Eight Night

So last night we finished up a lovely Hanukkah celebration by lighting the eighth candle.  I was feeling a bit weary all day as my friend Lori and I had decided to do a Christmas baking night together the night before and baked until the wee hours of the morning.  We worked like machines and had a great productive time, but boy we were both feeling it the next day!

Sydney was so excited to light all the candles in the menorah.  I really love that she's lighting the candles herself this year and knows the blessing off by heart.

I ordered Sydney a wooden Kidkraft Hanukkah set this year hoping that it would arrive in time for Hanukkah.  Wouldn't you know it but it arrived on the very last day!  She enjoyed it never the less but I can't wait for next year when she can add candles herself to her very own personal menorah!

My friend Lori sent me home with a special little gift for Syd, a magnetic storyboard.  She was so happy to see something waiting for her on the counter when she came downstairs in the morning.  I've tucked it away for the plane ride to Maui coming up very shortly!

Her final present was a bag stuffed with handmade butterfly princess costume gear.  A dress, hat, wand and head band.  She looked so sweet in it and Daddy "flew" her all around the house wearing her new dress up stuff.

What a wonderful celebration it was, so many lovely memories with my sweet girl.

Paul brought home another great treat today from the office, a beautiful huge edible arrangement!  We so enjoyed snacking on the fruit, especially the chocolate covered strawberries and apples.  What a nice fresh treat on a frosty December day!

I am off to Suncadia for the weekend tomorrow with some of my Mom friends, my first time ever away from Sydney overnight!  Am so excited to have some time with my Moms and to relax and recharge my battery!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Monday and Tuesday

Every day this month seems to be filled with fun traditions, events, connecting with people I love and general merriment.  It's a nice time of year for all sorts of reasons!  I am trying to be ever so mindful to enjoy the sweet moments when they present themselves in this whirlwind that they call December. 

Here's a few special moments from the past few days:

Delivery Day

I spent the morning on Monday driving all over the city delivering baskets and gifts to all of the referral sources for Paul's office.  It's a yearly tradition that I always look forward to.  I load my car up like Santa's sleigh and, on the first business day of December, head out to play Santa.  It was so fun seeing people's eyes light up when I gave them their gifts and enjoying all of the amazing holiday displays at the office buildings downtown.

Hanukkah Nights 6 & 7

Sydney continues to belt out the blessing and light the candles on her own, she has really owned Hanukkah this year!  Night number six brought a new doll from Pottery Barn Kids and night seven a set of giant Magformers which she was most excited about!  It was very cool to see her build structures with them immediately.

Playdate with Noa

This afternoon Syd's friend Noa came over after school for a play.  The girls collectively worked to create a beautiful painted masterpiece on a canvas that we sent home with Noa to hang in the bedroom of her brand new house that her family is just moving into!

Gifts Galore

Everyday Paul comes home from the office with another lovely gift from a colleague.  Was most excited to get a box of David's Holiday Tea collection!

Merry Merry!

Welcome December!

It is December 1st.  There is something about the shift from November to December that makes me want to soak in all of the fun and festive times around.  It is always so busy this time of year but I can't tell you how much I enjoy connecting with friends and making merry wherever we go!

This weekend was filled with much fun!  Early Saturday morning Sydney and I hit up the annual Dunbar Craft Fair at the Dunbar Community Centre.  I always enjoy this fair and seeing the same locals selling their handmade fare.  As always, we got ourselves some great things.  I got a hand knit winter hat and scarf for myself and a pile of pottery from a local potter that she was blowing out.

We could have stayed all day but had to fly through the hundreds of tables to get to book club on time early Saturday afternoon.  We snuggled up at Christianne's Lyceum for the last book club of the year on a rainy Saturday afternoon.  Christianne read books based on the theme of friendship and the sometimes tumultuous times that friends can have.

We finished off the afternoon by making friendship pins as our craft, one for Sydney and one for Mommy.  We are, after all, best friends as Sydney always says!

We had a couple of hours to rest up before we headed off to Sydney's buddy Leo's house for their annual Hanukkah party.

What a great party it was!  The food was amazing, brisket, chicken, hot and cold appetizers galore, latkes and fresh fruit and veggies along with an amazing assortment of sweets for dessert.  Marcy definitely knows how to do good food!

We had so much fun visiting with a few of the families from preschool, Marcy's family and friends that I have met through her.

We lit the menorahs together, Marcy gave each of the children a chance to light one candle using the shammash.  Sydney was so proud of herself as she lit one all on her own!  Love the menorahs that her kids have with their names spelled out in blocks!

In fact, tonight she decided that she wanted to light all five candles herself so, with a little help from Daddy, she did and had a huge smile on her face the whole time!

She got a very cool gift tonight, a Barbie doll from the Dolls of the World collection, a Canadian Mountie in a full serge!  Love it!

Last night she got a purse and change purse set, a girl can never have too many!  It was a special night too because it was the fourth night for our four year old girl.  She brought over her number 4 birthday balloon for the pictures.

This morning we went to Christmas brunch at Christina and Ryan's house with the Dunbar families.  What a lovely time we had visiting together and enjoying some special food.

Christina did a special story time with the kids.

And the kids did some crafts:

Then we piled all their gifts on the dining room table for them to take home with them!

Sydney couldn't resist ripping into hers when we got home!  She got some very cute stuff from her friends!

We polished off this weekend by going to see Disney on Ice this afternoon.  What an amazing show it was!  I don't know who enjoyed it more, Sydney or me!

Happy to see December here! 

Black Friday

Sydney and I decided that we would start our day together on a fun shopping adventure.  Oakridge Centre, the mall right beside her preschool, was opening at 7:00am for Black Friday today, the first time ever that this tradition has crossed the border into Canada!

So we hauled ourselves out of bed at 6:30am, put on our clothes, jumped in the car and headed straight there after a quick pit stop at Cobs bakery for croissants, breakfast on on the run!

We had such fun shopping together!  I finally got around to using the Crate and Barrel gift card that my friend Brandie sent me for my birthday and picked up some fun items at great prices.

By the time I dropped Syd at school at 8:45am the trunk of my car was nicely packed with bags.  It was a fun morning shopping together!

I am officially finished my Christmas shopping for this year, right on schedule as my goal is always to be done by the end of November.  It felt fitting when I arrived home today to find our first Christmas gift from one of Paul's colleagues, a beautiful box of the most decadent baked treats from Butter bakery awaiting us!

Syd was pretty thrilled to see that the lobby in Paul's building was decked out for Christmas already!

Today at school Sydney's class had their annual Hanukkah party together.  The kids ate latkes and sugar cookies and together we all sang songs and celebrated together before lighting the menorah.  Such a special time together, I was choking tears back thinking that this will be my last year celebrating together in this precious classroom with Jen and Carmen!

The kids brought home some very special presents, a handmade and painted menorah that they had built  and painted in class, a beautiful Hanukkah card and a loot bag filled with goodies from their teachers.

We have had a wonderful couple of nights celebrating the second and third night of Hanukkah at home as well.  Sydney is saying the blessing for the candles all on her own this year, it's amazing!  She got a very sweet ladybug purse with matching scrunchie and a fairy princess for her gifts the past couple of nights, both handmade items that I picked up at the Circle Craft fair this year.

Yesterday we met up with my brother for lunch downtown to deliver Christmas gifts for himself and his girlfriend Stephanie.  After lunch I decided to take Syd to the German Christmas market that's happening downtown.  What a lovely market filled with the most beautiful Christmas ornaments and gifts, amazing food and activities and a giant carousel which Sydney absolutely loved riding on!

Last night I met up with my friend Sarah and six other Moms for dinner at Vinoteca restaurant, a fun new wine bar in Kits.  We had a fun visit together and I enjoyed meeting some new Moms as well!  Had a yummy veal marsala for dinner, couldn't resist taking a picture!

We have a packed fun filled weekend ahead of us, three parties, book club, a craft fair and Disney on Ice.  Looking forward to seeing my feet hit the ground sometime late Sunday night!