The new year begins...

Last week marked the return to routines and normal life.
Back to school for Max.
Back to work for Keith.
Back to housekeeping and chauffeuring for me.
I won't say that I wasn't looking forward to this moment. Truth be told, I was. I'm a creature of habit who likes set routines and schedules. It's good to get back to them. :-)

Which brings me back to the blogging world...being a creature of habit and all. You probably noticed that over Christmas my blog wasn't accessable at all. I took a break. Here's the thing. I first started blogging three years ago as a bit of an experiment. I thought it might be a good way for those family and friends who wanted to, to keep up with us on the west coast. It worked well. It also quickly became a way for me to keep track of our families activites and milestones at the same time. I had been scrapbooking up until that point but was feeling frustrated with not being able to "keep up" and this blog quickly replaced my scrapbooks...I haven't regretted that decision at all. Since we've moved back to Ontario this fall, I just haven't felt all that enthused about it. I kept thinking that it had served its purpose, and the timing might be right to end this. Over the holidays I decided to take a break. I didn't give it much thought until the New Year. When I found I was randomly typing up posts in my head - documenting and capturing what Christmas had involved this year. Silly!! So I'm back. I've done a bunch of updates to get current. I'm not sure if I'll still post as regularly as I did previously or not. Going to play that by ear. But in the meantime I will leave it up and running and keep plugging away. :-)

We took down the majority of our Christmas decorations Dec 31st. In the nick of time. Feels good to start the new year all fresh and new. Although I must admit the house has a very empty and sparse feeling. Remember those paperwhites that I planted/forced at the beginning of December, hoping they would be blooming for Christmas? They didn't. They started blooming on January 1st. Which worked out for the best really because they add some fresh life and scent now that all the decorations are put away. I'm thinking I may do it that way every year from now on. A happy mistake! :-) I've also been shopping the house. I have oodles of things from our last houses that are sitting neglected in our spare bedroom. Things that I just didn't have a spot for. Or was sick of. Or couldn't picture working in this house. But with my fresh set of January eyes, I'm working at switching things up and moving stuff around. My sister LeeAnne was over the other night and she shopped too...off home she went with a couple of things that she thought might work in her house. It's all good.

Max started a new activity. Lacrosse camp. It's every Monday night for one hour. Intended to introduce kids his age to the sport. He went to his first session last week and LOVED it. He was busy informing me about the rules, techniques and proper terminology. "It's not a stick mom. It's a cradle". All righty then. An extra bonus...we didn't have to go out and buy any new equipment...he can use his hockey equipment. Perfect.

Last Tuesday I received a phone call from some friends of ours from Kelowna. (Max's best little friend from kindergarten.) They were on their way home from a Christmas vacation and had an overnight flight layover in Toronto that night. So the three of us drove down in the evening and met up with them for dinner at the hotel they were staying at. It was a three hour long dinner. The service at the hotel restaurant was extremely slow. But it worked out because we could use that time to get caught up. And yes, I will say that we were sooooooo that family table. The table where the kids are wild and out of control and the parents aren't paying attention because they are so busy talking. Yep. That was us. All great fun and laughs and so good to see our friends again.

This past Sunday we had my grandpa's Christmas dinner. It was a full day. The house was stuffed with people. I think there are close to 50 of us now. The food was delicious! There are lots of good cooks in the family. And I think it also helps that now that we are out of the marathon of Christmas dinners and feasting, we're able to appreciate a meal like that a little bit more. :-)

(I neglected to take any photos at the Christmas dinner. This picture of my grandpa and his little great grandsons was taken Dec 22/09 at my mom's house after Sunday dinner.)

January marks the start of a busy travelling month for Keith workwise. He left the house this morning at 4:30am to catch a early morning flight to Calgary. He'll be out there for the week...first in Alberta and then in Vancouver. We were talking about it last night and came to the conclusion that when he's travelling on a regular basis, we get used to the routines and adjust easily. But when it's been a while since he's travelled, for some reason, it makes it doubly hard to see him go again. :-( We'll be counting the days until he gets back here again.

And speaking of counting the days....how much longer until spring? Enough winter already!