Savouring the holidays...

It's been fun having time to do things that normally don't make it on my to-do list.   I'm remembering how satisfying it is to do a bit of baking, and how pleasurable when it's something we just want to make instead of a have-to.  Having a sweet little helper makes it all the better.

The kids have taken advantage of the little bit of snow that we've had, spending hours on the dirt hill.  After a while the hill got pretty icy so they put the sleds aside and went down on their bottoms.  I took a few turns, too, and it was fun though a little steep and bumpy.

Now, just imagine what condition their snowpants were in after sliding down that sandy ice.  Good thing we have a good supply of extras, accumulated over the years from hand-me-downs and thrift stores.

Teaching Nadia how to make a snow angel...

Precious moments like this need to be savoured ~ teaching her something that's generations old; something she'll be passing on to her own little ones some day.

We hosted Gerald's family for Christmas Eve dinner.  It was so nice that all 23 of us could fit in one room.  To change things up a bit we had a little game of matching Bible texts with the verse at each place setting to seat people randomly.  Makes for an interesting mix, and certainly quieter than having all the younger ones sit together.

The girl cousins went out for a photo shoot...

Photo credit: Allison

Boxing day was spent with my family~ skating followed by a potluck supper.  The skating rink was pretty crowded, but the weather was fabulous.  So fun to see people of all ages on the ice.



My mom and step-dad came by and took Nads around the park to see the nutcracker and snowmen and other neat things they had set up around the park but I didn't get a picture of them. :( 

The first week of holidays was busy, but so far this week has been more relaxing.  We've been playing lots of games of golf (a card game that is easy to learn and good fun), working on a challenging jigsaw puzzle, reading, eating popcorn and sipping hot chocolate.  We've had friends over, and hope to do more of that this week.

Yesterday I entered the last of our expenses for 2011 (not quite relaxing, but so satisfying to have the whole year complete!)  Now I have an organized record, and can see at a glance exactly how much we spent on food, clothing,  utilities, education and everything else.  There weren't any big surprises - we had a fairly accurate idea of how much of our income was spent in the major areas.  But this just helps us to know for sure and make financial decisions more confidently.  Plus, it satisfies my need to feel organized. Love that feeling. :)

Tomorrow we hope to take the family out for some long-ago promised fun.  We never did get around to any day-trips or outings after our super-busy summer, but tomorrow's the day!  We're so looking forward to that!