It's the Ha-Happiest Season of all!

We've been so busy around here I haven't been able to pay much attention to the blog. And now that I'm finally sitting down to write, I can't remember anything we've done in the past few days. Losing my mind much?!

Wednesday evening we had our friend Gerry over for our Christmas Dinner. This weekend he's flying home to spend Christmas with family so we celebrated a bit early with him. Now mind you, when I say Christmas Dinner...I don't do a traditional dinner. We have lasagne, ceasar salad and garlic bread. We've been doing that for years so I guess that makes it our little tradition.

Thursday was a busy but very very fun day. We started off with skating lessons in the morning - this was the last session. I should mention, that we started off the day by sleeping in. So you know how that goes. You feel like you're behind schedule all day long, even if you aren't. Amazingly enough, we did make it to skating on time. They played games on the ice the whole time and ended off with some Christmas treats and report cards. Very proud of my little man....he started off so shakey that first session but picked it up with no problems. He passed this level and is now registered for the next level in January. Even more important though - because he passed he can be registered in "Tiny Tot Hockey" which he has been begging to play. It basically gives them a taste of what hockey is all about and teaches them the basics. Needless to say, we have one very excited little boy here in our house.

After hockey we had a little Birthday & Christmas party at our place for my sweet friend Michelle and little Miss E and little Miss K. Little Miss K just turned one so we had to have a little party for her! Michelle picked up McD's happy meals for the kiddo's and I got some veggie panini's at Delaney's for the ladies and finished off with cupcakes for dessert. Presents and Good Times! The time flew by way too quickly and before we knew it, it was time to head out the door for preschool. And what an exciting day at preschool....it was Christmas party day. The last 15 minutes of preschool, the parents were invited to a Christmas sing-a-long with the children. Priceless to hear the kids sing Jingle Bells with GUSTO!

After preschool was over, Max and I drove over to the Park & Tilford Gardens to see the Christmas lights. So pretty. We didn't stay overly long though because it was ch-ch-ch-chilly! Brrrrr!

In the evening after Keith got home from work, I drove over to Coquitlam to meet my dear friend Juli for dinner. It has been months since we've been able to get together so it was nice to get caught up on the latest in each other's lives. And she's so sweet... she brought along a whole bunch of Christopher Churchmouse books and audio tapes for Max. Max LOVES Christopher Churchmouse. In fact, that's the CD that is in our truck right now. When I showed him the stash from Juli he was so excited. Guess what he spent Friday morning doing while I was cleaning?! Listening to each and every one of them. Thanks Juli - that was very very sweet of you to bless him that way!

On Friday, the pace around here was definately much more relaxed. Cleaning day. The house is spic & span, (don't look in some of the closets though - that doesn't count!) company ready, Christmas clean! YEAH!!! And you know the best part of Friday? My honey surprised us by walking in the door around 3:30pm. Ok. That NEVER happens. I was expecting him at 6:00pm at the earliest...especially since it was his last day of work before the holidays so I figured he'd have to catch up on lots of stuff. But no. He came home early and went out and got Starbucks coffees. Doesn't take much to make me happy! Funny thing though, while he was getting the coffee's, my doorbell rang. It was the UPS man. With a package for Keith. Which is a Christmas present for me. So I had to sign for it. And it was COD so I had to PAY for it on the spot. My Christmas present. Isn't that funny?! Mr. UPS man made sure that I couldn't see the document that listed the contents when I was signing - wasn't that sweet of him? Luckily for Keith - I LOVE surprises. There was no way I was tempted to peek at the paper or look in the box. I would be crushed if I knew what was in that box ahead of time. Lucky for him INDEED!

I'm almost done taking pictures of our Christmas decorations...hopefully I'll be able to post them later on tonight.

Until then...enjoy each moment of this wonderful time of year!