when they seemed “not quite so busy.” Was there a time when everything was closed on Saturday as well as Sunday?

It will be interesting to see what the future brings. How much busier can we get? Maybe we are not any busier at all. It could be that we are just a different kind of busy and we adjust our lives accordingly.

Something to think about, but I have to go now, I've got so much to do today. Christmas will be here in nine days, you know!

Christmas Party

Saturday was the Thrifty Christmas Party at the Cedar Hill Rec. Centre. Susan and I went for dinner as we usually do and left shortly after we had finished eating. The party gets a little crazy after that. We got all dressed up and had a good time. It's great to have a free meal once in a while. Then we went to the video store and got a movie to watch for the rest of the evening. Because we were all dressed up, we got the kids to take a few pictures of us so I thought I'd share them here as we don't have many nice 'couple' pictures. We still have Susan's Christmas Party to go to next week. It's hard to believe that Christmas is so close, such a busy time of year!

The Most Intelligent Thing on TV

On channel 1 right now in our area they are showing the Holiday Fire Log. It is a simply a camera pointed at a burning fire in a fireplace. A hand comes in occasionally to stoke the fire and put on another log. Other than that it is just a fire, but to me it is the most interesting thing on TV.

I love to sit and watch it, listening to the crackling of the flames. I can almost smell the smoke of the burning wood. It takes me back to when I was a kid and we used to have a fireplace. It made the room so warm and comfortable, a special holiday feeling. It was best after playing out in the snow all day, coming in to sit by the warm fire.

It is apparently a very popular channel, which got me thinking. When I was in elementary school (30 years ago), the Grade 7 students used to make fire logs to put in the fireplace which would burn in brilliant colours. It was a popular thing because almost everyone had a fireplace in their house. Now I doubt that they would be able to do the same thing with such success because of the lack of hearths. The few people who do burn in their house probably do so with a wood stove, or a gas fireplace.

Times change and with it go traditions and rituals which were once important to us. It's nice to think back and remember how we felt during those times, holding on to warm memories. The fire channel helps me with that, try it out, maybe you'll feel the same.

Football Banquet

Last night was Kyle's football banquet, a wrap up of the season of football. The Bantam Warriors, Kyle's team, all received team jackets. They also received their team and individual pictures.

There was a great roast beef dinner to start with. Then came dessert which all the boys devoured pretty much before anyone else could get to the table. Glad I ate seconds of the dinner; I was stuffed and didn't really care that I missed out on dessert.

After dinner, the President of Spartan's Football did a little speech, then the Head Coach from each team came up and handed out awards to three of their outstanding players: Best Defensive Player, Best Offensive Player, and Most Valuable Player.
That was it. Short and sweet, done in an hour and a half.

I can't wait until next year, Kyle will be in the Midget league. They can stay in Midgets for three years, unlike Bantam which is only two. It just seemed like they were coming together as a team and then most of them move up to the next level. It will be a good start for the Midget team though, even if only half of them sign up again next season.

Splash!

Now, this is the type of Victoria Winter that I love -- rain!

A couple of days ago they were threatening snow, and we did get a little bit, but then, yesterday it warmed up to 13 degrees and the rain came down in torrents; still is. That is fine with me because no one in Victoria can drive in the snow.

The best part, when it's raining like this, is the puddles. The leaves have been falling from the trees for a couple of months now and have clogged up the drains in the road. This combination provides big puddles in various places along the side of the road and I know where most of the good ones are. There is something about driving through a puddle and making a big splash as I go through which makes me feel like a kid; like jumping in a big puddle with gum boots on. I haven't owned gum boots since I was little, so now I just use my car.

The thing that makes me feel better about doing this, is when I'm following someone who is doing exactly the same thing. This tells me that I'm not alone in thinking that there is something exciting about driving through a big puddle. I make sure that I am driving far enough behind that most of the water settles back down so that I can make a big splash as well. Even though it's fun to watch, it's better actually doing it.

There's a lesson in this: Remember to always find something which makes you feel like a kid, it helps to keep you young at heart.