Christmas Festivities 2013

What a wonderful Christmas we had!  We took a ton of pictures and Breanne has put a video together of the family Christmas including both the Loaring side of the family as well as the Sharratt side which tells it all.  It is an awesome video!  You will see in the video my surprise Christmas gift from Brian!  Annika and I now can have some extra special play-dates!  We had many blessings this holiday season!

Merry Christmas 2013–going down memory lane…

Hard to believe that yet another year has gone by!  Brian and I want to take this opportunity to wish our many family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and safe New Year 2014!  Thank you to all the people that have sent us Christmas cards and especially those that have sent us pictures and updates of their family lives.  It is nice to know how your year has gone and what you have been up to.

I am always amazed at the number of people that keep up with my blog and Breanne’s blog at http://bjams-loaring.blogspot.ca.  We both love doing our blogs mainly just to document for ourselves the things we have done and the pictures we have taken.  As with most people nowadays, we take digital pictures and very few of us keep photo albums anymore so having a blog with the pictures that mean things to us is important.  I love being able to go back and read some of what I have written or pictures I have taken to bring back the memories and to help me not to forget.  I don’t consider myself “old” per se but I do find that my memory is certainly not as good as it used to be and I feel awful when someone says “do you remember when” and then realize that I don’t remember the event or thing they were telling me about.  So I’m hoping that as I age and as I look back on my blog and Breanne’s blog, I can see how I felt about things, see the pictures I love the most and talk about the people and friends I love the most. So this is a big thank-you to those of you that follow along our blog with us!

Talking about memory, I do find that I remember very vividly things from my childhood.  I remember having two of the greatest parents anyone could ask for and being so grateful for my two older brothers who always were there to protect their little sister!  Bob and I have the honour of celebrating our birthdays on the same day; yes I was born on Bob’s 10th birthday and instead of being upset that he now had a little sister that took away his thunder of celebrating his own birthday; with the money he got for his birthday that year, he bought his little sister a rattle and from then on, one thing that we will never forget is when each other’s birthday is!  We both will be celebrating big milestones in 2014 – in March, I turn 60 and Bob turns 70. Also next year, Bob and Gwen will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!  Funny how the age of 10 was significant for Bob and me; I was 10 years old and a junior bridesmaid in Bob and Gwen’s wedding! 

For my brother, Roy, I always remember him as being rough and tough but always very protective of his little sister.  If I was ever afraid of anyone or anyone bullied me, I would threaten that I would get my brother, Roy, on their tail if they bothered me and it always worked!  Roy, for some reason, always had that reputation; as my mom used to say – the middle child is always full of woe and Roy was that child.  Nevertheless, the three of us were all so different, but that is what made our family life dynamic and I love you all dearly!

As I go down memory lane here, I am sure my brothers and dad will remember this: 

This was the mantle clock that my parents had through their entire married life.  We would listen to Westminster Chimes every quarter hour with the hourly donging to indicate the hour.  I always found this very comforting and just made home feel like home.  When my parents sold their house on Waxwing in Guelph, they gave me the clock which I was so happy to have but it didn’t seem to work, so I just left it sitting on our fireplace mantle to look at.  Dad, one day said he would take it to a clock-maker and see if it could be fixed.  Dad got it fixed and gave it back to me but Brian said he didn’t want a chiming clock going off all the time; so I never actually tried to get it working until a week or so ago after we had the entire house painted and as I was putting things away, I decided to see if it would work.  I had the original directions which my dad had “laminated” so I read through what I could understand and lo and behold, I got it working and the memory of that chime just threw me right back to my childhood.  Even Brian said “gee that actually sounds quite nice”; so we now have the clock fully functional and I’m loving it!  Our granddaughters, Annika and Selena, were over last week and Annika was so enthralled with the clock and said that she wished she had one that I told her that one day it would be passed down to her when she is old enough to appreciate it.  I hope that Annika will have the same memory as I do of her childhood and going over to her nana and papa’s to hear the comforting Westminster Chimes.  I have video-taped the chimes so you can all hear it and I will forever have the sound of it on my blog just in case the clock ever breaks down again but I resolve to keep it going and to have it regularly checked by a clock maker. 

Annika, being only 5 years old, told her papa that she wanted to make sure that she helped put up our yearly Nativity scene; so last week Brian picked her up from school and they proceeded to put our Baby Jesus on display. 

 

I think she did an excellent job of putting everyone in their place.  This is the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate.  Both Brian and I feel truly blessed for our family, our friends, and especially our children and grandchildren.  This is a special time of year that celebrates “family” and the true meaning of Christmas.

As another year passes, I still miss my mom’s presence.  She loved Christmas with us and I always remember her helping with cooking, and especially the cleaning up.  She was always one step behind me, taking dishes and cleaning up right away, always having things neat and tidy!  It is so hard to believe that mom has been gone for 4 years now and I seem to miss her more in each passing year. 

This was our last Christmas together (2008); mom passed away two months later on February 3, 2009.  Love you mom……until we meet again!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!!