New Year... Old Updates

I can’t believe it’s been 2 months since I've posted anything! Where does the time go? The end of November and December were extremely busy at work. I had the opportunity to take 2 ½ weeks off for Christmas and thinking that December is usually a slower month, I scheduled my last day in the office for December 14th with Stephen and I flying out to Colorado to spend the holidays with my parents on the 19th (for two FULL weeks!!!!). Turned out that we had some staff leave at work and I was left a brand new campaign to learn, while continuing follow up from my last campaign and had already agreed to be the lead to train and delegate other staff on our Daffodils campaign which needed to get started in November. During the weeks leading up to my holidays I didn’t feel like being on the computer anymore when I would get home from work, so I’ll share my updates and some pictures now. (Roll your mouse over the pictures to see descriptions.)

Christmas Season – Decorating, Parties, Carols…

I LOVE Christmas! I love the decorations and lights. I love the beautiful carols that herald the truth and reason for the season. I can't wait until December because then I can start decorating my house and listening to carols again. I love hearing the message of the incredible gift God has given us everywhere I go!












Of course in the weeks leading up to Christmas there is always lots to do!

Stephen and I went to the Christmas banquet at our church with our friends. The food is great, the people are great and it is usually sold out every year! We also attended the Sunday School Christmas program because my friend Sally was part of it this year as accompanist. The preschool and toddlers were so cute - dressed as little sheep, cows or horses, nudging each other out of the way to grab the microphones, tumbling off the stage - it had been a while since I laughed so hard!









We had several Christmas activities at work in December. Each year we have an door-decorating contest to get the office decorated for Christmas. Mine got a nod by the judges for the prettiest door but I didn't win the prize. Pretty doesn't win in our office - funny/ironic does. We also had a work Christmas party that I went to more out of obligation than anything. I had fun with my friends from work but I didn't didn't stay long. My work team had a Christmas thank you and get-together the afternoon before I left for holidays at my boss’ house. That was a lot more fun than the offical CCS party. We ordered pizza, played Scattergories and learned how to play poker. I have a great work team, we all get along really well so we had a fantastic time!









Stephen and I also had a chance to get together with my aunt and uncle, Jim and Sharon, here in Calgary before we left for holidays. They are such a fun, gracious, loving couple and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening with them!

Christmas Holidays - Off to Colorado

I had a few days off before we left for Colorado to do final packing, run errands and clean our place. Stephen and I flew out on the afternoon of 19th and got to Denver that evening. We were so excited! I think Stephen had been counting down the days for about 6 weeks. Every day for the last 3 weeks I heard how many "sleeps" were left until we were at mom and dad's house. Stephen also started Christmas shopping online in early fall and had a very special present waiting at my parents house that he had bought online for my brother-in-law Jeff to enjoy with the kids and he could hardly wait for Christmas Eve when that present would be opened.

My youngest sister Teresa is staying with my parents right now and it was fun to be able to visit with her when we got there. Our favourite times are having morning coffee by firelight, candles and Christmas lights with my mom and dad and sitting in front of the same fire talking late into the evenings. We had many good discussions about God, His grace, the Bible and our relationship with God. Dad loves to share what he is learning when he prepares his sermons and we take the opportunity when we are with them to ask a lot of questions that have been on our minds. They have been through and learned so much and have such strength of faith and wisdom and we love being able to learn from them. We also had fun shopping, wrapping gifts, baking and helping them take care of Brileigh, the beautiful 6 month old daughter of a couple from their church. My mom has been babysitting her for the past few months while her parents are at work.










My sister Kirsten, her husband Jeff and my niece and nephew Olson and Kaelen arrived the Saturday before Christmas from Minnesota. It is always great to see them! The kids grow SOOO much in the months between our visits. They get very excited to see their Uncle Stephen because he's crazy and plays with them whenever they want. We all could barely wait for Christmas Eve - which thankfully came in no time. We had a simple but powerful Christmas Eve service at dad's church and then enjoyed our traditional Norwegian kumla supper. After that, we open all of our gifts – it’s another Norwegian tradition to open gifts Christmas Eve. Stephen loves giving great gifts and it is so fun watching people open them. Jeff (and the family) really appreciated theirs from Stephen - Stephen had researched online to find the best telescope he could so that Jeff can take out to look at the stars with his kids. We hoped it was something they could enjoy as a family and Jeff could enjoy putting together and figuring out how it works. Christmas morning we woke up early to open stockings and stayed in our PJ's while making Christmas dinner with turkey and all the trimmings.























The rest of the week we continued to enjoy our cozy morning coffee times, adding in sleepy kids who would come out with their blankets to cuddle on someone's lap. We also continued to enjoy late night discussions and game nights. Our holidays were filled with shopping (the stores and prices in the States are so great - Target, Bath & Body Works, Kohl's, Bed Bath & Beyond, it's so fun to shop down there!), going to some of our favourite restaurants (Deliworks - a great sandwich place near mom and dad's house and for me the Chinese restaurant that serves the best crab rangoons), visiting with lots of people (the members of dad's congregation especially the couple from the church whose baby mom takes care of, Uncle Ivan and Aunty Barb - my mom's brother and sister who live in Denver, some friends Kirsten, Jeff and I had gone to high school with who were visiting family members from dad's church, my oldest sister Melinda came to stay overnight one night to spend time with us- she recently moved to Wyoming, still not too far from Mom and Dad, with her husband Cody and they were sick most of the holiday so she was only able to see us once), looking at old photos and talking about great childhood memories (mom and dad put together a slide show of pictures from our childhood for their digital frame and they received a photo CD for Christmas from a couple who were missionaries in Africa with us - they had put many of their pictures from Africa on CD and it brought back a lot of memories), eating all of mom's great food and Christmas treats and most of all, enjoying being together.

We played a lot with the Olson and Kaelen - Stephen would help them make up all kinds of loud games to keep them active downstairs, we set up and played with their new toys, we coloured with them and helped them make jewelry (Kaelen and I made her some Canada earrings from beads and Melinda and I helped both Olson and Kaelen make beaded bracelets and necklaces).

Kirsten and Jeff took the kids to the mountains to ski one day and we all went up to Estes Park in the mountains the Sunday before New Years for lunch, to look at shops and to drive into Rocky Mountain National Park. We didn't get to drive too far into the National Park because it started to snow really hard and pretty soon we were in white out conditions on the curvy mountain roads. We stopped to take some pictures in the snow before turning around to get coffee in Estes and then go home.

Happy New Year

On New Years Eve the kids were able to stay up to watch the ball drop in New York. It was a very clear night and the stars were bright so Jeff and Stephen set up the telescope outside so we could look at the night sky. Unfortunately it was also very cold and the LCD screen that helped control the telescope kept freezing so it wasn't working well. Eventually they came back inside to enjoy a snack of crab rangoons and to watch the ball drop.

New Years Day Kirsten and Jeff and the kids left early in the morning to drive back to Minnesota. It was very sad to have them leave and the house was SOOO quiet when they were gone. Stephen and I and mom and dad settled into the living room with our coffee, still in our pajamas, to watch the Rose Parade. That is Mom and Dad's New Years Day tradition. They used to live in Pasadena where the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl are held and would love to go back for the parade some year. We also did some last minute shopping with Mom and Teresa that afternoon which was a lot of fun.

On January 2nd we finished packing up and flew back to Calgary. I was very sad when I got back home to be so far away from family again and it hit me that it would be many months to a year before I see them all again. It took awhile for me to get back into work and life here.