Of Pageants & Surprise Guests, Stalled Vans, Big Orders and Bigger Biceps...

Well... I really shouldn’t have gotten so stressed over those gingerbread houses (though I laughed my way through the article in the January Canadian Living about a Mom whose experience was almost the same) because the three families had a GREAT time decorating the three houses I put together on Friday night from the kits. I did make my OWN Royal icing, because the goopy stuff in the kit wouldn’t work at all.

Saturday was marvelous fun except for our van suddenly deciding to stop dead in its tracks at only 18 months and 36,000 km. Nick got it towed to the dealer who was just as baffled until later this morning when after a few hours in their toasty warm service bay, it started like a charm. Perhaps something got clogged or frozen in the fuel line... so we shall see.

Sunday was the day of our Christmas Pageant during the service at church. Erin and Bethany were both angels with “real” feathery wings... but the highlight of the morning for them was when Nick’s Mother and Stepfather appeared to sit in the second row!! My girls just beamed through the service and then insisted on taking their grandparents out to lunch at their favourite restaurant.

I came home to find a very nice order from one of our distributors on the fax machine as well. Nick was even smiling because it was for our process colour leaflets instead of the chartpacks and he prefers to fold rather than collate and stuff bags. The weather warnings for another massive snowstorm were also out, so we went to bed not knowing what the morning would hold and Christmas parcels to ship out overseas...

When we woke up at 6 am to catch the headlines, we learned that schools were closed all across the province, despite the fact that not a flake was falling. Since the girls were still asleep and Nick was able to doze off again, I got up and headed down to the computer. In icky weather, I love the fact that my commute is only two flights of stairs. I worked until the girls got up at 7:30... and by 8 am the flakes were really starting to fly, but there was only about and inch or so on the roads. We decided to load the parcels in our borrowed vehicle and race up to the post office before the weather got worse..... but I was 26th in line!!! Apparently all the other procrastinators out there with parcels to mail had the same idea. Nick is still teasing me that the boxes are probably all sitting at the airport unable to move... but at least I am not tripping over the boxes in MY house.

So... do I want anther snow day with my family tomorrow and have my morning meeting canceled?? Do I want to have them all get out from underfoot since they will be home over the Christmas Break and I will no doubt miss my ability to work at my own pace in a nice quiet house?? I think that for once, I will just let Mother Nature do whatever it is she has up her sleeve and not stress about it. Since I cannot push a button and stop a snow storm... there’s not much point in getting all worked up about it.... especially since it will be such a great bicep workout!!