Last Post for this decade

It's hard to believe that 10 years ago today, I was with friends, celebrating New Years Eve and wondering if all computers would crash when the clock struck midnight. Silliness.

Now, I'm looking at my daughter (who will be 20 months old on January 9th) and wondering where the last year went. I am blessed to have her - and my husband - in my life.

Today I made up a list of goals for 2010. I'm not sharing them, since they're fairly personal, but I think it's important to set goals for oneself. Whether you actually MEET them is another thing, but at least you have something to strive towards, right?

As I look into the future, I can only hope that this coming year (and decade) brings health, happiness, love, and friendship for everyone.

Happy New Year!

LOVE the Telehealth commercial

I don't know about you, but I love that the Ontario Telehealth commercial discussing levels of medical care available (doctor, walk-in clinic, urgent care, and emergency room) features an obviously gay married couple as their last example. "Jeffrey and Michael flipped their car..."-the spot features two men, arms round each other. The man on the left side has a visible left hand on his partner's shoulder, and on his ring finger is a wedding band.

Awesomeness.

"Tis the Season

A week until Christmas. We don't celebrate Christmas in the "Jesus was born in a manger this day" kind of way, but a "spend time with family and friends" way. My mom has always been the type to put up the Christmas tree the weekend after Halloween, and musical dancing stuffed things in the weeks following. Stockings go up the week before Christmas (empty of course). They went up today. With a new one for Harley, of course. All the pets get a stocking-they get a toy and usually a treat.

This year is going to be scaled way back in the gift department. Ben's new job (yes, he got the one he interviewed for) hasn't paid him his first cheque yet, and of course since he filed his EI saying he was employed, he doesn't get any more EI cheques. Go figure. So we're outta luck for Christmas.

Having said that, I did get Delilah a few things, a month or two ago. We bought her barely anything last year, but she got lots of stuff from other people. This year, she'll be getting 3 gifts from us, 4 if I find her a book tomorrow. We don't see the point in giving her tons of things, and nothing will be from Santa. We have our own traditions and will be making some up as we go along. One we started last year (her first Yule/Christmas) is a tree ornament. It is given to her on Yule (and I think we will add a book to that tradition) and will be added to our tree. When she is old enough to have her own tree, we will give her a box filled with all the ornaments given to her over the years.

This year I learned about the Christmas Tree Spider tradition. Taken from the Etsy shop article:

The Christmas Spider Legend
A long time ago in Germany, while a mother was busily cleaning house in preparation for Christmas, the spiders that usually stayed in the living room corner fled upstairs to the attic to escape from her broom. From the attic they could hear all the excitement from the living room as decorations were being made for when Santa was to come on Christmas Eve and bring gifts for the children. Frantic to see the decorated tree, the spiders slowly crept downstairs for a view. Oh, what a beautiful tree! In their excitement, they scurried up the trunk and out along each branch. They were filled with happiness as they climbed all through the tree to see the glittering beauty. But alas! By the time they were through climbing all over the tree, it was completely shrouded in their dusty-gray spiderweb. When Santa came, he smiled as he saw how happy the spiders were. However, He knew how heart-broken the mother would be if she saw the tree covered with the dusty webs. So He reached out and touched the webs, blessing them and turning them to silver and gold. Thus, the custom to have a spider ornament amongst all other decorations with tinsel of gold and silver on the Christmas tree was born.

Pretty cool, huh? We got her an awesome handmade Spider Ornament from Etsy. That's gonna be hard to beat.

I'm curious as to what people's opinions are on the whole Santa myth. I mean, I like the sentiment of a magical elf who embodies the meaning of Christmas and all that, but....really? Why tell your kids lies? Why not give them the best presents and claim credit for it? Why not continue the trusting relationship you try to foster from the beginning, rather than have to explain to them why you LIED for years?

People look at us funny when we say we "don't do Santa". And they say, "but what will you tell her when all the other kids are talking about Santa? And when you see Santa in the mall, and the Santa Claus parade-you took her to that!!!" It's pretty amusing, actually. It's not like we're going to pretend that the Santa Claus myth doesn't exist...we're just not going to tell her that he's REAL, and that he's coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve to leave great toys under the tree for her. Instead, we'll tell her that there are people all over the world who tell their children that Santa is real, and that she shouldn't argue with anyone about his existence. It's a lot like religious myths, actually. Strange, that.

Keeping Busy

Well, it appears winter weather has decided to arrive. Strange, to have a November with practically no snow! The flakes are just drifting down here, slowly but steadily. Apparently we have a storm watch for Tuesday night. Woohoo!

Things have been busy on the workfront. I've had several commissions for handcrafted items (wristwarmers, berets, scarves, and keychains, etc). Those are all finished for now but I'm looking to get a few more before Christmas-so if you need a unique stocking stuffer or small gift idea, contact me.

Thursday, I have an estimate for a housecleaning job. It's in London, which will suck for winter driving, but I am looking to get one or two locally as well, for some extra cash. Ben's business is doing REALLY well lately and it's improving all the time. In addition to that, he is currently at an interview for a parts/service position at a newer dealership. Fingers crossed! **Edited to add: Ben came home and less than an hour later, got the call-he starts Wednesday morning!

My training has been going well. I'm amazed at how quickly my body became used to running again. The first few runs, I had to walk several times. But now, I generally run the entire way and walk only to cool down. That's on the 2.5km runs. I haven't done any longer runs yet, as I'm easing my way into it. I've been running 3 times a week. I had to skip yesterday, because I walked downtown on Saturday for my Mom (to the liquor store for a Bailey's special 40 oz with mug) and got a HUGE blister on my left heel-from the Doc's I've had SINCE I WAS 14!!! I couldn't believe it! By the time I got home, it had broken and was oozing sebum. Not pleasant. So now I'm letting it heal a bit more before I go running. I should be able to go tomorrow. I've also been doing pushups and situps after my runs. A friend has a home gym and has said I can use it whenever I want-it's just the issue of me getting over there to do it!

I have an information meeting scheduled with the OPP on December 15th. I'll find out then what is required of me for application, and to see what's what. I'm nervous, but looking forward to getting there and meeting the recruiter.