Ouch!

I find it quite amazing at how much of a mess my house is - - - when I didn't even host the Christmas festivities!!!

We spent the day (about 12 hours) at Jenn & Scott's and when we packed up all our presents in the car to head home and brought them all home (with a dining room chair) and inside, and we took everything out of the bags again to see all that we got again.

SO... now our living room is full of Christmas presents and garbage from opening Christmas presents (plus Boxing Day shopping)

The clean up will be a project this week as we will have nothing else to do but that!!

Santa's almost here!!

Well, it's almost that day of the year where time flies like you wouldn't believe, and all that time we spent before hand preparing for that day just seems like so much time that could be spent doing other less time-consuming things.

We always head off to the Christmas concerts, shopping, wrapping of presents, visiting of family, decorating houses (indoors & outdoors), wait in line-ups for parking, for paying at the grocery store, or any store in fact.

So, our tree, fully decorated (minus what the cats knocked down), and fully stacked with presents underneath (minus the pathway where the cats must enter the tree), and there was a lot of time spent in thinking about what present to buy, going to the store and buying the present, wrapping the present and delivering the present - but to see a person's reaction to the 'perfect' present bought - is priceless (I feel like a Mastercard commercial)

All that time spent with the process of present-purchasing is over within seconds of the paper ripping, so enjoy every possible moment that you can, so that you don't miss any special moments!!

I know I saw it....

I know I saw snow today...

They were big flakes too!!

Where did it all go?

It was so pretty this morning!!

Where did all the snow go?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

WOW! What a long book title!! The actual book was shorter than the title!

Such an interesting book. You are put in the shoes of a young autistic boy who decides that he wants to write a book. His book is called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

He writes of everything he sees and encounters, and all that he has to face that makes him completely frightened and uncomfortable.

He was inspired to write the book as a part of becoming a detective.

His goal - to figure out who killed Wellington (the neighbour's dog)

It really puts perspective on what a child with autism has to go through in life and how frustrating it can be at times for parents of autistic children.

Next book A Complicated Kindness

Where is the snow??

I have a question.

We do live in Canada, where we are known to live in igloos with dog sleds and such, but how are we supposed to do this when there is no snow??

Christmas is coming in 10 days, and it's looking like we might just have a green Christmas, which I believe is a first for me here.

I remember when the family headed out to BC for a Christmas one year, and I was actually expecing a green Christmas, but when we woke up Christmas morning, there was snow on the ground (not for long, but there was snow).

I'm finding it hard to get into the Christmas spirit when there is no snow or anything winter-like. This is causing me to procrastinate more with Christmas shopping and wrapping of presents.

There has also been statements (with the warm climate and all) that Santa Claus will be homeless by the year 2040.

I haven't really read into the whole climate change epic, so I don't know all the details around it, but I do know one thing:

I WANT SNOW FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

Life of Pi

So, I have finally read Life of Pi and it's quite an amazing story!

Quite an adventure for little Pi and to be able to live and tell about it.

We learn about Pi and his life growing up in India. His parents own a zoo and Pi learns to respect and become a part of different religions.

Pi's father sells the zoo animals individually and plans to move to Canada and they must deliver the animals to where they were sold to.

On a boat in the Pacific Ocean, and explosion happens and the boat starts sinking with all the animals and Pi's family.

Most of the book details the 227 days that Pi is afloat on a life boat with originally a orangutan, hyena, tiger & zebra and after some time with hunger pains arising, the tiger eats the rest of the animals and Pi is faced with many near-death thoughts as it is life with Pi and the tiger in the Pacific Ocean.

Quite an interesting book, it flowed very well, and I was always eager to read.

Next on the list, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

How Time Flies...

I always know that December is a busy month, but everything creeps up on me.

I'm never ready for sending out Christmas cards, Christmas presents to be mailed, buying presents, thinking of ideas for presents, buying birthday presents for Will, going out to a few functions for Will's birthday, going out to a few functions for Christmas, and the list goes on....

I wish that I could be more prepared for these things, and every year I vow to start things earlier, but I end up postponing it even later the following year.

This is the first year that I've had a full-time job throughout the holidays, and through my contract I am required to work any days before/after stat holidays. So I don't have the time off at Christmas that I'm used to previous years being in school and off until the 1st week of January. It'll be so odd to be heading back to work the day after Boxing Day, especially when there won't hardly be anyone at work as they will all be on holidays without me!! Oh well, I tend to get more work done when there's less people in the office.

1984

I have just finished reading another book.

The title is 1984 by George Orwell. It's considered to be a classic novel.

It starts out very odd-like but it gives you a sense of how the rest of the book is going to be. I had never read it in school like some people, but I was intrigued to see what made it a classic.

The first sentence is:

"The clock strikes thirteen..."

See, all these people live in a 24-hour world where there is no 8am and 8pm but rather an 8 hour and 20 hour.

They are forced to live with these strict rules and are always told that Big Brother is watching them. There is even mention of the "Thought Police" where even if you think something different of the rules and have your own opinion, you can go to jail and "vanish". Vanishing is where you die, but Big Brother makes it so that you didn't even exist by erasing you from every record the town has.

It would be pretty scary to live in something like that where you're constantly being watched and every opinion you form can get you in trouble. It's as if you're supposed to live being robot-like not having any feelings or thoughts and just to do what you're told.

I don't think I would like to live as they did. Most of my days are spent with my thoughts on many different things.

It was an okay book to read, some parts were not so exciting (like when Winston was reading the rule book word-for-word), but it was an overall good storyline.

My next book is...... Life of Pi

Christmas Ornaments

So we headed to the Rideau Centre today to attempt some Christmas shopping (with my lack of Christmas Spirit), and finally came up with some ideas for some people, but I still feel like we're at square one with buying presents.

We ended up buying all the parts for Will's parents - so that's 2 people down, so many more to go. We finally picked up some Christmas cards and bought another Christmas tree ornament.

Will & I have decided to start collecting Christmas ornaments. We have only bought 2 (we don't want to go on a spree - as we want this to be throughout the years) so far, but we also want them to be unique.

The two that we have are both the ball-shaped ornament, one is clear with frosted Christmas trees, the other is yellow with black velvet stripes. We don't want anything to be too extravagant or odd looking, but classic and funky looking of different shapes and sizes (just not too big).

We also want a story that goes along with the ornament - one we picked up in Toronto at the AGO gift shop (our first trip together) another at a department store (while shopping for Christmas gifts downtown)

Christmas

I must say that usually by the time Santa Claus parade comes around, it gets me in the mood for Christmas shopping and such, but this year it wasn't the case.

We headed downtown to see the parade on Laurier and it was quite interesting (and cold). A bunch of dancers, marching bands, radio/tv celebrities, our new mayor, Spartacat, and of course SANTA.

We then headed to the Rideau Centre and it was absolute craziness. I'm talking about people everywhere in stores, out in the hallways walking around and we could barely find a seat in the food court.

I usually don't get in the mood for Christmas until the first snowfall appears (and it has to stay on the ground) - - which seems to be arriving late this year. All we have been getting is rain. Everyone at work thinks I am crazy to say that I would rather snow than rain.

There are some people I know that are pretty much finished their Christmas shopping. I have bought one present for Will's Dad, and the rest I am completely stumped about.

There are still 35 days until Christmas.

I don't mind the craziness in malls as long as I know what it is that I am there to get. If I'm just walking around figuring stuff out, then I end up getting more frustrated with myself.

So Christmas shopping, and wrapping, and decorating - - - I won't be doing for awhile, even though the people I live with have been listening to Christmas music since November 1st!! Crazy!!