We are enjoying a beautiful winter day in Ontario. There has been heavy snowfall for the past 12 hours, creating a winter paradise here in the bush. This is our front yard. The front walk is completely snowed in. This scene is why I love Canada and most particularily our little corner of this great nation. The beauty of each season is breathtaking. I love each season as it arrives but I'm usually quite happy to see it leave.
We are still working away at our renovations. We are trying to get them finished before Dean, Siobhan and Cooper arrive. We don't want to waste one minute of our time with them, working. We have them for such a short time and it has been way too long since we last saw them all.
Cooper took 2 steps last night which means we missed another milestone. But, we are so grateful to his mom and dad for keeping us well informed so that we feel like we have been involved with each new stage he moves into. All of our children (most especially our sweet daughter-in-laws) have kept us involved and included in all of the events of our grandchildren's life stages. We are very grateful for our family. We're not sure how we we became the parents and grandparents of such awesome people.
Our Christmas tree is finally up. I like to have it up and lit by the first week of December but we just couldn't find the time to "get r done". We have been consumed with our annual Santa Claus Parade and Family Skate, that almost everything gets put on hold until it was over. That took place on Saturday evening and it was a great success! There were many well lit floats along with Santa's spectaclar arrival on his big beautiful wintery float (built by our fire dept). It was a crisp night and the snow was falling like beautiful crystals from the sky. The evening was everything you would hope to experience at a Christmas Parade in Canada. The main street was lined with families drinking hot cocoa and eating cookies made by the firefighters and served on the street corners. It is always alot of work but so worth it.
We had two birthdays in the Nielsen Family this week. Darryl turned 30 (yeow) on Sunday and Stephanie turned 1 on Monday. What a blessing they both are to our family. Darryl is the oldest of 3 siblings and Stephanie is the youngest of three siblings. Along with Stephanie, it was also my mom's birthday on Monday. Two great females born 75 years apart.
We wish a very Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. Please take time to remember Him who's birthday we celebrate during this holy season. I believe the greatest gift we can share with those we know and love this glorious time of year is TIME. Spend TIME with family, friends, neighbours, and those who are alone this holiday season. Presents disappear over time but memories last forever. We hope your Christmas is filled with forever memories and so very much love.
