Snow day

Well it certainly came down in the night didn't it? Greg is even staying home today. I don't think it's snowing right now but it's hard to tell. Maybe Holly will even wear her new cool hat outside; she certainly wore it all day on Christmas but seems a little reluctant to be seen in public.

Merry Christmas one and all!

We're having a great day...I know it's only 2:30 but Greg's into the wine & I'm into the Baileys. Claire is over and she and Holly are on the computer - doing what I'm not sure. Quake 4?? Lots of presents all round, and a big feed of french toast for breakfast (plus a little of the chocolate from the stockings).

So the SPCA called me on the 23rd wondering if we could foster a sick kitty over Christmas. Well of course and uh-oh for me, it was love at first sight. I don't think this kitty is going back...

I've never had a long-haired cat before, he's actually quite a tiny guy under there. His name is Smokey and he's the most affectionate bundle of love I've ever met. Vespers & Timmy know he's downstairs but they won't meet till he's not contagious anymore (5 days without sneezing).

Holly had her birthday party on Saturday, a very slow lunch at Red Robin and then to see Eragon. She had a good time. I had a good time sitting in the coffee place drinking my chai and reading People while they went to the movie. The restaurant staff had her stand on her chair, introduced her to all the diners and sang the birthday song. She tried to hide under her hoodie as you can see!

We're having the neighbours over tonight (Claire's family) for wine & snacks. They had their dinner yesterday; we have ours tomorrow so it works out well.

I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas!

Holiday time

Today was my last day of work till January 8, 2007! Not that I'm gloating or anything...

For those who missed it

You can read the article in the Capital News about the letters found in the old house here and here's the rather odd photo which accompanied it. One of our staff members did tell me the other day that it was nice to see an article in the paper about the library that was something other than normal publicity. Yes folks, this is the kind of stuff that we actually do here.


By odd coincidence, this photo of my friend James was in a paper from the coast awhile ago. He is a house genealogist in Vancouver. Separated at birth? At any rate I feel a scrapbook page coming on...

Only 1 week to go...

and today I finally got Greg to call his mom so we know what we're doing for Christmas - having dinner on Boxing Day with her and Greg's nephew & family. Whew... I love having nothing to do on Christmas Day; it's so liberating!

Holly and I made our first gingerbread house yesterday. Fortunately it was from a kit 'cause that was as much as we could handle for our first time out. It's killing her that we're not letting her eat it all right now.

But I know it won't make it till Christmas!

So, here at last is the photo from our dinner at Chutney's on Wednesday...I was going to try to crop most of myself out of it but gave up. What the heck, there's only a few people going to see it! That was a fun evening, great food - maybe except for Heather who turned out to regret being so adventurous, right? And wonderful Christmas presents too. And we topped it all off with an action-packed trip to Wal-Mart where we saw somebody make off with a big screen TV. Who knew that WM employed tiny little old ladies as security guards? She must have been 80 if she was a day and she nearly caught the guy too.

And of course we can't forget the meeting of the boots! I even got to wear mine out again today, as Holly didn't leave the house. They really are wonderful...

In other news, we had our library Christmas lunch on Friday, tons & tons of food. I'm sure enough left over to feed both the Saturday & Sunday staff. My Secret Santa gift obviously came from someone who doesn't know me very well - it was kitchen stuff! Silicone mitts, trivet & mini-muffin pan. Very cool and I have used the mitts already. Thursday night's book club Christmas party was a fairly small group but we had fun anyway talking about the book (Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None) and a variety of other things. And last night was the Sons of Norway Christmas party which was a surprisingly good time, and there were more than 80 people there which was a shock. It was for adults & kids and the young kids were so funny, they just had a blast. We sang & danced around the tree (Norwegian tradition) and the Julenisse came with gifts for all of them. The Julenisse definitely needs a new beard, he was looking pretty ratty.

So, Holly's 13th birthday coming up on Saturday. A few kids are going to Red Robin for lunch and then to the matinee of Eragon. It sounds like fun and I guess I'll just try to stay unobtrusively in the background, coming out in time to pay the bill. Unfortunately they're too old for the children's menu now...

These boots were made for walking

Holly has had a bit of a growth spurt recently - in her feet! Poor dear now wears size 10.5 - and she's been hobbling to school this week in my late mother's size 9.5 boots. So a few days ago I let her wear my boots and she absolutely loved them - I wear size 11. Then the fight was on - who got to wear MY boots? So today we went boot shopping. We agreed that if I found boots that I liked, I'd get them and she could keep mine. Well we found these. Romika. They're like slippers! Incredibly comfortable. So much for the deal. She tried them on and decided she would have those, I could have my old black ones back. Hmmph. So I had to get a pair of dress boots for myself as well.