Saturday 31 December 2016

December 2016 By the Numbers and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope the festive season brought you all much joy, and that you've ushered in the new year in whatever fashion that suits you best, be that with a calm and quiet night in, or with a raucous celebration that saw the early light of dawn. 

Thank you for your presence in my life during this past year. One of my primary goals of this year of balance is really about being mindful of my relationships - with my own self and my place in this world, with my family members, with my dear friends - and I look forward to connecting with you all in the coming year.

I wish you all happiness, peace and love in 2017. Hugs!

December 2016 by the numbers:



- 24 days of warmth by tea, as I made my way through my tea advent calendar. Admittedly, as happens each year, I still have quite a number of days to open, as I tend to fall behind for one reason or another. But a new year of surprise teas to look forward to is not a bad thing!



- Three fantastic days of racing for H at the Etobicoke Olympium at their Youth Cup.



- Three sweet cousins sharing a great evening of dinner and a movie as we all got ready for the holidays and our niece took a break from prepping for her exams.



- One evening of Christkindlmarkt fun, our wonderful annual tradition that allows me to relive the German Christmases of my childhood while sharing the memories with my family, including eating potato pancakes!




- Five most memorable days in New York City shared with my still-little love, H.




- 42nd street as the symbolic backdrop to this birthday celebrated in NYC.



- One New York minute when I saw the amazing young woman that my daughter's becoming, and the lovely gift she gave me.


- Twelve years of our kind, bright, thoughtful, beautiful and talented girlie, H, celebrated!




- Crowds of people and a great group of friends enjoyed the fantastic festive image and light show put on by Christie Digital.




- Two backyard neighbours and pals had some sleepover fun.



 - Eight good friends came to celebrate our sweet mighty mite's birthday with her at a belated SkyZone bash, while one big sister was an indispensable helper at the party.




- Six great grandchildren snuggled in with Nanny at a wonderful Brown family Christmas party. And one exciting visit by Santa, whom we serenaded with Christmas carols and much laughter!



- Four medals and three ribbons were delivered, earned during another great swim meet last month. Swimming seems to be one of the only sports I know of where winners have to wait for their awards to arrive, sometimes days, other times months, later! Thankfully patience is a virtue this girlie has plenty of!



- Two crazy morning people got out to brave the cold and enjoy an icy but wondrous walk after we dropped H off for her early morning swim practice. Thanks Dad!



- Countless hours spent wrapping gifts that I felt so fortunate to be able to give. Several warm beverages and constantly playing Christmas music helped to make the hours sweet!



- One big group of crazy and talented swimming pals celebrating the season with a party at SkyZone. They had fun striking a zany pose for the camera!



- Two great Christmas Open Houses at wonderful friends' to kick off the Christmas weekend. And bizarrely enough the only photo I have to show from either party is this one of E on the elliptical! It cracks me up! lol



- Twenty five days of Enzo the Elf's antics, adding a festively fun and creative element to our holidays! Farewell until next holiday season, Enzo!





- Six of my favourite people in the world to share our cozy Christmas Eve with - surely one of my very favourite days of the entire year - and one ginormous feast to enjoy together in gratitude.


- Infinite gratitude for the warm and cozy Christmas morning my family shares, complete with the magic of thoughtful gifts given and received, our traditional brunch of French toast and berries, and a sweet little kitty who loved her catnip mouse gift, too!



- Second wonderful Christmas dinner as we got to share another feast of left-overs and more family time.

- Annual tradition of visiting the Wonders of Winter lights display at Waterloo Park on the eve of Christmas Day.

- 53 years were not nearly enough in the life of my all-time favourite musical artist, and I'm truly mourning the world's loss of George Michael, an incredibly talented vocalist, musician and songwriter of whom I've been a huge fan for well over three decades.




- Several hours shared with my beloved Oma.



- First game of the Kitchener Titans basketball team watched on the edges of our seats at the Kitchener Aud. Great time at my first NBL game!




- The thirteenth NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) Graduation Anniversary celebration we've shared with our dear friends the Ds. Our H and their B were both preemies when we met in the NICU those many years ago, and we began as two couples going out for dinner together in shared excitement that our babies were being released from the hospital the following day. Both of our families have since grown, and we have to get a bit flexible with the date of our celebration to accommodate busy family schedules, but I so treasure this special get-together and occasion!



- Heaps of beautiful snow (with much more to come after this pic was taken) creating a lovely winter wonderland. Made getting up and taking H to her holiday practices both easier and more difficult!


- Four of us enjoying a free afternoon during the holidays to go see the Disney movie, 'Moana' together.

- 2017 welcomed with great friends in fine Clipper Crew fashion! Happy New Year, everyone!