HERE ARE SOME OF OUR TRADITIONS...WHAT ARE YOURS?

Welcome to my home and our traditions. Today the 24th of Dec , Eve of Christmas is when we open all our gifts. Yes it's true..at the strike of midnight on Christmas Eve we rip open ALL our presents.

Let me me go back in time to when I was a little girl and tell you how our magical Christmas' happened.

Magical for me because although my childhood was a very difficult one, our Christmas' always seemed to be exempt from most of the negative aspects that surrounded our lives. Or my sisters and I just made it so in our heads, who knows lol.

First of all, somehow we knew that santa was poor therefore he could only bring one thing to each child. When that sears catalog arrived a month or so before xmas we painstakingly leafed through everypage trying to decide which toy it would be. That catalog became so dog eared and wrinkled by the time all 3 of us went through it a million times its a good thing mom thought to have another one stashed away for her own use and to be able to decipher the item numbers with. When THE toy was finally chosen, we waited for it anxiously at Christmas. The days approuching Xmas when the decorations came out and mom did the tree it was all so special. Our tree was the most beautiful of everyones ofcourse. Presents from relatives and eachother would start to appear underneath it. OH I WONDER WHAT'S IN THAT ONE?...... We also had a manger under it with all the figures in it except the baby jesus in his little bed. He was not yet born so his bed was empty.

On Christmas Eve we either had a big meal or buffet with just us or visiting family and friends. Always lots of food for ppl to munch on through the evening. Us children though, had to go to bed so Santa could come. I even remember one year, just before bedtime, dad brought us to a window that had some snow and frost sticking to it ...looking through one of the panes of glass he points to the sky and says '' Do u see it?'' '' Way Way up in the sky so far it's just a tiny speck but it's Santa's sleigh...See There?.....We were so and wide eyed we all 3 of us strained to see the tiny speck in the sky that was Santa's sleigh and declared....'' I SEE IT! I SEE IT! IT'S MOVING IN THE SKY PAPA , YIPPEE!!!.....all 3 of us goobers danced around with glee. I swear to this day I saw it lol.

So off to bed we would go to sleep. Always so excited thinking we would never be able to but always did. Then at midnight the baby jesus had been born AND Santa had come and gone. We are then woken up . All sleepy but wide eyed we scurry to the tree to first see our covetted toy we chose with care. That one was never wrapped , it was always just sitting there on display ready for our loving hands. Once over the initial excitement of getting THE toy, we had to notice that the baby jesus was in his bed in the manger.

We then opened all the rest of our gifts. Ate more food and finally went back to bed in the wee hours of the night. All happy with what we got and thankful for everything.

Everyone sleeps in Christmas morning since we all went to be so late, and for the most part Christmas day is a lazy day for all except mom doing the turkey for supper.

I repeated the same traditions with my daughter but over the years I have added a couple more. I added stockings. We never had those growing up. I make one for my daughter and niece filled with do dads and what nots all silly little things. I also started buying new pj's for everyone for xmas eve evening. So everyone has fresh new pj's and we are all comfy for a late night opening gifts. As the children get older they no longer have to go to bed. We just all enjoy a late evening buffet and enjoy being together.

My daugher and my niece Chantal are here along with the rare treat of having Chris' kids with us this year as well.

I have shared a few of our traditions with you. What's fun to hear are the different ones that others have with their families. Tell me what some of yours are. I am sure others would be interested to know also. In the meantime, I wish you all a JOYEUX NOËL ....many hugs...0x0x0x

SAFE AND SOUND

For those who wanted to know...Chris' children arrived safe and sound. Not without stress on our parts mind you. For the obvious reasons wondering initially if his ex would get them to the airport on time then yesterday..arrival day, we got hit with a wopper of a snow storm. Starting early morning..it started snowing nonstop..schools were closed and all domestic flights going in and out were cancelled. We had the Air France website on keeping track of their flights. They had a short flight to Paris to start then a direct flight from Paris to Montreal. We saw by the website that it had left we were then concerned it wouldn't land in Montreal with this storm.

Highways were blocked or just full of accidents and my ex even called after driving into Montreal for work to suggest Chris leave for the airport right then to be on time...This was said at 9am..flight was due at 3pm...its normally a one hour drive.....We weighed the options and decided to wait till the plows had begun making headways. ...He left at noon...and it went well, and just under 2 hours but only because he stayed behind a snow plow.

They landed fine...Chris was at the gate waiting. Almost 2 hours later, they still hadn't come through the gate. Apparently others waiting were starting to snarl. Chris was becoming impatient to say the least...he hadn't seen his kids in 9 months and before that it had been almost 3 long yrs. (This was not by choice believe me)

The phone rang and when I answered Chris announced.. THE EAGLES HAVE LANDED!!!...WHOOOO HOOOO....

When Chris signed for the kids. (son 11yrs & daughter 13 yrs old) .they had an airline attendant..she informed Chris that it is a NO, NO! to have minors transport cigarettes and alcoholic beaverages!...Chris was like WTF?...then figures that his daughter must have a bottle of wine as a gift from France for her dad...so looks at both kids with attendant there and says...OK, WHICH ONE OF YOU SMOKES NOW!?!?... that even had the attendant laughing. LOL....

They got home an hour later, as the roads had been plowed. It was great to see them. More hugs and kisses. Sat down to supper and watched as my Chris had twinkles in his eyes and a beaming smile as he and his kids goofed around together. I was so happy for them all.

Chris has to work this weekend but after tuesday he is off till Jan 3rd. Poor kids are stuck here with me and Luc lol...they atleast have the pc to play on. I actually got alot done. Made 4 batches of fudge, and aprox 130 xmas cookies.

We have 3 precious weeks with them. I hope they have a great time here with us. I send hugs to all my friends..and hope u all get your xmas stuff done in time. HUGS TO EVERYONE

My 2005 Christmas Letter

It's that time of year again. Is it me or does it seem that as soon as we are done putting away the tree and Christmas decorations, we have to take them out again? Ok, I realize that there is a summer squeezed in between but it zooms by like that lone fly you can never catch.

This past summer, Chris, Cléo and I went out west to see the family. It was a first for Chris as he hadn't yet met some of my family or seen anything of western Canada. I believe Chris made a good impression with my family. The very first day we arrived, when we were gathered at mom and Ben's for supper with Nicole and her family, Chris surprised everyone including me by getting on bended knee and proposing to me. YES YOU HEARD IT RIGHT! My parent's OLDEST daughter is FINALLY getting married! I said YES by the way. (PSST... Dad, you can put the shotgun away).
This coming January Chris starts a new position as a supervisor at the pharmaceutical company where he works. Once he starts we will be better able to chose a wedding date. If all works out I would love June 9th. It is the date my grandparents married. They adored eachother till death. It is also the date my (divorced) parents married. They will have OTHER unadoring feelings till death. So I figure it skips a generation.

We had a great week spend in Cochrane with mom, Ben, Nicole, Wade, Tess and Hayden. Many a photo was taken during our different activities. I think my favorite is the one of my loving sister Nicole giving me the finger...oops I mean adjusting her glasses. Oh but I also love the few shaky ones I took of the mountains in Banff as we took the Gondola to the mountain top. Shaky why? Well as I had to unweld one of my cold damp hands from the side bar, in the flimsy, almost totally windowed, death trap of a cable car, to hold the camera, all while keeping an eye on the thread like thickness of a cable, sure to snap by the slightest shift of this big girl's weight, there by hurdling us to a horrid, seen by every angle in slow motion, DEATH a trillion feet below...may have caused my camera hand a few gentle movements during this serene moment of totally breathtaking beauty and calm wonderment.
The following week was spent in Regina with dad and Christine and relatives all over. It was so nice to see everyone. We were also able to do a few new things. Due to my brother André's wife Ellen, Cléo was able to do some horseback riding and we also had the oportunity of spending time at the Regina Science Center where Ellen works. Chris and Cléo both had a few runs going up the climbing wall as I cheered them on. I secretly knew I could do so much better but as I had a skirt on I opted for letting them compete with eachother. Besides those harnesses looked like they were made out of wet toilet paper.....well close to it anyway.
As holidays are, the two weeks sped by. We flew home to return to the routine but luckily dad was coming out east. We were able to spend more time with him and Christine and they bought Cléo a piano. She had expressed wanting to learn and as he had done the same for Nicole's daughter Tess a few years earlier, we found a nice one and got it home shortly after that. Cléo started lessons once a week since sept and already knows some Beethoven among other things. I have yet to ask her to pratice. It's more like telling her to do her homework INSTEAD of play piano. What a delinquent!! I knew that 15 would be rough, it's the age pending disaster I tell you!!!

Finally, this Christmas will be very special for Chris because we will have his children here to celebrate it with us. They arrive from Paris France this Dec 16th. His daughter Mahault is 13 and his son Thomas is 11. Needless to say, Chris doesn't see them often and this will be the first Christmas in 4 years they have spent together. We will have three weeks to spend with them and enjoy every minute. With that I wish for all of you to spend this holiday season with friends and loved ones and appreciate every moment. Accept our best wishes for a JOYEUX NOËL ET BONNE ANNEÉ........0X0X0X Monette, Chris et Cléo
PS...Those among you who know will be recieving a card from me in the mail. PLEASE DO NOT READ ABOVE LETTER..