Christmas 2009

The Pollock/Patience/Greenreich 2009 Christmas was spent at the Patience house and for the 1st time in a long time, spent together, all in the same location!!!! Mom and Dad arrived on the 19th and Matthew, Stephanie and Aaron followed from Seattle on the 21st. It was sooooo great to all be together for Matthew's 1st Christmas. Curtis came to open prezzys Christmas morning, which was really important to the kids and I and Carlam joined us Christmas Day night after spending the day with his family and that was wonderful!!

Unfortunately there was something else that either arrived with one of the travelling parties or was at the Patience house waiting for everyone.......... THE FLU!!!!!! The only three that were immune were Daniel, Claire and Carlam. Everyone else got it. It was a bummer because Matthew was sick on Christmas day. As I have told many, the drink of choice for Christmas 2009 was Schweppes Ginger ale!!! So.... because of our extra guest, it was a very quiet Christmas, which isn't really that bad anyway. We were up around 9:30 Christmas day and those of us well enough ate a great Christmas day meal.

Boxing Day, everyone except Nana and Matthew trouped off to the West Edmonton Mall to Watch Avatar in 3D. IT WAS AWESOME!!! I will forever have the image of Claire sitting on the edge of her seat in her 3D glasses glued to the screen. It really is a great movie just because of the special effects and the 3D. Other than that just another Cowboys and Indians movie.

On the 27th, Carlam took Stephanie and Claire and Daniel sliding down the Onoway sledding hill. They had a great time and didn't have to walk up the hill every time they slid down because he pulled them back up with his quad!!!! Can you say Spoiled!!! I didn't go because that was the day I had Mr. Flu visit me. They also did some Quadbogganing, which is the sport of being pulled behind the quad on a sled. Very fun!! I am hoping Stephanie will have some pics of the sledding, but if she doesn't I will get them from Carlam and post them. Stephanie, Aaron and Matthew headed home on the 28th and Mom and Dad followed on the 30th. The kids and I followed Carlam home on the 31st and spent New Year's Eve with his friends in Hines Creek. They all have kids my kids' ages so everyone had a great time. It was back to work and regular routine on January 4th.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Matthew opening his prezzy from Claire

And here it is, an owl she sculpted, painted and fired. I have to admit that I was a little jealous that Matthew got this owl and I, her mother, did not!

Matthew and Steph Christmas Day

Daniel getting goodies out of his stocking.

Claire getting into her stocking Christmas morning.

Claire and Matthew

Carlam opening his prezzys on Boxing Day

2009 homemade gifts for Teachers and friends. Every reindeer had a story written by Claire or Daniel. Claire's was western themed, Daniel's was about a reindeer that needed to collect Worker's Comp. Don't ask, because I have no idea.

I know, I know, as Stephanie very kindly pointed out yesterday, my blog is sad. I have been ridiculously busy and frankly, just have not had the time to get this done. BUT TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

Really, there hasn't been that much going on in our lives since my last post. Daniel turned 12 on the 22nd of October. There wasn't much fanfare and he couldn't decide what he wanted to do for a party so, we just had cake and ice cream at Curtis' and he got to open some sweet prezzies and that was it. I think that he has reached the age where he doesn't want to have a party supervised by his MOM and is still not old enough to party on him own (thank goodness).


Daniel has taken part in a couple of karate tournaments (1 bigger, 1 smaller). Claire is doing her voice lessons and had a recital before Christmas. She sang "Out Here on My Own" from Fame and did well. I will try to post video later this week. She also had a major part in the school Christmas play called Santa's Playlist. She did awesome and Nana and Papa even made the trip out to watch. What a thrill!!! Again, I will post pics/video this weekend.


The dogs and I are well. My old cat, Freedom is hanging in there and makes an appearance every weekday morning for his canned cat food treat. His hearing and eyesight are going so, you have to be careful not to surprise him, or he yells. Our garage cat, Tracker, has pretty much moved into the house. His manner are impeccable so, I guess he can stay. Our little gray cat was not at the door when I got up this morning so that is concerning, but hopefully she is there when the kids get home from school. Will keep you posted.


I am doing well and enjoying not having to answer to anyone and being in charge of my own life. I have to say, I seem to be handling everything out on my acreage just fine on my own. I have met a really great guy to hang out with. I met him on the Internet and we really have a good time together. His name is Carlam and he has passed the family test and the kids think he is "pretty cool". Daniel had vocabulary homework last night where you had to match the car parts with their meanings. Well, let's just say that is very out of my league so, he called Carlam and they figured it out together. Carlam lives about 4 and a half hours away from me so there is some travelling involved if we want to see each other, but so far have been able to make it work. He is divorced and doesn't have any kids, which I have to admit, is nice. We are just hanging out and enjoying each other's company.