Hot Water With Lemon

My latest drink of choice - hot water with lemon.

'Feed a cold, starve a fever'? Well I'm doing it.

I've gone through two lemons since Saturday.

Hopefully it comes with a cure to this hanger-on of a cold I've managed to catch.

And frankly any resulting canker sores will be worth the price of getting rid of this cold!

Christmas Wrapping

I walked by this scene on our dining room table Saturday night, and quietly, happily, remarked at its humble cheerfulness.  I had just been in the midst of this very happy scene for some time, but hadn't quite 'taken in' just how wonderful it was to be doing what I was doing...wrapping up Christmas for our dear friends and family.

And yes, I drink beer while I wrap presents. Don't judge.

Hopefully you had to go back up to the picture to look for the bottle?

Phew.

I hope this scene brings a little holiday sparkle to your busy, maybe cold, dreary Mondays. Oh, and just so you know, Juno's under that table of festivity too - sleeping away...visions of sugarplum rawhides dancing in her head.

We have hit a few roadbumps on our lead-up to Christmas this year, making us more appreciative of what we have, and grateful for what we have gained, while remembering what we have lost, and thriving in the healing company of those around us.

"As [a year] ends, we grieve what has been lost and cherish what has been gained. We measure the rise and fall of our hopes, and...remember. As we enter a new, uncertain season, our destination is unknown, yet we travel against the flames of fear toward the promise of [the] future ahead." - Shirin Neshat

Happy wrapping.

Spreading Joy

We live for the mailbox in December.  Something about heading out into the chilly air and opening the box right on the street is a little magical.  Juno doesn't mind the extra walk either ;)

Seeing a red or green envelope peeking out from the pile of business-sized white envelopes - maybe even with a handwritten address on it - makes us giddy!

We keep our cards in a huge candy jar right in the foyer so we can see the notes and cards and photos on our way to any room.

Thank you to all who have spread joy to us this season! We hope we have returned the favour.

New Arrival

Congratulations to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law on the arrival of their beautiful baby!

"Sometimes,' said Pooh, 'the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." - A.A. Milne

Welcome to the world, Lilly.

Nicknames

We have about a thousand different nicknames for Juno. She responds to pretty much anything that comes out of our mouths. Although, we're also pretty sure intonation also has 100% to do with it.

A few of the names you'll hear most around here are Muncher, Junebug, Boogywoogs, Punchkin, and a really strange one that just came out one day and then stuck, Bobodense (pronounced Bobo-densay).

Now comes the tough part - naming her for the book series. Do we stick with something simple like Juno and have it stand on its own? Like Marley, Dora, or Barbie? Or do we drum up something longer and potentially punchier, and maybe also alliterative like Spongebob Squarepants, Thomas the Train, or Lalaloopsy?

We've got the script. We've got our leading lady. She just needs her storybook name.

What do you think? Tell us in the comments.

The Importance of Slowing Down

Adam received some surprising, cautionary health-related news this week - and so, as a direct reminder of why we started this blog in the first place, and why we continue to work towards our book series, we decided we needed a weekend to s-l-o-w down.

(via)

Our ssllooww weekend...in numbers:

Naps on the couch - 4
Trail and park walks with the dog - 5
Slow cooker meals prepared - 2
Sleep-ins - 2
Good movies watched - 2 ('Hanna' and 'When Harry Met Sally')
Good reconnecting-with-family phone calls - 2
Christmas trees decorated - 1
Seasonal iPod playlists made - 1
Seasonal iPod playlists repeated - still counting

Errands run - 0
Extra house projects done - 0
Bills paid - 0
Lists made - 0
Lords-a-leaping - 0
Maids-a-milking - 0
Ladies dancing - ok, 1 - (me - but only because I love me some seasonal tunes)

We really do love Christmas, and find it a pleasant and relaxing time of year, but we're p-r-e-t-t-y darn happy that our pre-Christmas rush schedule allowed us to just enjoy some 'slow living' this weekend.

Have you tried this lately? How do you slow down when things get busy?

And to our American readers, we hope you enjoyed a nice slow-done Thanksgiving - complete with family, friends, fun, food? (some dogs?) Happy turkey coma :)

Exterior Illumination

Catching up...my apologies for being away - we've been spending a significant amount of time sorting out the administration of our new house - billing, repeat billing, overbilling...you know the drill.

We've spent the last couple of weekends tidying up outside and sorting out some maintenance before the winter comes.

Ironically, this weekend appeared to be Christmas light weekend in our neighbourhood.  We had fairly pleasant weather this weekend, and on our tri-daily walks with everyone's favourite neighbourhood dog, Juno, we observed our fellow suburbanites hard at work hanging Christmas lights and accompanying seasonal ornamental yard decorations.

Noteworthy are the oversized snowflake pathway stakes, the multi-coloured sets of jumbo holiday orbs hanging in the front yard oak trees around the corner, and the 6-ft wide garage wreath down the street.

Christmas in suburbia? You bet 'ya!

Hopefully our strand of white lights and two mini trees by the door will do.  We're in for a heck of a season!

Loving every minute of it :)

P.S. As my husband and brother-in-law joke annually with their Dad, (my father-in-law), "Dad, you taught me everything I know about exterior illumination." - Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold in Christmas Vacation.