TURNING THE CALENDAR PAGE FOR THE LAST TIME THIS YEAR.

 Hello December, I'm a little late to greet you as I'm running behind. 

Yay! I started my Christmas decor. The Nativity is usually the first thing out, just in time for Advent. I see I need to replace the snow as it's getting worn out. My nativity is 22 years old and was given to me by Christine. I just love this nativity.

I was going to post to mark the end of  November but one thing lead to another and it didn't get done. 

Our church ladies organized a Christmas bazaar and raised over $2000. with this fundraising in three hours.  I did a baking marathon for the bake sale and donated some homemade heat bags that we call magic bags to sell before going away for the weekend in Bathurst, a three-hour drive. George wanted to stay home, and I got my son to check up on him from time to time.

I had a wonderful time in Bathurst and got there ahead of the big storm on Saturday. I was invited to a very popular Chinese restaurant by my brother Gerrad and we all ordered the buffet. We ate till there was no more room. The place was packed and the food was good. The next morning, on Sunday there was over a foot of snow on the ground. The snow didn't keep anybody home.

The family gathered at my brother's house and we all had a great time. A lot of chatter and laughter but a little more subdued than the previous year since we all missed our brother Leo.  Normally, everyone stays later but because of the heavy snowstorm, people started to leave home a little earlier than usual. There was so much food. My sister-in-law, Theresa is the hostess with the mostess. For those who live far away, we connected on the tablet through Messenger.

I came home on Monday. The snow was still drifting quite a bit and the roads were snow-packed and slippery. Once past Bathurst, the roads were slushy and the sun was low on the horizon.  A good thing I got a good pair of sunglasses that cut out the glare. Past Bathurst I got my car windshield cracked by a flying rock in heavy traffic. It needed to be replaced. From Miramichi to Fredericton, the grass was green.

I had a birthday in late November and George took me out to breakfast and again for supper at a seafood restaurant. We got our fill and had to take the rest home.  It's funny how the stomach can stretch when the food is so good. I said to George, I think I gained weight this week and he laughed at me and said, "Yeah, maybe half a pound, lol...

I help prepare another funeral reception on Friday with our church ladies. We did a lot of baking sweets and preparing sandwiches and so it seems there is never a dull moment but it's always fun to work with this group of ladies. We laugh a lot.

I attended the last hooking meeting of the season and we all had a wonderful time. There was a lot of chatter and we seem noisier than usual. We'll meet again for our Christmas Party. 

Stay safe and well, hugs.

Julia

THE TREE IS UP

I finally decided to put up the tree. It feels different this year as we won't have any visitors but this is something we might have to get used to.  One thing I've noticed as I made progress in decorating the tree, I had mixed feelings as I was handling all the decorations that my kids gave me over the years. There are some from many countries from far away places and some they bought with their own money when they were in school. Many are collectors' items now.  It was bittersweet as I hung a little pair of ceramic baby booties with the birth date and name of Nicole written in gold. After Nicole passed away, those little booties came back home all the way from Scotland.

 Lauren my dear blogger friend has been checking to see how I was doing with decorating my tree. It took me longer than usual to put the darn bead garland on. It kept slipping and my shoulder kept getting sore and tired from holding my arms up. I'm glad I had some office work to do so I could take a break. Thanks to Lauren, I'm glad I persevered and finally finished decorating the tree. 

This is before I got the ornaments on.  The angel was given to me by my first little granddaughter Jordyn when she was just a wee little girl. 

Not a good photo but you get the picture. I have fewer ornaments than the last time I decorated the tree, but still, it took me a long time hanging each one of them.  I gave all my little teddy bears to my little great-granddaughter. She filled a whole big grocery bag with the teddy bears and proudly took them home. It was just too cute.

This a gift from Christine that I got in 2000, 20 years ago.  

One of my large poinsettia. It's starting to turn red. It's so big. This is a table that sits four people.  Some of the large leaves are falling off as there are many little new leaves and branches growing. It's really too big and I have two others like that. You can't even see the top but I'm glad for the color.

I have some other decorations put up but it will be for another time. This evening George and decided that we will get a turkey for Christmas even though it's just the two of us. We have to stay positive, it's better that way. I can give the other half to my son Vaughan.

Stay safe and well everyone and thanks for leaving a comment.

Hugs, Julia