Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

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We braved the chilly temps, the bumpity wagon and the deep snow and headed out to the tree farm last weekend to find the perfect tree (funny, how everyone else was there searching for the same thing!) After treking through acres of snow, heading cross country to the back corner of the lot through knee deep snow.....we found the PERFECT tree.....can you guess where it was? By the road where the tractor had dropped us off in the first place!!! Oh well, it isn't Christmas unless your toes become frost bitten while tree hunting (at least that is the way it was in my house growing up.....and we didn't have tree farms either.....just lots of bush to tromp through). In keeping with another new tradition, Alec felled our tree just like a regular Paul Bunyon and after a quick drag we were on the tractor headed back to our warm van!! Enjoy the pics from our fun afternoon.

Guarding OUR tree that we found!

Alec has perfected the chopping of the tree!

What do do while we are waiting for the tree to fall? Snow angels of course!

Another little frosty..........

The tree is finished and we have our own Christmas angel!!

Christmas Toys......

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The toys we collected for all the kiddos in the community...........

Small things make a big difference

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This year instead of having a gift exchange between myself and the families of my daycare children I suggested a toy drive to benefit the local children in our community. The idea was that for every toy they donated to the drive I would match it with another. Despite being a "little" daycare we have accomplished a donation of 20 new toys to be distributed to the Children's Aid Society. WOW!! It is truly amazing to see what can be accomplished when everyone contributes just a little bit. The kids have been so excited to watch the box "grow" and fill with toys. What a great lesson in the true meaning of the holiday season.

Now, I'm off to finish baking another 5 dozen gingerbread cookies. We distribute them (along with shortbread) to our neighbours and friends. This year I'm also responsible for supplying treats for Claire's class party......so I'm off to bake............

Mickey Mouse, Cinderalla, Baloo.....oh my!

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Hi Everyone!
We had an amazing vacation at Disneyworld last week. In fact it's a bit depressing to return home to the snow and cold temps. Being from a "snowy place" it was very strange to walk around the theme parks and listen to Christmas music playing while the sun shone and the palm trees swayed. The kids did great on the flight which gives me renewed hope that they will be able to handle the 13+ hours required to fly to China. Overall a big success!! Here's a couple of highlights from the trip.