Ethan and his new bike

Sierra helping Ethan unwrap his new bike!!

Ethan was so excited to receive his bike (can't you tell by his big grin!). He was on in seconds after getting it out of all the wrapping. It has training wheels on it - put the way he was riding it, they were will be off soon enough.

Sierra with her pony Sgt Pepper

After feeding the horses, Sierra rode Sgt Pepper with the help of her mom Sara for a little bit. Sierra gave her pony big hugs as her mom lead her pony back to the other horses Silky and Copper. Sierra was very happy to see her pony on Christmas Day.

Feeding Copper and Silky

Sara feeding Silky

Sara feeding Copper

After our quiet time and before the rest of the James family and friends arrived at Sara and John's - Sierra, Sara and myself went to visit their horses to feed them some apples and carrots. There were no leftovers - seems they enjoyed their treats.

Nikki and her animals

While everyone was having naps, Sierra and I played with her doll Nikki. We dressed her up in her winter clothes, prepared the horse for riding and put on the dog's service gear on. It was fun to have that one-on-one time with Sierra. She loves playing with her dolls. Boy she sounds like someone else I know at that age - oh yeah ME!! I used to collect dolls with the customary clothes from around the world - used to brush their hair and make up conversations with them. Was able to amuze myself for awhile - quite content. Thank you Sierra - I have fun playing dolls again with you.

Sierra with her new doll Nikki

Sierra received the American Girl, Nikki for Christmas. Sierra enjoyed getting Nikki for her first ride around the livingroom. Sierra decided to get Christmasy too by putting the bows from the boxes onto herself.

Time with Family

John helping Ethan put his new police outfit together. John is multi-tasking too - listening to the songs that Sara downloaded onto his new MP3 player.

Sierra and Peter relaxing before unwrapping the rest of the presents under the tree.

Sir John, Knight of Three Hills

Sara bought this hat to keep John warm for next year's hunting season. Within this was the Simpsons Movie - John was excited to receive the movie. When John put on the hat - it looked like chainlings that the knights would wear as the prepare for battle (or that is what they do in the movies.

Opening our Stockings

Nelson (forefront) celebrated his first Christmas - think it was overwhelming with the stocking and presents under the tree. He shared that in Hong Kong they don't exchange presents. Jon had a little cuddle time with his stocking before seeing what Santa left him.

Sierra and Ethan each received a Christmas bear in their stockings. In the above photo, Ethan's bear is on the left and Sierra's is the right.

Having fun with Brody and Sunshine

Peter and Ethan having some fun with Sunshine while Brody relaxes

Peter, Sierra and Ethan giving the dogs plenty of pets and hugs

Merry Christmas Sunshine and Brody!!!

What's in your stocking Brody?? Any yummy treats??

Emmanuel by the Sonrise Choir

Today, I joined the rest of the James family at the Sonrise Baptist Church where Andy is pastor. We took up a couple of pews in the back of the church. Plus there were a few familar faces from my church in Chestermere. Hard not to smile - a little defecting going on here??? I am so glad I went today. The Sonrise Choir were simply awesome - their voices blended beautifully as they sang our message today about Emmanuel - celebrating our heavenly child. Hard not to smile and feel happy inside when you hear such beautiful voices - wouldn't you agree?? Char (third from the left in the front row) was enjoying the music just as much as we were in the audience.

Christmas at Grandma Char and Grandpa Andy

Solomon growing so fast on us. He will be 2 this coming June!!! While we waiting for Christmas dinner, Solomon and I had some cuddling time. A precious time for me as it doesn't happen all that often. He just sat on my lap quite content taking in all the family around him. Just before Grandpa Andy said grace, Solomon's big sister Journey came to sit on my lap too. What a cool feeling to have both to cuddle at once!!! Journey was giving plenty of kisses to her younger brother - he gave back smiles so I gather he enjoyed those sister kisses.

Andy and Char are heading for Nebraska on Christmas Day so we all gathered today after church for a Family Christmas Dinner. Char did a great job - turkey, breaded stuffing, the candied yams and baked potatoes. It was all yummy. I helped by providing the punch for the dinner. A little concoction of Five Alive juice, Cranberry juice and Ginger Ale. I also bought the seasonal Cranberry Ginger Ale too for those who didn't want the punch. Thank you Char and Andy for a lovely dinner and your generousity too. The above photo is of 3 of their grandchildren playing with their new toys. Solomon seemed to quite enjoy his new car. It was great how they entertained themselves, allowing us adults to fit in a short visit too.

Found my kitchen table

I found my kitchen table and chairs on Saturday. I had been on the computer late Friday night and saw it. So I shot off an email asking if he would deliver it - by Sat at 4pm I had myself a kitchen table. Perfect timing as with the large dining room table downstairs my roommate who arrives on January 4th, will have a nice table to eat at (a tad better than the card table that I had upstairs temporarily). It seems pretty sturdy and looks quite nice in the kitchen nook too.

When I first moved to Calgary (will be 3 years in March 2008 - hard to believe!!), Sara and Char introduced me to Used Calgary - a Big Thank you Gals!! I sure have been fortunate to find some great furniture and bedroom mattresses too. I am only looking for one more piece and then the house will be full furnished - a single bed for the second bedroom upstairs. I am thinking similar to a mate bed where there are pull out shelves for extra storage for bedding or clothing.

Remembering our Elsie

This Fall we lost a very special lady from our church Quilting group - her name was Elsie. She always had a smile for you or a hug. I knew Elsie from attending church, but it wasn't until I came to help the ladies with the t-shirt quilts my dad asked to me make, that I got to spend time and sharing with her. Boy, the stories she told us - like getting not one but two speeding tickets on the same stretch of road!!! At the time of doing all our prep work for the quilts we had to share the basement of the church with another group - but who knew what a blessing that would be for us. From what Brenda tells me, it made our group that much closer as we could not spread out in the rec room area of the basement, so you were able to hear and share stories of the present or ones from our past. It was definitely a cool experience.

At the end our Christmas dinner, Brenda shared that the star ornaments we received at dinner were from Elsie. Plus dinner was courtesy of Elsie too. She will always be in our hearts and she definitely was there in spirit with us enjoying our laughter. She was such a special lady - I was honoured to have known her. Below are a few photos I have of her.



Our church's first women's night - Bowling. Elsie was on my team, but the twist was that she was running late and she never showed up. As we had already put her name on the screen, we still included her, as we each took a turn playing as Elsie. Now the funny part to this evening - Elsie won best score for our team!!!! So when she met us at Cheesecake Cafe, she won the prize for the best score as an absentee bowler. We all had a good laugh over that.

After 3 months, we finished 2 queen size quilts of t-shirts my dad had (one quilt was of her marathons and the one in the photo are t-shirts that have special personal meaning to him). Elsie is the one standing on the right of my dad. It is cool for myself knowing the personal connection I will have with Elsie, and all the quilters when I look at those two quilts we did together.

Elsie along with Sheryl stop from quilting and posed for the camera. With the quilts being so large we ended up finishing them upstairs in the sanctuary of the church. All I can say - what special memories for myself and all the ladies you took put earlier this year.