Christmas is just around the corner and we have been busy with putting up the tree, lights and all the Christmas decorations. Poor Charles had some difficult few days with being yelled at to not touch the tree. He finally has given up on trying to rip ornaments off, which because of obvious safety issues, I am thankful for! This year Aniela is also more aware of what Christmas is all about. She was a great helper with all the decorations and absolutley loves the tree. Everyday she says, "Mommy we make the most beautiful Christmas trees." It is a pretty special tree even though it's not the fanciest one. In fact it's a free one Charlie and I recieved from my father who found it in a vacant apartment. We were newlyweds when he asked us if we wanted it. We had a smaller place so it worked out perfect. Well to this day we still have that little 5 foot tree. To give it a little height we even put it up on old speakers. Maybe someday we will buy a new tree but for now I agree with Aniela, it is beautiful.
Of course now that the tree has gone up Aniela asks every morning if it's Christmas. She even has a "countdown" chain she made at school but is in denial at all the links left to take off! As Aniela gets older I am also trying to stress the true meaning of Christmas. Of course we are only human and I realize the excitement of presents and Santa but I also hope that Charles and Aniela will grow up knowing how truly special this holiday is. It seems like every year the Christmas shopping comes earlier and we get wrapped up in the fight to get the newest hottest toy out there. So I make it a point to talk about how Christmas is Jesus' birthday and that it is important to give, be nice and help others. Of course in response to this my daughter the other moring says, "Mom you can be nice and help me get dressed." I couldn't help but laugh. She was after all just repeating what I said. Hey at least she is listening!
This past Sunday we also attended our first children's Christmas party. The kids had a blast playing in the open gymnasium. Aniela could have stayed in the bouncy castles all day. Then there was Santa. As much as she is excited by the concept of Santa she had been saying how scared she is of him. When the big moment came Aniela was timid but she sat on his lap like a good girl. Probably more of fear that if she didn't she wouldn't get any gifts. Charles on the other hand wanted nothing to do with him and so I had to sit with Santa in order to get Charles in the picture.
Quick mom take the picture for evidence!
Charles of course is oblivious to everything going on. All he knows is that his new found talent of walking is pretty darn cool. He gets more confident as each day passes and has become quite the climber lately. Which of course gives me a heart attack! He also loves mimicking everything he sees. Whether it's vacuuming, pretending to put on lotion, or dancing he is just taking in everything.
Gotta start them young...
The kids aren't the only ones keeping busy lately. Charlie went to Edmonton the other weekend to go hunting. He didn't have any luck in getting one himself but still came home with a deer. The man that he hunted with had a little more luck in the great outdoors and gave Charlie one of 2 deer he took down. We are thankful for such a great gift because we love venison. Of course in Fort McMurray there isn't a place that will process deer so Charlie did it all by himself. It wasn't the first time but it has been about 4 years since his last butchering. After a little research he went to it and we now have a well stocked freezer full of delicious venison. We had our first meal the other night and it was delicious! Sorry about the photos. I didn't want to put the one up of charlie butchering but as he said if you eat meat this is is unfortunately reality. Even Aniela could handle it. We showed her the deer when it was first hung up ( a little hesitation on my part) and she did just fine with it...just as Charlie said she would!
Tray #1...we had 2 more trays like this!
We put our "Food Saver" into good use...here is a pic of all the meat
The final product...yummo!
4 comments:
Santa Claus, Jesus and dead deer in the same blog ... nothing says Christmas more.
Love the fact Aniela says that "Daddy's deer is juicy. I like to eat meat now!"
When are you making Christmas cookies ... wish we could be there ... and eat some.
Granny says the Christmas tree is beautiful.
Which ornaments did Charles add to the tree?
Couldn't beleive you picture the deer hanging up in the garage on the blog! That reminds me of cow being hang up in the barn in Poland the first time we visited. Remember that?
I cannot image being there watching Charlie doing that. Eck!!
Wow! I can't believe Charlie cleaned it himself. I prefer to live in denial and not really think about where the meat comes from.
Aniela does look a little afraid of Santa. Wyatt is scared/excited too. I decided to skip the Santa photo this year. Santa is coming to Wyatt's school this week and that will be traumatic enough! HA!
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