Month: December 2014

Yesterday, MY Jane went shopping for some new things in preparation for our trip to Antigua this upcoming Sunday. She rarely buys anything for herself, so I was happy she did this. I’m looking forward to seeing her model everything when we are in the Carribean.

Early in the evening, we went to my cousin George’s place for dinner with him, his wife Jean, and their son, Tim. I also wanted to see George’s new truck that he just took possession of yesterday at noon.

We took them an orchid as we thought that the one that Jean liked had died. Turned out that it had revived, so now they have two. The florist recommended putting a couple of ice cubes in twice a week for moisture. She says that a mistake many people make with orchids, is overwatering. 

It was a great dinner and a real nice truck! Thanks George & Jean.

Well, we got a few inches of snow overnight and this morning, when I got up around 6:30, my snow plow contractor was on site doing our driveway. He had already been here at least five times in November (lots of snow back then) and had a break for all of December (green Christmas).

Yesterday was a busy day for MY Jane and me. Our plan was to undecorate only the two Christmas trees and leave the other decorations until after our return from Antigua. You can see our two Christmas trees outside to the right of the truck. But Jane and I are very much in sync when it comes to stuff like this, so it was no surprise that we ended up taking down ALL the interior Christmas decorations! Of course, there were pine needles everywhere, but I soon had them vacumned up and everything looks great.

Jane worked her design and decorating magic and changed up the the look of the niche in our sitting room. Once the Nativity scene was removed, she spent some time and did this:

Looks pretty darn good, don’t you think? 

Yesterday, Steven  returned  home in Toronto. Chris, Tonya and Ted had already returned to their homes, so now it’s just MY Jane, Minnie and me once again. It’s always sad when everyone has gone.

Overnight, there was a little snowfall, enough to make the ground white, but that’s about it.

Today we will be undecorating both trees and getting all those decorations safely packed away. The rest of it, including exterior lights, will wait until we return from Antigua. Yup, that’s right, we’re going to Antigua for 10 glorious days of sunshine, swimming, and relaxation! The brochure says there are 365 beaches there – one for every day of the year. Jane and I are looking forward to this very much.

Turns out that Minnie likes it too

Yesterday was kind of a movie day here. We didn’t do much all day except play a few games and sit around. We decided to order in Chinese food for supper just to change it up a bit. Jurassic Park was playing on TV so we watched that then Steven and MY Jane played some Beer Pong or as Jane calls it, Pongo Ball.

They were both pretty good at it. And they both seemed pretty happy after the games.

Yesterday, after breakfast, Chris left to spend Christmas time with Tonya and her family. MY Jane and I enjoyed having him here with us as we always do. Not only was he a big help around the kitchen, he was great company too. And, he also coached me on how to play Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, two Play Station 3 games. I love them! To top it all off, he left the PS3 controller and everything here so I could use it as he has PS4 at his place. Very cool!

It’s Steven, though, who is the champ at this game. Of course, because it’s my blog, I get to choose the pictures that go in it. That’s why the one of him playing against me shows me scoring a goal even though he won the game!

After another great supper of ham, turkey, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing and shrimp, followed by dessert, Steven helped me finish installing a new ceiling fixture in the sitting room that Ted bought Jane and I for Christmas. It replaces one that really didn’t suit the room. What do you think?

Ted, Jane and Steven then played one of Steve’s favourite childhood games called Forbidden Bridge and Ted won handily. It was great to see everyone so happy! After that, Steven and Jane played Wii. I have no idea who won that game.

Christmas Day was one of excitement right through until we all went to sleep. Everyone except Tonya was here. Steven & Klae, Chris, Ted and MY Jane & me.We started in the sitting room with Christmas stockings which were overflowing.

We then moved to the Family Room where there were a ton of gifts under the tree.

But before exchange of gifts began, it became apparent that the fireplace pilot light had gone out. It had been extremely windy on Christmas Eve which was likely the reason. It made me think about poor old Santa Claus having to deliver presents in such conditions. Below Steven and I work to get the fireplace going again.

It took a few hours to get all the gifts distributed because we do them one person at a time and that lets everyone get a good look at them. Afterward, we had breakfast and got the turkey stuffed and ready for cooking. As usual, MY Jane did a superb job of keeping things on track and our dinner was delicious!

While the decorations, gifts and meals were wonderful, there is nothing better than having family together to celebrate!

Yesterday, Tonya had to leave for Christmas dinner with her family in the city. As we had done before, she opened her gifts on Christmas Eve day. 

Later that evening, MY Jane had prepared a fantastic dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes and vegetables and while we were having dinner, there was an unexpected commotion at the door. It suddenly burst open and who came in but Santa himself.

We were thrilled that he took time out to talk with all of us and stay long enough for a coffee and great conversation.

Shortly after he left, my friends Paul and Shelly – all the way from Midland – dropped in for a nice visit.

Christmas Eve day already! MY Jane has been staying right on top of things. She already has the turkey stuffing started. The fresh turkey we got this year is a 24 pounder so there will be lots to eat. Tonya has to leave this morning to travel back to the city to attend her Family’s annual Christmas gathering. That means this morning, she will open the gifts that we gave her before she leaves. It’s always exciting seeing someone open their gifts, isn’t it?

A couple of weeks ago, Chris and Tonya had invited MY Jane, Ted, and me to their place in Scarborough for a Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, they both came down with colds that weekend and had to cancel. So they decided that would make a dinner for all of us here to make up for that….not that we expected them to do that. But it was a very nice gesture. They went grocery shopping and bought all the necessary ingredients and then went to work.

They made risotto, multi coloured peppers and scallops – Ted’s favourite. It was one of the best meals ever. The fact that there was nothing left on Ted’s plate was a sure indicator of how well she liked it.

A delicious meal! Thank you Chris & Tonya. Well done!

We are only a few days away from Christmas and the excitement is building. And soon Steven and Klae will be here too! 

Only 4 more days until Christmas. It’s hard to believe that the past year has flown by so quickly for MY Jane and I. In fact, it’s hard to believe how fast the last three years have gone by. We have had so many good things happen and done so much. Sometimes I have to pinch myself.

It was only a few weeks ago that we had lots and lots of snow and Jane was in the back yard making snow angels.

Our snow plow man had to make 5 visits to plow out the driveway, then all of that snow just disappeared.

Anyway, they are calling for more snow before Christmas. Hope they’re right!

I just noticed we have four mourning doves in the backyard feeder. Seems they are the only ones visiting lately. Don’t know where the blue jays or chickadees have been hiding.

Yesterday afternoon, MY Jane and I did a little grocery shopping in preparation for the upcoming week. We had a list of about 7 or 8 items. Jane and I play this little guessing game of how many shopping bags we should take in with us. 

Yesterday, MY Jane and I did some grocery shopping and a little more baking. Here’s a big batch of chocolate truffles I made with Christmassy sprinkles.

Of course I had to do a taste test on them and they are quite good!

‘Yesterday, MY Jane and I baked. I made Double Vanilla sugar cookies and Jane made Christmas biscotti. They both taste fantastic!

The recipe for my cookies didn’t call for the sprinkles, but because they are for Christmas, I had to make them look  festive. While the recipe stated there was enough cookie dough for 48 cookies, I ended up with 36. Well, make that 33, because I had to test them.

Jane made her biscotti look festive too. She added chocolate – regular and white – and put red and green sprinkles on as well. I tested that too, and it was fabulous.

Today, I’m going to make chocolate truffles and Jane has something in mind as well. 

By the end of today, we will have enough pastries for the holiday.

Although Christmas is only a week away, we still have very little snow. In fact, last night it rained! Jane called me a little kid yesterday because I bemoaning the fact that Christmas is not Christmas unless there’s snow. I checked the weather forecast for the next week and they are calling for a possible 3 inches of white stuff which will make me very happy. Let’s hope they’re right!

For the last few days, Jane has been tending to our neighbours’ cat, Toffee. She has gone over every day and let’s Toffee out into the back yard for a bit and brushes her. Toffee likes being brushed while she eats. Jane says she is quite affectionate and has curled up on Jane’s lap and fallen asleep a few times. Our Minnie has a very different personality and is more standoffish. But Minnie does like being around us. She will follow us all over the house.

This morning, I begin baking. While MY Jane is out getting her neck and shoulders massaged, I will be making Double Vanilla sugar cookies. I will use the cookie cutters to make them into Christmas shapes like stars and Christmas trees. They are called double vanilla because an actual vanilla bean is used as well as pure vanilla extract.

This is a photo off the internet of what they will look like when I’m done. Jane, too, will be baking some pastries for Christmas, but her recipes are a lot fancier than mine.

Today MY Jane and I will be going over to Ted’s place to meet with Merry Maids. We had given Ted a gift certificate for a complete apartment cleaning as a gift for her recent 93rd birthday. We intend to get her out of the apartment while the cleaning is being done. She has a bit of shopping to do anyway, so this is an opportune time.

Yesterday, Jane and I were out doing a bit of shopping of our own. We stocked up on items we need for the Christmas baking that we’ll be doing for the rest of the week. 

It’s a fun time around the Pickering household.

Yesterday, MY Jane painted the inside of the downstairs bathroom door and I cleaned two bathroom fan vents. That’s it. That’s all we did. Later, Jane went across the street to check on Allan and Jenny’s cat, Taffy. She let her out into the back yard for awhile and then brushed her a bit while she was eating.

Yesterday afternoon, MY Jane and I were lazing around the house, amusing ourselves by playing games on our i pads. We like the jig saw puzzle applications that are available as well as sudoku. But you can only do puzzles for so long and it starts to get boring. 

It’s a war movie about a tank commander and his crew in the Second World War. I liked it for the action, but I suspect Jane liked it because of Brad Pitt. 

Well, MY Jane and I are quite pleased with ourselves. We have all our Christmas decorating done, our Christmas shopping finished, and our Gift wrapping completed. There’s no last minute rushing around and, with two weeks to go before Christmas Day, all we have to do next week is baking. Jane says that she is enjoying retirement more than ever. “It’s so nice not to be frazzled”, she says. I agree.

However, I do feel bad for our Minnie who is so bored these days. She doesn’t like the cold and won’t go outside. Instead, when you open the door for her, she has a peek and then scurries back inside.

There have even been instances of her giving a hiss of disgust when she sees the snow and feels the cold at the door.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I went to Georgian Mall to pick up a Christmas gift gift for one of our guys and then over to Ted’s to help her put up her Nativity display and Christmas lights. Years ago, she had asked Steven and Chris to make it for her and ever since, she has set it up in her place at Christmas time. She says she is always reluctant to put it away at the end of the season because it’s so beautiful and it makes her sad to have to put it away. Needless to say, Ted was delighted with the final result.

She treated us to a Red Lobster dinner which we ordered as take out. The restaurant is only a short distance from her apartment, so it was still nice and hot when we got back. 

After dinner, we played a game of Rummy and it was great fun. 

Today, we will be getting prepared for dinner guests tomorrow night. Allan and Jenny, neighbours from across the street, will be coming. They had invited us to their place for dinner about three weeks ago, so we want to reciprocate. They’re great neighbours.

Yesterday, while MY Jane was out getting her massage treatment, Simcoe Carpet and Upholstery Cleaners came to the house to clean our sitting room sofa. Don, the guy who did the cleaning, was very thorough and clearly knew what he was doing. It took him about an hour and the sofa looks like new again. He said it was dye from blue jeans that was the culprit.

I did more wrapping of Christmas gifts and when Jane came home, she brought us lunch from McDonalds which was a nice treat. After lunch, we did more wrapping together along with some help from Minnie who can’t resist the sound of tissue paper and has to get right into the middle of things.

We do have fun!

Yesterday, MY Jane set up a gift wrapping station on our dining room table. She put everything we needed there: scissors, scotch tape, gift wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, name tags, glue and ONE pen.

We spent a few hours wrapping some of the Christmas gifts. Lots of fun. Jane asked me if I like gift wrapping and when I said, “Yes, I do”, she was surprised. The reason I like it is because doing a good gift wrapping is an art. It requires the fundamentals of planning, organization and implementation. You have to be able to measure correctly, you have to be somewhat dexterous, you have to be able to tie a knot and you have to have some sense of colour co-ordination. If you pay attention to those things, you’ll end up with some pretty nice looking gifts.

And a whole bunch of nice looking gifts under the tree makes it pretty exciting on Christmas Day.  And all the while that I’m wrapping, I’m thinking about what kind of reaction the gift recipient is going to have. That’s why I like gift wrapping. And doing gift wrapping together with Jane makes it even more fun. It makes me happy.

We have a bunch more to do after Jane gets backs from her therapeutic neck massage this morning.

Well, everything went according to plan. MY Jane and I picked up two Christmas trees at Lowes yesterday. They are balsams this year. We got them set up in the upstairs dining room and the downstairs Family Room in no time at all. The lights for both trees worked fine. No burnt out bulbs, so I was happy about that.

All that remains to do now is gift wrapping and baking. We are ready for Santa!

Now that it’s cold every day, Minnie is getting grumpier. She is really an outdoor cat but she doesn’t like the cold. MY Jane ordered another Cat Video for her. It’s a DVD that features birds and mice and fish along with an assortment of accompanying noises that has been designed especially for cats who are bored.

She really likes this video and watches and listens to it for hours. Sometimes she will fall asleep on the sofa near the TV and if you turn the video off, she wakes up and gives you a look of total disgust as if to say, “How dare you!”

I also bought her some catnip, a small amount of which I sprinkle on the kitchen floor. She really like that stuff. She eats a bit then rolls around in it. 

Well, I finally turned on the outside Christmas lights and got the timers adjusted properly. I put lights up on the front of the house and also in the backyard so that we can see them regardless of which way we look. Puts you in the Christmas spirit. I put up all our seasonal Christmas flags as well. All we need now is snow.

This coming Saturday, MY Jane and I will set up two inside trees, one upstairs and one downstairs. It’s a lot of fun putting all the decorations on. I’ll have to get all of them down from the loft in the garage pretty soon. By the time we get done, the house looks very festive. As it should be.

We are in very good shape as far as Christmas shopping goes. We have one more gift to buy and then all we have to do is wrap them. We’ll help Ted get her decorations up as well. 

For her birthday, Jane and I got her a gift certificate to get her whole apartment cleaned by Merry Maids before Christmas. She was pretty happy about that.