WARMEST Greetings and Gifts of the Season!

"Warmest greetings of the season and best wishes for the new year. "
-Author Unknown

"Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings exchanged, of gift giving , and families reunited."
-Norman Vincent Peale

"Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present. "
-Vikas Runwal

Last Tuesday… we were invited to share greetings and a lovely festive meal
with good friends at my friend, Ella's beautiful and warm home!
We enjoy times shared with Ella, Vern, Bob and Jacquie always.

I came home after that and wrapped about 30 gifts, too,
for Jana  and Nels to take to their family
Christmas in Regina the next day
 ...good thing  I love to wrap!

Wednesday… Christmas Eve…
We shared a lovely evening with my sister-in-law, Gail,  my niece, Emily,
and my nephew, Alec,  from Vancouver.
They brought us this lovely festive plant as a gift.
Gail also treated us to a delicious Sushi supper she picked up for us.

Alec and Emily captured these photos of Shuffle on Christmas Eve, too…
She opened a Santa Cookie gift… then we dressed her in her cute Santa
attire… Shuffle loves to dress up for any occasion, and she
also loves all the attention she gets when company is here.
SHUFFLE is really quite the DIVA!

Christmas morning was a quiet one… but very nice with just
Brian, Shuffle and me!
Shuffle loves to unwrap gifts…
and she really had the most to unwrap!!!
Brian and I got a Santa hat selfie too!!!
Check out the cute hot chocolate from my friend, Linda…
saying "I never met a chocolate I didn't like!"

Our gifts definitely fell into the "WARM" theme…
Brian gave me this beautiful coat and ugg slippers…
I gave him some new warm shoes along with some sweaters,
shirts and cozy socks… so I know we should be set to
"KEEP WARM… and MERRY ON!"

Christmas afternoon I crafted some special cards for family
which included a cute photo of my father-in-law, GREG,
on them from his last Christmas in 2013.
Brian and I joined Blanche for her first Christmas
without Greg, at her new residence
for a lovely turkey supper there.
The napkins were even folded like trees!
It was a very special evening of sharing with her.

We stopped in at my brother, Bob's on route home from our supper with
my mother in law.  I got a sweet cuddle with my brand new
GREAT NIECE, JORJA…
and also got to be in a few photos with her, as well as one with my two brothers,
Bob and Brian… It was nice to connect with them
as well as with Arleen, Jeff and Savannah.

We have traditionally done a boxing day open house for friends
and family to stop by nearly our entire married life,
so we followed through with that tradition once again this year!
Here are some friends who stopped by to share the warm greetings.

We were happy friends, Courtney and Francois
as well as cousin, Gwen were
able to come to see us… and we had some good bonding
times with them.

Lots of family stopped by on boxing day, too…
It was so special to share family time with these lovely relatives.
I especially loved the cute  "cousins in the kitchen" pic …
Christmas really is all about family and friends and bonding!

Earlier on boxing day… Beau had the thrill of a lifetime
when his great uncle Bob took him for a mini hockey skate
at the big arena… SASK PLACE!
Jeff and Bob both  shared time with Beau, and he loved it!

Beau even got a sleepover at our house on boxing day.
His sister stayed a couple extra days with her cousins in Regina
over the holidays… so Beau felt special to have some one on one with us.
We made a big line up of paper airplanes, too… red, white and blue ones!

One of the most special gifts of the season
was when my son, Colin and his girlfriend,Caro,
visited from Montreal.
Their time here was very short, but we will
remember the wonderful memories…
including this awesome photo.
They are such a happy couple together,
and that makes our hearts smile.

WE are blessed with another happy couple, too,
Jana and Nels make such a sweet pair.
Glad we captured so many special
memories at our photo shoot.
They shared Christmas in Regina this year
with Nels's family.

I shared this photo in my previous blog…
but decided to share it once more.
This was one of the best gifts this year…
time and photos with my cherished family.

One more memory… from Christmas morning…
yummy cinnamon buns, traditional oranges,
and Shuffle patiently waiting to open gifts!
Not only did we Keep Calm and Merry on…
we had so many WARM and WONDERFUL
memories to last a lifetime.




Thanks for stopping by my blog today…
what a week we had … and even more,
what a year 2014 has been.


Today, as I reflect on this past week's events, I also want to say thanks to all who have contributed to my life in this past year.  I began writing in my blog for the very first time on December 31st, 2010… four short years ago… and what a journey I have had since then. I have said this before… writing and recording the fun memories in my life is like a little happy time for me. I feel so blessed and lucky with all the positives in my life. Although there have been some trials along the way, the positive memories out weigh the negatives by a long shot. I do enjoy looking back on the memories recorded in both photos taken and blog posts since this all began… I am so glad to have those memories recorded here to look at as I wish to.


As you can see by my photos… we have had another busy week of fun events… from gatherings with friends and relatives and sharing of gifts and  warm greetings.


Christmas had many special memories this year even though some traditions changed from what we normally do.
One of those was Christmas Eve… we have traditionally gone to my in laws for our entire married life, and this year we didn't. This was our first one without my
sweet father-in-law, Greg.
When we were joined that night by our Vancouver relatives for a sushi supper, our tree lights at the top of our tree flickered and went out…
right around all my ANGEL ornaments on the tree…
I took that as a sign,
that all our ANGELS were with us in spirit.



My iPhone is often chalk full of photos so therefore I cannot capture everything along the way… thank goodness others have been able to share some of their photos with me.
In addition to the above outings and occasions, I shared a nice evening out with my sisters-in-law,
Bev, Brenda and Gail and her Aunt Carol on Sunday evening. We did a girl bond at Moxies together and shared special memories over drinks and appies.


Last night we had friend, Vern pop in for some Montreal smoked meat from Schwartz's, which we received as a wonderful Christmas gift from Colin and Caro, when they came here from Montreal over a week ago.

I have made a few attempts to see my sweet Auntie Mary, but keep getting sidetracked along the way… maybe later today! Here's hoping… I do have a tray of goodies for her.

This morning I went to the gym to take my Tuesday morning favourite class called Body Vive… and believe me I needed the exercise and calorie burn after all the food I've eaten this past week! However the class was cancelled today… too bad… but I did make it to Body Vive last Saturday,
thank goodness! I will need to hit the gym hard
 in the new year!


Tomorrow is my nephew, Luke's birthday… he will be 22. It is also my sweet Auntie Phyllis's birthday… I wish them both all the best as they celebrate their special days.




Friday will be another memory for me as I recall the day my dad passed away 15 years ago. It is hard to believe just how much time has passed since that sad day, but my dad is and always will remain in my heart forever.
I remember him daily… lots of love to the heavens above to him and all of our sweet angels up there.


My wishes and hopes to all of my blog readers for a very WARM and WONDERFUL 2015 as we fast approach it, and I say farewell to this past year and the festive season…
once again it was very good to us.
I am so grateful for so many things in my life,
thanks for being a part of that.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!

On that note… here is my rhyme of the day!

The gifts of friends and family always give good reason,
To share the warm greetings and wishes of the season.
It truly is the time of year to get together and share,
And show the many loved ones, just how much we care.
Also feel the love and warmth coming from above,
Sent from our dear angels, that we've lost and love.
Another year has come and soon it will be done,
So time to just reflect upon all the season's fun!