When you were a kid, what was the best Christmas present you received?

This was the question my dad posed to us on Christmas day. I couldn't recall a best, per se. Every year it seemed that Christmas was just right. The clothes were balanced out by neat things like Crazy Carpet sleds and Lego and roller skates. Then there was the year I was absolutely convinced that I was getting a cat. Instead of saying no, mom and dad said something like 'We'll see' or 'Ask Santa'. That year Santa left me a book on cats. Mom and Dad dodged the disappointed child bullet by letting the blame fall squarely on St Nick. They probably told me that he couldn't bring pets on the sleigh.

My dad said his favorite was a toss up between a table hockey game and the year he got the entire Boston Bruins uniform - jersey, socks, pants and gloves. I wonder how all the kids playing shinny on the frozen sloughs kept track - how many Eddie Shores and how many Rocket Richards were on each team?

My Auntie Ann said a child's size china tea set was her memorable gift. Her sister, my Auntie Eleanor said it was a doll with brown hair and eyes that opened and closed. They came from a big farm family, and I'm sure that the kids didn't get many special presents - these must have been precious toys. They both remember their mother baking the Christmas cake on Christmas Eve - if it was baked any earlier in the month the boys would eat it all!

My mom said her favorite gift was the year she got skis - they all loved to ski, although the thought of my grandfather on skis makes me giggle. He did a lot of things in his younger days that I have a hard time imagining. I asked my grandma once, how did they meet? She told me that he was her rollerskating teacher, of all things. When they were married, grandma said that one of the other things they loved to do was go square dancing. Do si do grandpa, do si so.

My brother said the neatest toy he received was an electric car set that had a track that went up the wall. He also mentioned that he loved his table hockey set. I think every Canadian household has had one of these at one time or another. My Bryan said it was his most memorable gift as a kid - the teams were usually Toronto and Montreal, the classic NHL match up.

This year I received an interesting present. It didn't come wrapped. It isn't fancy or shiny or even new. It is dull and heavy and has more than a few nicks out of it. It has flecks of paint and dirt embedded in it. A humble tool that has made many things, from bookshelves to tree houses. My grandfather's hammer. Thank you Dad, for passing on this simple gift. I'm still a kid, so I will say that this is the gift that stands out for me, as the best one.

Silver Bells

City sidewalk, busy sidewalks

dressed in holiday style.

In the air there's a feeling of Christmas.

Children laughing, people passing,

meeting smile after smile,

And on every street corner you'll hear:

Silver bells, silver bells,

It's Christmas time in the city.

Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,

soon it will be Christmas day.

City street lights, even stop lights,

blink a bright red and green,

As the shoppers rush home with their treasures.

Hear the snow crunch, see the kids bunch,

This is Santa's big scene,

And above all this bustle you'll hear:

Silver bells, silver bells,

It's Christmas time in the city.

Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,

soon it will be Christmas day.

I hadn't thought of this in ages, but this Christmas memory came to me today.



When I was a little girl, my grandma and grandpa would take us downtown to look at the animated Christmas window displays at Woodward's Department store. Afterwards, we would come home, and grandma would make Carnation hot chocolate (always milk chocolate!) and we would make icing for her famous shortbread cookies. Grandma had all the Christmas albums of the day, but Silver Bells is the one that I remember. Those were the days of vinyl, so Grandma had to carefully place the needle on the spinning record, to get it at just the right spot.





Merry Christmas one and all - enjoy the next couple of days with your loved ones.



God Bless.

So tired. So sore.



Here was my weekend.



Friday:

Get up early. Feed Lily breakfast, put her down for morning nap so we can go to the Despot for 11am. Get Lily up. Dress Lily and load in car. Remember spinach dip to take to work. Go to Second Cup, get coffee and gift card. Go to store. Unload toddler into stroller, balance spinach dip, bread, coffee while attempting to push stroller through unploughed parking lot. Have lunch, exchange gift. Buy electrical supplies that were out of stock last time. Make arrangements to rent tile saw. Go to mall. Watch cranky Santa with well behaved preschooler and wonder what's wrong with that picture. Toddler discovers Velcro strap on shoe. Buy socks, crayons, paper, birthday cards, gift card, shirts and books. Get ice cream for now cranky toddler. Toddler does not lick ice cream cone. She scoops ice cream out of cone. Does not like cold on fingers. Toddler flicks ice cream on table, mom, stroller, her hair, and the floor. Mom throws out cone, ignoring screaming toddler. Change diaper of screaming toddler. Go to book store. Toddler decides to remove one shoe and sock. Buy wrapping paper and something else that I can't remember. Put sock and shoe back on toddler. Go to Starbucks. See 15 people in line for coffee and decide that now cold coffee from Second Cup will do - pretend it's iced. Go to Shopper's Drug Mart. Toddler removes both socks and shoes. Ignore this. Spend Optimum points on stocking stuffers. Pay. Replace socks and shoes again, wrestle toddler into coat and go home. Thank goodness she fell asleep in the car.



Saturday:

Get up early. Have breakfast, walk to parental's house to get SUV. Can't find keys. Wake up brother. Drive to Save On for groceries. Load groceries into SUV. Go to Despot. Rent tile saw. Get new guy. He's 75 and has never used a computer. Try to help. It takes 25 minutes. Load tile saw. Drive home. Unload tile saw. Husband puts tile saw in house. Can not unfold saw. Diagrams for assembly are on a sticker, and read:



Place right hand on bar G. Now unlock spring H while holding down lever J with left hand and tip unit onto front legs. Pull up on handle K, letting safety bar M rest on frame piece N. While holding left foot on wheel P, tilt entire unit back down using left hand only. Now do the hokey pokey and turn yourself about.



Let husband finish setting up saw. Start cutting tiles. Very loud - need earplugs. Cut more tiles. Need more water in pail. Water is now everywhere. Need towel. Toddler screaming - does not like sound of saw. Remember to phone brother - come get SUV. Friend comes over with other toddler. Clean up, and watch toddlers wrestle like puppies. Catch up with friend. Brother arrives - wrestles with the puppies. Give snacks to toddlers. Snacks are now everywhere. Brother leaves. Friend and toddler leave. Cut more tiles. Make supper. Toddler throws supper. No dessert for toddler. Mom and dad eat supper. Toddler wants their supper. No. Tantrum. Tough. Toddler pouts, shakes head and says nononono. Still tough. Cut more tile. Husband gives toddler a bath. Toddler screams when not allowed to drink soapy bathwater. Toddler put to bed. Cut more tile. Call my mom. Mom suggests hot tub. Remind her that I must cut tiles until they are done as saw must be back by 11; can't cut tiles in the tub. Cut more tiles. Hubby realizes we need a gift for Santa's Anonymous. Hubby goes to 24 hour Walmart to get gift, and diapers for toddler. Mix mortar. Spill mortar mix. Clean up and keep mixing. Husband returns with 2 gifts and no diapers. Lay tiles. Lay more tiles. Mark tiles, cut, and make mistake. Geometry not recommended when tired. Lay tile until no mortar and no tile spacers left. Check clock, it's 1am. Go to bed. Tell hubby to wake me early.



Sunday:



Up at 8:30, have breakfast. Get toddler up. Toddler has removed most of her pyjamas during the night. Change and redress toddler. Make large pot of coffee. Mark last tiles, start cutting. Toddler removes pyjamas entirely. Put toddler down for nap. Have hubby call brother to remind that he needs to come by. Clean tile saw. Get porcelain slivers in both hands. Clean tile saw some more. Do the hokey pokey, but it doesn't work, so have husband collapse tile saw. Brother parks in the back. Hubby waiting out front. Move SUV, load tile saw. Clean up while hubby and brother are at the Despot. Make bacon, and pancakes for brother's birthday brunch. Eat. Get toddler up. Feed her pancakes and bacon. Give brother cards, toddler promptly steals cards. Brother plays with toddler, then goes home. Toddler waves and says bye. Parents call - bringing table and chairs in 1 hour. Give toddler snack and put on Aladdin DVD. Toddler happy and quiet. Clean up from lunch. Discover one of the toddlers helped decorate the Christmas tree with a snack bowl and stuffed mouse. Remove decorations and return items to rightful place. Make more coffee. Parents arrive to inspect. Toddler plays, and demonstrates correct usage of the word no by using it in context to something grandpa said. Embellished with pout and head shaking. Grandpa laughs. Grandma and Grandpa leave. Lily waves and says bye.

End of weekend.

(If you made it this far, please send me Robaxacet and a bottle of Bailey's. I'll try not to take them at the same time.)

The tree is up. It took a while.


Why?

Because we have a toddler. And toddlers are curious.

I put the tree up in phases. First, just a tree. No lights. Nothing. I put it up when Lily was having her morning nap. I put the lights on the tree while she was still in the room, so she saw some of the process, but didn't participate. Really - she just watched. And then crawled under the tree.

This is where she learned that trees are prickly. Especially when Mommy purposely points the branches down in order to keep babies and cats from under the tree. That safety issue aside, we used LED lights, because they don't put off any heat. Then I added some non breakable plastic ornaments. She has also left them alone. Well, except for the Mommy-won't-notice-if-I-just-give-this-a-smack-as-I-toddle-by swats at the ones at her level.





Just to be safe, we used bungee cord to attach the tree to the wall. Lily is learning to use say uh-oh, and the last thing I want to hear is a giant crash and





Uh Oh!





We are not going to tempt fate by leaving wrapped presents under the tree.

This is why I work in retail.

A sheepish looking man hands me a receipt and an ugly light fixture and says:

"I bought this light by myself, and apparently, I was wrong."

I waited until he left to giggle.

I won! I won! I won!

Anyone who knows me knows that I never win anything. Scratch tickets, Lotto 649, mail in contests - no luck at all. My husband nearly always wins. Something about a horseshoe...

Imagine my surprise when I checked on one of the websites I visit regularly, and find MY name on a list of people who won a pair of Babylegs from the new organic collection.

Parenthacks is a great site with common sense parenting tips. I check in every day, and had left a post in the thread about Babylegs.

What the heck are Babylegs, you ask? Legwarmers for babies. You can see them here. Lily has 3 pairs of real ones, and 3 or 4 knockoff pairs. They are great under skirts, or with pants - minus the wrestle-the-baby factor of tights.

Thank you Parenthacks! I can't wait to see what we get!

Check out their site at www.parenthacks.com