I certainly didn’t do a good job with gifts this year. I wanted to do more, and of course in execution ran out of time. I wanted to make presents and yesterday I couldn’t find the supplies…so that idea fizzled. Next year I vow to start earlier. I will send out cards at the beginning of December, I will start planning presents earlier, I will buy them before December 24th. I think these are manageable. Let’s see what happens.

We had a great weekend with Trondee, Chress and Kego. We successfully crossed the border with Chress, using Chris to drive us through the border with no stoppage. A small social experiment to see if a white driver made a difference in getting taxed. We got through, so perhaps using stereotypes can be a good thing.

Secret Santa and Evil Santa was a ton of fun. I did end up with one present I really wanted, but a critical error lost us the other one. And Wandee loved her edamame pillows!!!

I once saw on another blog a great idea to wrap up the week by picking 5 things that symbolize the week.

1. cookie competition
2. CSI party
3. thank you cards
4. Ed’s birthday
5. Christmas gifts

1. cookie competition – I entered lime meltaways, but they “Delicious Alternative Pleasure” (I was going for branding) did not become a judge favourite, but I still received many nice comments from the crowd.

2. CSI party – I had a few too many drinks, and not nearly enough food to soak it up. It was a great night!

3. thank you cards – I am finally getting around to writing the cards and it makes me so happy to remember all the people who shared in our wedding with us.

4. Ed’s birthday – we had a great little dinner with Troy, Wandee, Claire, Simon and Andrew.

5. Christmas gifts – there is a strange amount of stress, personal satisfaction and fun wrapped up into Christmas Shopping. I always want to surprise the receiver, but I am always worried that they won’t like it.

Today, after much procrastination, I started Wandee’s secret santa present. A giant edamame pillow. About a 1/4 of the way through, I ran out of creative power and ideas, thankfully Mom came to the rescue! I brought the pieces of the pillow and my grand idea was altered a bit, but in the end, we made two gorgeous edamame pillows. Thanks Super Mom!!!!!

We went to play vball at Trinity Bellwoods Community Center with Donna, Aleks and Clayton. As the night progressed, the really good team dominated the court even after they split up to play with the rest of us. And in the last game of the night, Clayton sets and then is on the ground with one guy running over him. And that’s when we realized he was getting up, he had been kneed in the eye and had a mouse over his eye…his poor beautiful face.

We had lobster dinner at Allen’s place. It was a great, grown-up night, of dinner, desserts and conversations. It is nice to know that other people also sometimes prefer a nice evening in, rather than out. I am sure there will be more and more evenings like this in our future.

We are getting old!

we purchased $300 worth of picture frames and jewelery boxes mostly. We also bought a clock and a table. The line-up was about 45 minutes long and inside the normal mayhem ensued and as we left I gave away our parking stub as usual. I like to think that a small deed can make a difference in a pay-it-forward kind of way.

Well, there is no post for yesterday, but I didn’t really forget, we didn’t get home till after 12 and then I remembered in bed.

Anyway, last night we went out for Ed’s “birthday” celebration. We had a nice dinner and lots of laughing and talking.

The best bet came out of us trying to figure out who is going to have a baby first. Chris and I bet, first one to have a baby loses and the other one gets to name it, let’s see if he remembers in 4-5 years from now.

Today was our building Christmas Party, and again it was a fun occasion. It was pretty obvious that there was less food, but the drinks flowed freely. Troy and Ed bid on the Raptors box seats again. This year they were slightly less successful and had to strike a deal with another condo owner to purchase some of the seats from them, they won’t be devastated if this guy bails, but they were happy to participate. Perhaps shopping is the best way to get Ed involved in social engagement. I had a delightful time chatting with Jim, the older gentleman who donated the Raptors box seats, he has some very cute stories from his childhood and grew up in Regent Park. Overall, it was a great shindig as usual.

Heero is Chris and June’s new puppy, he is super cute, white, fluffy and well mannered, we are looking forward to many more play dates with him.