To me, Family is Christmas. I haven’t spent Christmas with my Sis since our last Christmas with my Mom.
Ever since we lost Mom, Christmas has been hard for me. Before we lost her, the only Christmas I had spent without my whole family was the one right after HBear was born. My whole family came out for the birth of HBear so 3 week’s later, it was just the 3 of us.
The Christmas before Mom died, the whole family came here for Christmas. My big Bro and SSIL, Sis and BIL and Baby Star (later known as SPea), and SBean was just 1 month old.
We didn’t know it was last one.
Mom and I did our usual thing… filled the entire deep-freeze with appetizers, dinners, and baked goods! That was my favorite thing about Christmas. The preparation! The cooking, baking, crafts, music.
Not this year though! This year Sis flew out for the weekend with SweetPea and CabbagePatch! We got to do ALL my favourite Christmas things… together!!!! It was amazing
💛.So, because I had most (missing my BIL, Bro, SSIL and PrettyPenny) of my family together at my FAVOURITE time of the year AND because I am not wasting money on shitty pictures with Santa this year, we all went down to the Lakeshore for family pictures!
Last week I went to an awesome sign painting party. We each brought an appetizer. I wanted to bring something that didn’t need to be cooked. We have a wicked Greek food store that gets in all these cool ingredients so I picked up a few boxes of Phyllo Shells. They are light and such a great alternative to regular tart shells or puff pasty! I filled them with 2 different fillings. They were both super good 😊. Perfect for New Year’s Eve!!!
Adapted from The Cookie Rookie
15 Athens mini phyllo shells (1 box), defrosted
1/2 package Garlic & Herb Boursin cheese
4 slices prosciutto, diced
1/4 cup sliced green onion, plus more for garnish
In a frying pan, fry the prosciutto until crispy.
Mix together the crispy prosciutto, green onion, and Boursin.
Adapted from The Cookin’ Canuck
NUTRITION: 44 Calories per bite
15 Athens mini phyllo shells (1 box), defrosted
3/4 cup hummus
1/3 cup cucumber, diced
1/2 roasted red pepper, diced
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
Fill each phyllo shell with 1 ½ teaspoon hummus.
Top with the cucumber, roasted red pepper, feta cheese and parsley evenly between the fillo shells.
This week I volunteered in SBean’s kindergarten class. I helped them assemble Gingerbread houses 😊. It was pretty neat doing the exact same thing I did with HBear’s class just 4 short years ago. This time though, their gr 3/4 Big Buddies helped out. HLBesty’s son is SBean’s BB 💛.
We finished up with all the classroom treats that I talked about last week.
On Thursday my Sis flew in with SweetPea and CabbagePatch! We kept it from the Girls for MONTHS 😂. We surprised them at school, right after recess. They were so surprised but in a weird way lol. Rowyn looked… unprepared, she hates being unprepared. SBean was hesitant at first looking at her teacher and then at us, over and over again 😂. She finally ran over and stopped right in front of SPea. I said, “You can hug.” They both laughed and hugged 💛. While we were there we watched SBean’s class Christmas concert rehearsal! SBean was BEAMING 💗
The next day we stayed home. It was a snowy morning so the Girls played LEGO and then we did some baking! We made Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares and Sugar Cookies.
After baking we went to the pool for some swimming and HBear‘s Mini Meet. Sis stepped up and took over being SwimMom for the evening 😊. She learned how to be a timer and all about the sport 💛.
After the meet we went for the BEST pizza at Bad Tattoo.
After a free craft beers Sis and I decided to try out our new Lipsense 😂. Rowyn walked in and asked what I was doing and I said, “well Dear Mommy is giving herself a moustache.” 😂. It is so hard to put on lipstick!!!!! It looked really nice on though and I’m happy with it!!!
The next morning Sis and I went to Pound class at Oranje. She had done it right after CPatch was born and my SIL and I tried it this past summer. OMG! A whole hour of squats and lunges all while drumming with drumsticks 😳.
The class was great but afterwards was a debacle. We put CPatch in childminding. When we came to get her, the woman said that we didn’t give her CPatch’s jacket. I had seen my Sis hand it to her at drop off though. After she told us this she went back to what she was doing.
Like it was a given. No jacket. I explained that it was freezing and my Niece was in a shortsleeve onesie and we couldn’t walk to our car without a jacket. Also, that she was from out of town and that was the only jacket she had brought her. Finally they called the Mom who had just picked up her kids. She had taken it by accident. She said she would drop it off at her next class the following day.
😳
They didn’t want to ask her to drop it off because she is a regular.
😳
The worst part was that they did nothing. We sat there for 45 minutes and nothing. No one talked to us. Apologized. Offered a free class for our troubles. Nothing. Wtf?
We wrapped the baby up in a nursing cover and left. We gave them our address. The receptionist dropped it off a few hours later. I will not be going back!
These are the beautiful crafts we made! Scrabble names, snowman bulbs, and snowman tea lights.
While we were there, all the kids went looking for their Elf on the Shelf. My Sis laughed at us all. Then she thought about it, “hey! Didn’t I buy that for you guys?” She said laughing at me. I said, “Yep! What do you think is under the tree for SweetPea and Cabbage?“ 😂
Every night the Girls watched a Christmas movie and then had a Sleepover. They played so hard throughout the day that bedtime was actually very smooth! All 3 girls shared a room very well 💛.
The next morning, Sis made French toast and I played Mario Cart with the Girls 😆.
After a lazy morning we went to the Lakeshore for pictures.
We ended the weekend having a delicious homemade spaghetti dinner at my in-laws 💛.
On Monday we said goodbye with LOTS of cuddles 💛.
I had the BEST weekend! It REALLY feels like Christmas now! Thank you Sis for coming out and preparing Christmas with us. I miss you guys so much and making memories like these with our Girls is SO special. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my holidays 💛.
