a white christmas with sarah

2017 is wrapping up as a really good one for our family. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at our house in Guelph, as Kate and Craig welcomed Sarah Faye Hyatt on December 22nd. She arrived quickly, and she's the biggest bundle of a baby, 10 lbs, 10 ounces - we are so very happy to be close by to give her cuddles and help them out along the way. The weather this year was also very snowy, and we've been in a deep freeze for the last week or so. The snow the day Sarah was born was so white and beautiful, it made for some of our favourite rink skating days so far. We also started a new tradition this year and took Anna to see Handel's Messiah - I have never seen it before and Stew has wanted to take me for years, so this year we decided to include Anna. Her love of music and her curiosity around instruments and singing made for a very enjoyable night out for the three of us. She also loved staying up late and getting a treat at intermission. We tried this year to give experiences instead of gifts - both her and Stew's trip to Edmonton, a pottery session, a trip to the trampoline centre and she and Sam will also be going to see their first Guelph Storm hockey game. I too will be setting some new goals and experiences for 2018 - the first one is learning to play the ukulele. I have lessons starting soon and can't wait to strum, learn some chords and play a few tunes. Also....that's Sam's new Frill Lizard, he's a puppet and he's a very special gift. Henry got a fire truck, but as you can see, he's so busy I can't get a picture of him in focus.

postcards from edmonton

Anna and Stew got an early Christmas gift from me - I used my WestJet dollars (it is astounding what you can collect on a credit card with the amount of groceries we buy!) and I booked them a trip to Edmonton for an extra long weekend away. They left on Thursday morning at 5am, and returned home on Monday evening. They had a great time - I kept getting texts from Stew with photo's of the neat places they were going and I was so happy. Anna spent time with Grandma and Grandpa on Thursday, she sewed a stocking ornament for the tree, she volunteered in Katie's kindergarten class on Friday afternoon, and then checked out Candy Cane Lane later than evening. They took in the Muttart Conservatory,  (Anna doesn't remember but she's been here before) enjoyed lunch out, Stew got to see a movie with his Dad and Jacob, and Anna switched over Katie's fairy land from fall to winter. She's been working on this scene for awhile now, and the details are amazing. We sometimes see it on Skype when we read with her, but Anna said it's so little in person! They had mild weather when they visited, and got back just before we got a big dump of snow on Monday night. Which I'm so glad we paid the money and had them take Red Car from Pearson! 

our tree (and a wreath too)

I was doing the math on Sunday as all 5 of us were driving out to the tree farm, and came to the conclusion that this was our first time as a family of 5 getting our tree! Stew has been really sick (and it takes a lot for him to miss this) for the past two years, and our first Christmas here I didn't go, and before that we went in Calgary with Anna and Sam. So there you have it, a trip to Wintersingers with all of us, including Kate, Craig and Andy. We found one, a white spruce, brought it home, and this year we have 2 new sets of white lights, as well as a beautiful new snow inspired garland from Katie and Jacob. She made it back in the spring and had sent it with Stew's parents in June! The kids were thrilled to open an early gift, and it makes our tree look so different, I love it. Oh, and that's a real wreath too - Central school sells them as a fundraiser for the greening committee, they both smell amazing.