A Decade Come and Gone

Can you believe that ten years have come and gone so quickly?So many changes too! Births,deaths, marriages....its crazy.I remember thinking about how old I would be when we reached the year 2000.Wow was I going to be old LOL!But that bench mark has passed and now its 10 years later, now i'm reeeeeallly old.(ha ha).I remember New years Eve 10 years ago.You know... the dreaded Y2K.The media had everyone in such a panic everyone thought it was going to be the end of the world! What happened?NOTHING,Nadda,zip.

Somewhere in a box out in my shed is a little blue box that I painted. I filled it with Y2K memorabilia and I had everyone write on a piece of paper some goals they had for their life.I'm almost tempted to go find the box and open it, but another part of me says leave it for a while longer.There is a bit of mystery about it.I can't even remember what I wrote.It also contains some precious cargo.On those little pieces of paper there is the personal hand writing of my grandmother and my mom.I think that is partially what stops me from opening it.I don't want to cry.(again)

But that aside I don't really know what I want from this new year.I do know that I have a bizzilion projects floating around in my head.(thanks to all the home decorating blogs that I've been frequenting),there is some sewing that I would like to get done before the girls reach teenagehood,I am trying to improve my photography all the time.

On a personal note I am trying to get into shape.(thanks in part to my Christmas gift-a Wii) Not necessarily to lose weight but just to help myself feel better about myself and to stop looking like I am six months pregnant all the time (yes someone has asked me).I want to look at the positive things my kids are doing instead of complaining about them all the time and I want to travel more.A little farther than my backyard.(D hasn't traveled much other than Brooks,Edmonton and Valemount).I want to change that for him and the girls.Other than that I guess I will take things as they come.

Happy new year one and all

Shortbread

I've been working on my share of the Christmas baking over the last couple of days. (A little late, but better now than later.)Shortbread is what I do.H does mincemeat tarts.S does nanaimo bars and peanut butter squares.Sorry my jam jam loving cousins, but we dropped these little cookies from our Christmas baking because they never got eaten!

Call me weird...I come by it honestly....but shortbread needs to be aged.Kind of like a good wine or cheese.Not just aged any old way though.It needs to be aged in Grandma's big white Tupperware container. The one that has housed many a year of shortbrtead.There is just something about the flavour of shortbread a la plastic that makes it just perfect.(I told you I was weird).

Any who,
MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY!

Christmas past

I'm sure that I have mentioned it more than once.If not I will mention it again.I love Christmas, I love the memories that go with it. But I hate, despise and even detest change.I tried to tell myself to move on this year.I can not bring back what once was.The people that made it what it was are all gone now.Despite my best efforts I am afraid I succumbed to a bit of...no a lot of depression in these last couple weeks.Yes, you are right, I should be thankful for what I have right now and the opportunities to begin fresh with my own family.But try as I might I still long for the warm fuzzy feelings,the giddy anticipation that begins as soon as the calender changes from "November" to "December" the "Good Will towards all men"(which seems to be non existent these days). I guess I long to be a kid again.Being an adult isn't always what its cracked up to be.
Before this post starts turning into "Bah humbug" I wanted to share a memory with you.Nothing fancy.Nothing extravagant.Just a childhood memory.One of the things I always look forward to is putting up the tree.Mostly for the ornaments.I love getting them out of the box and looking at them.Each one seems to have something special about it.Some of my favorite ones at Grandma's house were some little toy soldiers.Decked out in slime green,flocked uniforms with big black hats with brightly colored feathers and little angelic faces. I can not tell you how many hours on Sunday afternoons I spent carefully moving them around the tree,with my imagination going full throttle.I loved them.I was enchanted by them.Needless to say, these little men made their way into my Christmas stash. Unfortunately they were beginning to look their age.Well I couldn't stand to get rid of them, so they got a make over.A little paint,some new feathers,a few shiny things and WHA-LA! they are just as good as new.Hopefully they will be around for many more years to come.They make me smile.They make me remember.