January 2, 2008 - Happy New Year!!

Hiya Bloggy!

Long time no posts or anything. Well, I'm not about to make any excuses because the intent was there... there just weren't enough hours in the day over the holidays.

Right now, I should be in bed because tomorrow is going to be a VERY long day! I have to get Bridget out to Tsawwassen by noon, have a little visit with Steph and Tony who are going to be looking after her while I'm gone, then off to the airport we go. I am giving myself plenty of time at the airport because we all know how long the lineups can be and then once checked in, I have to get down to go through US Customs then get down to the gate. I'll have my butterfly cane with me, but let's face it... I'm just not as quick as I once was. Hence the reason to give myself plenty of time at the airport ;)

Now, I don't even know where to begin to talk about the holidays, not to mention, I'm trying to make this relatively quick since I still have the dishes in the kitchen to do and arrange my luggage, etc. (well, get it off the bed so Bridget and I can sleep in the bed tonight).

Suffice it to say, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve were absolutely wonderful... and magical!! For the first time in years and years, we had snow falling on Christmas Day!! It didn't start until later in the afternoon, but certain areas in the city ended up with a White Christmas!! Yayayaya!!

I spent Christmas Eve at Dad's. We went out for dinner with Patt and Jerry, and Rod and Karrie. Here's a picture of Dad, arranging Christmas Gifts for the morning when the whole family would gather:



Hehehe... I think I will just show you how I spent my Christmas and New Year's in pictures :)

Christmas was spent at Dad's, with Pat, Jerry and the boys upstairs, although they came down and joined us for breakfast and gift exchanges. Hmmm... I don't have any pictures of either of my brothers or Karrie. If you guys are reading this blog, I do apologize. I was taking pictures during the morning but I see I don't have any of you guys!

Here is a picture of the presents after Santa had arrived. I guess he must have arrived while we were out for dinner (grin)

Let's start with the little diva since she is always the centre of attraction. She liked sleeping in her grandpa's bed. We do this once/year on Christmas Eve and she remembers every time. So here she is Christmas morning, in no hurry to get up! Lazy bum!

Here is my sister, Erin, with my Dad. Dad had received a Nintendo DS for Christmas, so Erin was setting it up for him. Boys and their toys... and girls too! :)

Here we have Jerry and Patt and their son Jeff and soon-to-be Daughter-in-law, Helen. Jeff and Helen will be getting married on July 26 this year! Yayayaya!! We are going to have a wedding in the family!!

And here we have Jerry and Patt's younger son, Mike and his girlfriend, Meghan. Mike is working up North with an explatory company and Meghan is going to school in the States, so it's good to have them both home at Christmas.

Ok...jump to later in the day when I went to my friends, Steve and Don's, for Christmas dinner. There were 5 of us... and we had a fabulous dinner that Steve cooked and arranged. He's a genius in the kitchen!!

When driving from Dad's place to Steve/Don's, I hit a Winter Wonderland in a couple of places. I just had to get out of the car and take a picture because it was so beautiful!

Here they are... Steve on the left and Don on the right!! Two fabulous guys!!

Christmas dinner! Did we have a feast or what?? And just the 5 of us adults to enjoy what Steve put together for us.

Here we all are, except for Don who is taking the picture. Starting with me on the left, then Steve, across the table is Doug and Andrew.

Here's little Gyro, Doug and Andrew's little dog. Hehehe... Gyro and Bridget had words with each other, but pretty soon figured out their boundaries and then they were both as good as gold and basically ignored each other. Bridget was more interested in sleeping.

Here's a picture of Don and Gyro BEFORE dinner. Don had got home at 5:30am Christmas morning from a trip out to Maui (Don's a flight attendant with Air Canada). So he's still pretty chipper and awake BEFORE dinner ;)

Ok, after dinner, not quite so awake. Even Gyro was starting to get a little on the sleepy side.

Let's move on to Boxing Day, Dec 26, 2007:

As Bridget is getting older, all this holiday festivity stuff and all the visiting is wearing the poor dear out. Here she's having an afternoon nap, and is staying at home instead of coming over to Shel and Jill's for a Boxing Day party.

Here's a lovely picture of Inga, Jill and Sanjay. Inga's hubby is not here at this point because he is performing in the Arts Club production of "Beauty and the Beast". But he was over before the performance and then came back after the performance. Hmmm... and I don't seem to have a picture of him before or after!

Isn't this adorable?? The little babe is Lilianne (I hope I spelled that right) and she is the daughter of Therese (Shel's daughter) and Stefan. They live in Montreal but were here for the Christmas season.

Here is Naveen and Jill. This Boxing Day Party was at Jill and Shel's house and we all were having a good time by this time of the night :)

Here Sanjay is getting some attention to his back which he had hurt. Maddalena is applying heat and giving him advice and it seemed to really work. So we have Sanjay, Naveen and Maddalena in this picture.

I love this picture! 3 very beautiful and generous people. Sanjay, Maddalena and Therese (Shel's eldest daughter and new mom).

I knew I had a picture around here somewhere with Shel in it. Here is Naveen, Maddalena and Shel. Shel and I have known each other for 35 years this year. Where does the time go???

Hahaha... this is sort of a posed picture! I told Naveen to pretend he was cooking. Shel then asked him what he was doing and he said he was cooking. Shel's response -- "In the sink???" and that's when we all cracked up ;)

Here is Emily with Inga and Troy's two darling little girls, Juliette (the youngest) and Natalie (in the grey).


Ok... a couple of days between Boxing Day and New Year's. These are the only 2 pictures I seem to have during that period:

Here's my little darling in her fuzzy, warm pink jacket that Jill got her in the summer when we were doing Grease (remember? The Pink Ladies all had pink jackets. So now Bridget does too and it's perfect for when it's cold out!)

How could one resist? Bridget is on the bed and I was folding laundry on the bed, so she did one of these, "Look at me, Mom, aren't I cute??" (grin)

Now we jump to New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve Party is at Naveen's house. Again, a nice small affair... there were 8 of us adults and 3 children (who are all pre-teens, so are more grown up than children).

Here is your's truly... moi! I did have makeup on when I arrived.. I'm not sure where it went in this picture ;)

Connor Kapahi, 12 years old and is already interested in the stock market!

Emily Kapahi, 14 years old, and interested in dance, singing, theatre and shopping! :)

Cooking at the stove! Naveen, his sister and his cousin... and what a fabulous meal they came up with!!

Sanjay and Jill... New Year's Eve, 2007 (or do we say 2008 because the new year is 2008?)

I absolutely adore this picture!! This says it all here... close family and lots of laughs!

Hehehe... I just had to take this picture. Naveen is in the middle of doing renovations to his house, so the bar had to move... and here it is (grin)!

Ok... I'm sure there are other pictures, but it is really, really late.. almost 2:30am. I have got to get to bed because tomorrow is a long day as I fly over the Pacific Ocean and head to Hawaii :)

I will be using this here blog to do my Hawaii reports, so maybe... just maybe I'll get here a little more often (chuckle). I'll certainly give it my best shot!! :)

Alooooooha!!

Cheryl