Merry Christmas!

Christmas Letter 2009

We began writing this about two hours after the Roughriders stunning collapse in the Grey Cup. A few days ago we thought a Grey Cup game would set us in the perfect mindset for a Christmas letter — we would be full of warm, fuzzy thoughts, we would be thankful the Riders even made it to the game, we would exude good cheer, sportsmanship, peace on earth and goodwill to our fellow man. You know, all that stuff about, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." Aarrrgghh. The problem with this theory was we didn't expect the Riders might actually have a chance to win. It’s a good thing Girard still has his Fantasy Football to think about, as it makes the Riders’ loss a little easier to bear.

Bryn tried her best to cheer on the Riders but wasn’t quite as upset about the game outcome as her dad. Our child, the quiet, shy, timid Bryn we have talked about in the past, turns out to be a motormouth. Not that we mind, but we're used to a bit of quiet around here, the only sounds in the morning being Girard's moaning and groaning as he hoists himself off the couch for more coffee. We can without exaggeration say Bryn basically can't keep quiet. Lately the conversation almost always centres around Santa and his good friend Octavia, who is an octopus (it's a long story). One day we were told they would be living in our basement for 21 days, which came as news to us as we hadn’t prepared for company for such an extended period. Bryn has an imagination that takes her on trips from the North Pole to Mexico, lately even to Australia, sometimes in a rocket, sometimes Girard has to drive. She can be a doctor, a teacher, a mom, a librarian and Santa herself. She has such a good imagination we think she must imagine she uses the potty because it's not happening in real time.

This is the first year she is thrilled about the arrival of Santa. She's been talking and singing about it for months, especially from the seat of a grocery cart. Some decorations have surfaced and she's excited to see them, even moreso than Girard, who used to go "yay" (low-toned monotone voice) but now goes "YAY" (slightly higher toned monotone voice) with the appearance of each Christmas nicnac. A couple of weeks ago Bryn told Raelene “On Christmas day I can unzip my mouth and tell you all about the slippers me and dad got you!” It’s impossible not to get caught up in the excitement with a 3-year-old in the house.

This is to say, Bryn brings great joy to our lives at this time of year, and has since the first minute we saw her. She left the terrible twos behind in February and settled nicely into the terribler threes. She had to endure two day care switches, one in January and one in October, which she didn't seem to mind but which were hard on her parents. She learned to count, play by herself for a few minutes at a time even, climb, all those things kids do. She loves to make up stories and songs and is a constant source of amazement and amusement. She uses words like realize and impossible and suddenly and phrases like in fact and speaking of which. When she’s leaving the room she’ll say things like “I’m going to play in the living room, she yelled.” -- obviously her books have influenced her vocabulary. She’s still not keen on sleeping, loves to eat and makes it perfectly clear she doesn’t like having her photo taken. She definitely knows her own mind and isn’t shy to share her views with us and we love every minute of parenting our amazing little girl.

Bryn and her entourage were happy to visit family for summer holidays this year, as we did a round trip between Yorkton and Regina, but other than a few other weekend trips we stuck close to home. She is already talking about next year, going back to the jazz festible (where she got fries for lunch), Canada Day (more fries), the zoo (more fries), and other places where — you guessed it — they serve fries. We had lots of visitors and are always happy to have company so if you don’t mind sharing a room with Santa and Octavia and the odd dust bunny, we'd love to see you.

From our busy, mixed-up home to yours, we hope you

have a great Christmas and a happy new year.

'Tis the Season...

for Christmas carols and a messy house.

A Special Visit

In September we had a visit from our travel mates Paul, Monica, Claire and Ren. Ren came home from China in February and we were thrilled to finally have a chance to meet him. Ren will be 3 in December and is an absolute sweetheart, just as we knew he would be. Shea and Caia were here too so we had another wonderful mini reunion. The kids had a great time playing together. It's so nice to have a little boy in our extended family -- I can't wait to see them 10 years from now when poor Ren is surrounded by a bunch of giggling teenage girls.

Thanks to Paul and Monica for taking time out of their busy schedule for a visit. It's so wonderful to be able to see the kids playing together and, as always, we love our grownup visit too!

Even with only three kids it's still hard to get them all smiling at the same time, especially since Bryn hates to have her photo taken. This picture cracks me up with Caia's ready-to-bust-out-laughing grin and Claire's "for cryin' out loud can't Bryn just smile already?" look.

Aren't friends great?

The handsome and ever-so-adorable Ren.

Noodles are always a hit.

But ice cream cake is even better!

Catching up.

I think all four kids were in this little tent at one time.

Claire was a good sport and put up with my obsession on tracking how much the kids have grown.

Caia had her turn, too.

Not the greatest quality shot but I love it anyway.

Bye, friend, I love you.

Trick or Treat

We had a great time trick or treating this year. The day started out looking pretty awful with huge snowflakes and then rain but it let up in the late afternoon so we were able to get out. Bryn had fun even though we only went to a few houses. I'm not sure if it was the scary "skellyun" that made her want to go home or the fact she had chips and cheezies and chocolate in her bag (it doesn't get much better than that), but she was happy to stop after just 5 places.

Bryn and her pumpkin art.

We went wandering around the mall in the afternoon so Bryn could wear her Snow White costume. She really wanted to be a witch for Halloween but I'd bought this costume weeks ago so rather than let it go to waste we had a costume change.

OK! I'll smile but only because you said I could have a treat!

This was the official trick or treating costume.

She loved her witch hair.

What Bryn says in this video might explain why I have such a hard time getting a good photo of her.  (Sorry for the length.)




Our good friends and travel mates Kathleen, Pat and Maeve are leaving in a few days for China to meet their beautiful daughter Elspeth. We're so incredibly happy for them and send them all much love. Have a safe journey, K,P&M and give Elspeth a huge hug from all of us. We're thrilled to have another Jiangxi girl in our Xinyu family!