Happy New Year! Before any more of this month gets away from
me, I’m sitting down to record memories of our Advent and Christmas.
We began Advent this year with a visit from Bill &
Susan. They stayed with us from November 27th to December 1st.
As always, we had a great visit and the boys loved spending time with Nana and
Papa. Brendan took his parents and the two older boys into the woods to cut
down our tree on Friday morning. That afternoon, we took the boys to the Bob the Builder exhibit at the Museum of History. On Saturday, Liz,
Chris, and David joined us for our tree decorating party. Liam and James decorated like pros, despite Callum's attempts to undo all their work. The next day we went to another tree decorating party, this time at Brendan's cousin Hannah's place in Manotick. I think the boys had the impression that we were going to carry on decorating trees every day until Christmas!
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| Bringing home the tree |
The following week, Brendan and I attended his office
Christmas party. This was our third time going to the party, but the first time
without a baby (two years ago we had 3-month-old James with us, and last year I
was pregnant with Callum). I had a particularly good time this year! Actually,
that day, December 12th, ended up being a day of parties for us. The
staff party was a lunchtime affair and my parents watched the boys for us. The
VanDusen’ s were having their annual tree decorating party that night, so when
we finished our lunch, we headed to their place to pick up the baby (the others
were spending the night with Mamma and Papa Tim). When we got home we scrambled
around like mad trying to get our house in order so that we could host our farm
neighbours for a late raclette dinner. They arrived around 9pm and stayed well
past midnight. Lee-Ann was so taken with the raclette that she bought one for
her family. Brendan was quite pleased with himself for his positive influence! The following night I went to Russell’s new live music spot,
The Waiting Room, to hear Jess & Joel. Cozy setting and great music – the
perfect way to close the weekend.
On December 14th, Waupoos participated in the
annual Metcalfe Christmas Parade. Liam and James were very proud to ride on the
float with their friends and farm animals!
The Waupoos Board of Directors gathered for a Christmas
party hosted by Susan & Mark Lamarre on December 18th. Fr. Roy
celebrated Mass for us, after which we enjoyed a delicious potluck. Susan and
Mark have a lovely home and we filled it with lively conversation and laughter.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Christmas party without talking about WWII, so
Brendan held forth on that topic for a good portion of the evening. (There’s a
running joke in the Marshall family that Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas
without some spirited discussion about the Nazis. I’ve seen this tradition
enacted at every single Marshall Christmas gathering I’ve attended.)
On the third weekend of December, we had a visit from Rob
and Dellica and their two boys. Liam and Ole got along famously - it was fun to see them having such a good time together. We also had our Christmas party with the
Baker’s and the Gernon’s, held at our place this year. It was a tight squeeze
in our little house, but we managed to contain the chaos. Twelve children ages
8 months to 7 years make for a lively evening! Our gift to the kids this year
was fort kits, which Liam and James have quickly put to good use. After the Hamilton's left, Caleb and Meredith stopped by on their way to New Brunswick. Although it was short, we really enjoyed our time with them.
On Monday the 22nd, a very generous family came
to clean all the cottages for us and help with other preparations for the
Christmas holiday. Lee-Ann, Sabrina, and I sorted donated gifts and assigned
them to the children who would be arriving the next day. Each family received a
hamper filled with goodies (edible treats, hats, mitts, socks, small toys,
etc.) as well as a wrapped gift for each member of the family. The hampers and
gifts were all donated by local parishes and other community groups. It was fun
to play elves, assigning gifts and wrapping them for each child. It was also
moving to see the outpouring of generosity from the community. Not only did we
have gifts for all the children, we were also provided with nearly every single
item on our grocery list for both vacation weeks.
The Christmas cottagers arrived on the afternoon of December
23rd. The resident men took each family out to the woods to choose a
Christmas tree for their cottage, which they could trim with the decorations we
provided. Orientation was at 7pm, as usual, followed by a resident family food
prep extravaganza. We carved turkeys and made various other dishes for the
Christmas Eve potluck, using the ample stores that had been donated for that
purpose.
On Christmas Eve, the Paul’s, who were our host family for
the week, ran some activities during the day, including creating a beautiful
glass mosaic for the chapel window. Christmas Eve mass was at 5pm, celebrated
by our friend, Fr. Maxime Allard. The ceremony began with a pageant put on by
the children – a first for Liam, who played a wise man. Although James didn’t
make it to the practice, he insisted on inserting himself into the performance,
walking right up to the manger to take a good close look at the Baby Jesus!
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| The sisters of the Queenship of Mary, who came to carol for us on Christmas Eve. |
The Christmas potluck was a joyous affair. We had lots of
visitors and loads of food. Later that evening, when things wound down in the
lodge, Brendan and I came home to prepare Christmas morning for the boys. We
wrapped gifts and laid them under the tree, put out the stockings for Santa to
stuff, and left some chocolates and milk for the old man to enjoy. Then we sat
by the tree and talked about life for the first time in what seemed like ages.
December had left us breathless but we finally found a moment of quiet, in the
small hours of Christmas day.
The boys didn’t wake up any earlier than usual on Christmas
morning, which was a blessing to their tired parents! There was no lounging
about, however – we knew that as soon as we heard them, we’d have to jump out
of bed and intercept their race to the living room, else all the presents be
ripped open at once! Their faces were pure joy, and Liam repeated over and
over, “This is the best Christmas EVER!” When we had finished the gift opening
and played a bit with our new toys, we headed up to the
lodge to help prepare the Christmas brunch. Again, the lodge was bustling with
happy activity – the residents were joined by a handful of volunteers who had
come to help prepare and serve brunch. We prepared a lovely spread, which was
enjoyed by the cottagers later that morning. Following brunch, Santa paid us a
visit and distributed gifts, to the great delight of all the boys and girls.
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| Waiting for Santa (I love Clara's expression!) |
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| Callum's first time on Santa's knee! |
That afternoon, we went to the Cogan Ranch for our family
Christmas celebration. Our small group of 17 (my parents and their progeny) was
joined this year by the Beaudoin clan (minus Eric, who is playing hockey for a
team in Croatia, and who was missed). Dina came with her now famous assortment
of appetizers, upon which we feasted until the main feast was served. My mom
had been thrown a curve ball when the glass panel in her oven door shattered
that morning, making it unusable for turkey roasting. Fortunately, our friends
the Chesser’s, who always visit on Christmas morning, witnessed the
misadventure and offered their oven. They would cook their turkey at the
in-laws. So a bit of turkey shuffling saved our Christmas dinner! Broken oven
notwithstanding, the meal was a great success. We lingered around the table,
talking and laughing loudly, and then moved the party to the basement after the
babies were put to bed (miraculously, all three of them slept!). We played bowl
of nouns, as we often do when the family gathers. We always play men against women
and the women always win, but this time I think the MVP was Nic Beaudoin, who
gave a skilled demonstration of walking in heels, and a stirring portrayal of
Mariah Carey.
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| Callum and Ezra enjoying their Christmas dinner |
Boxing Day gave us a chance to rest a bit after the activity
of the previous days. We worked some more on the glass mosaic and the kids
played together. The cottagers decided that we should eat up all the Christmas
leftovers, so we had another potluck that evening. The 27th was the
last day of the Christmas vacation. We gathered in the morning to share our
highlights of the week, and then the cottagers packed up for home. I don’t
remember what we did that evening. We probably told ourselves we would go to
bed early and then stayed up too late doing nothing.
On December 29th, we had another Cogan family
gathering. The girls went out for our annual Christmas season lunch, and then
the whole family gathered at my parents’ place. We played bowl of nouns again
(we can’t get enough!) and the girls won by a landslide. Brendan didn’t get to
do any charades because the words had all been used up before his turn, so we
made him act some out just for fun. He didn’t disappoint. Although his
depiction of “coffee shop” still ranks as his finest bowl of nouns moment: wide
stance, knees bent in a half squat, hands in front of him about 2 feet apart, pretending
to lift something (was it a cauldron?) to his mouth to drink. Is this really how
you drink coffee, Brendan?!
Our next group of cottagers arrived on December 30th.
Since this is already a long entry, I’ll save New Year’s for the next post. I
hope to write it sometime before spring!
