Some friends were up at our place last night and we all had a go at "Lips" (one of Dave's presents for his Xbox 360). I took a video of Stu and Liam doing "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers. Can't remember who won, but it was a good laugh watching.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

If I'm honest, I have to admit that a white Christmas is unlikely, but it was good fun going to see "White Christmas" at the cinema last night. I love going to see old movies on the big screen and it's been way too long since I've been to one. I think the last time I went to see one was Christmas 2004 when Dave and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" at the DCA cinema in Dundee.

Since it's only a week until Christmas, I'll have to start going through my Christmas DVDs a bit quicker (so far I've watched "Miracle on 34th Street", "The Snowman", and "Father Christmas") I've already started on my collection of Christmas stories my Charles Dickens (Thanks Mom!) and am reading a bit every night before bed.

Tomorrow afternoon is the annual Christmas Quiz at work where the asthma department (my team) competes against the cardiology department for bragging rights the rest of the year. Unfortunately there's no cash prize involved. :( There's also a Secret Santa gift exchange and the work Christmas night out is tomorrow night so it should be a good day.

The night is closing in....

I know that we all expect long days in summer and short days in winter, but every December it seems to get dark much, much earlier than I expect it to. Yesterday I found a picture on my cell from the summer and thought I'd take another one to see the difference in daylight hours between almost the longest day of the year, and almost the shortest day of the year.


20th June 2008 - 9pm

17th December 2008 - 4pm

Gingerbread House Making

My home group from church made a gingerbread house at my place last night. So much fun! It was my first time helping to make one and I'll definitely be doing it again next year. The pictures were taken by Anne Curran (one of the girls in our group). I think my favourite part of the house is the "stained glass windows"

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Christmas decor at the Morrisons

I decorated the house for Christmas this week but haven't had a chance to take/post pictures until now. There are more to come. The pictures were taken on my phone so they're not amazing quality, but my phone can transfer pics to my laptop via Bluetooth which saves me having to dig out the cords for my actual camera. So....here goes!


Our advent calendar. Elspeth made it and gave it to us pre-stuffed with chocolates. Dave and I are splitting the days (he's odd and I'm even).


Our table top Christmas Tree. It says on the box that it's 2 feet tall, but I think it's shorter. I really need to get a smaller star for it as this one sort of dwarfs my already miniature tree. (I call it my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree).


My bagpiper Christmas tree ornament.

Feeling Sheepish :S

Well, turns out that the Christmas cards weren't in the attic after all. While clearing out the spare room yesterday, I found them buried in the back of the wardrobe. Not sure what possessed me to put them there but anyway.....

My random discoveries continued today when I found a copy of "Miss Potter" in our DVD rack. I think I borrowed in from Elspeth (Dave's mom) but hadn't watched it so I put it on today. I have to admit to a few tears escaping, but I'm attributing that to a lack of sleep and not to the fact that I'm a total softie.

Dave's still at work so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to listen to Great Big Sea. Dave's not a fan and has resisted my many attempts to win him over.

I'm off now to put on dinner as it'll take a while to cook. On the menu tonight: Roast chicken (made in our vertical rotisserie - it's like having Swiss Chalet at home, minus the Chalet sauce) and some form(s) of vegetable(s). Should be good.

The week so far

My attack plan for Christmas was somewhat sabotaged by the fact that Dave (my only way of getting into the attic for my Christmas cards) was away yesterday and most of today with work. I didn't really feel I could ask him to crawl up into the attic tonight since he's just home and not feeling that well, so I think that'll have to wait until tomorrow. To keep some sense of momentum, I posted 2 Christmas presents which means there's only 1 left to go!

Since I wasn't able to start the cards, I've occupied myself with doing odd jobs around the house. Yesterday I caulked the bathtub. As expected, I ended up getting caulking gloop on me and had to wait until it dried to rub it off. I ended up with red patches where the stuff had been which made me look like I had some sort of skin condition. Sorry, no pictures of it, so you'll have to use your imaginations.

Sharaya, an exchange student here from Alberta, was over last night for dinner and a second session of her introduction to British comedy. I've had her watch episodes from Black Books and Father Ted, which are my two favourites. In exchange, she introduced me to Corner Gas, which was on CTV when I moved, but which I'd never watched. I've only made my way through 2 episodes so far.

Real snow!

Yesterday morning there was thick frost on the ground, which could almost pass for snow, but this morning there's real, proper snow on the ground! Hurrah! For some reason the novelty of the first snow of the season never seems to wear off, and while there's enough snow for it to be considered a proper snow fall, there's not enough for me to have to shovel. Since moving here 2 years ago, I've yet to shovel snow (long may that continue). As you can see from the picture, I didn't get a chance to finish clearing the tree branches from the back yard before the snow came.

First Post

I've gotten off to a slow start today, having not woken up until 11. I think I'll have to get tips from my sister on how to manage my sleep schedule.

I spent last night shopping for Christmas presents online. Online shopping is great in theory, since it saves me having to wait in line at the post office to send things, but it's really difficult to find places that let you ship internationally. Amazon is a case-in-point. Great site for presents, but amazon.ca doesn't have much on it, and amazon.co.uk or amazon.com won't let you ship a lot of things to Canada. Solution: my family and friends have to move to the UK. I managed to sort things out in the end, and hopefully it'll all arrive in time for Christmas.

Since I'm off work this week, I'm making an attack plan for Christmas preparations, the idea being that this will be the first year that I've bought presents and sent cards by December 1st. Of course, the house can't be decorated until December, but I'll dig the decorations out of the attic this week just so I know what I've got.