12 of 12 December

I have only just started to decorate our home. Isn't that pitiful? The first thing put out was our collection of Nutcrackers. Love them! Years ago, when we moved to Toronto, we always used to go to the O'Keefe Centre to watch the Canadian National Ballet perform Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Christmas is not the same without my soldiers on the entry table greeting me as I come down the stairs each morning throughout the season.
This is the sum total of what is on our tree. Lights. We have put out a red spotlight onto one of our trees outside, and the banister running around our back deck is covered in multi-coloured lights (for Cole) but I have been waiting for some time that we can ALL decorate the tree. Looks like I'll be decorating myself as, so far, we have not had one day in a week when all the kids have all been home at the same time - except for when we're all sleeping!
What do you think? This was my first opportunity to wear my new funky glasses. I had Claire take a quick picture on our way to her Social Science exam this morning. She seems to like them, actually, all the kids seem to think they're pretty cool. A bit different for me, but I figure the more funky the glasses the less chance of Louis' "borrowing" them and me never seeing them again!
Christmas gifts for everyone! I've decided to "invest" in my friends and make an effort to make everyone healthy in the new year :)

Now, for a 1-hour period today I did not have my camera. Not that I could actually get a photo, not one that would accurately capture the hour. I went to Appleby a bit early in order to collect Claire from her exam. I quickly ran into the admissions office to find out that my friends Suzy and Bibi had NOT received Cole's transcripts that I had sent in on the 4th of the month. Messages were left - I didn't receive! - Gah! Today was the day he was to hear about his acceptance or not! E-mailed the transcripts again. Not received. Collected Claire, went home, ran into the house, collected the transcripts and headed back to the school. Claire ran the transcripts into the admissions office. How could I have not gotten the message? How could they have not received my e-mails? How, why? PANIC CITY, I tell you, my stomach was in knots! While I sat waiting in the car (absorbing my newest book find: Outliers) Claire returned with Kim, the admissions officer. Files are in order. My boy is IN. YAY!! I have no doubt that I provide the office with plenty of comedy. I sometimes feel as though I'm channeling Mr. McGoo at least once every day.

Okay, back to the 12 of 12 with pictures:

Claire and I ran over to Oakville Place - our local (pitiful) mall. They have a few okay stores, but for the most part there is nothing special about this place. TODAY we walked in and heard this wonderful sound: children singing Christmas carols. I looked up to the food court and saw one of the little boys I know singing his heart out. I had to run up and get a quick shot to take for his mum.
Cole is studying astronomy in his science class. He has a project due soon - the Hubble telescope. I found this calendar. You know how calendars are full of all kinds of interesting "factoids" that you might not find on the internet or in a book. I picked one up (you know, one free calendar with the purchase of 5) thinking it might help. Plus I'm a calendar collector - this just gave me a brilliant excuse to pick up some;)

$10 back for every purchase of $50. Not a bad deal. Evidence of WAY too much spent at American Eagle today, but Claire looks adorable in her new blue coat!
After picking up the kids from school, I had the boys put a salt mixture on our driveway. The front of our house gets ZERO sunlight, no relief when the weather is bad. We got a small dusting of snow the other day that turned into a virtual ice rink! Time to get that ice melted so no one takes their life into their hands when they come to visit.
I normally shop at Fortino's for our groceries. They are clean, priced well and carry the product I use - great produce section, amazing deli and PC products. Today, I didn't have enough chicken for dinner (surprise, mid-week menu change!) and had to stop into Sobey's to pick up some more. It's the same ad-week, so this is an apples to apples comparison. (Grocery is one thing I definitely KNOW and know well.) $20.92/kg at Fortino's and $21.58/kg at Sobey's. With the amount of chicken we consume in this household, I'm sticking with Fortino's! I hate being ripped off.
What a beautiful group of cousins! My sister came with my dad and her children to watch Cole and his Ranger team play the Flamborough team. Even after a "flight" that took them from 8:30AM to arrival after 5PM they still managed the 45-minute trip from Toronto to Oakville to watch my boy. Love them! The kids get along so well, even when they see each other only a few times each year.
What a terrible game. Our boys managed to pull it off, but boy were they disjointed. Nothing flowed well tonight. I don't think anything did for the other team either. I am not a fan of referees, but tonight was truly a disgusting display of poor behaviour. Too many men? No penalty - and no addition of time to the existing penalty. What? Pull back a goal? How is it in the net in one second then a no-goal the next? Tons of ridiculous calls. Really poorly officiated.

(This activity needed two shots!) we headed home, plenty of wrapping to complete. Yes, everyone is getting a copy of Outliers! Bottles of Mona Vie! And plenty of other stuff :)

Bonus shot:
I asked Cole to show Char, in a photo, how happy he is to have made it into Appleby. He thinks he looks like a 'dork'. I think he looks like a happy boy full of anticipation and promise.