Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas Day

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Jordon did a writeup of what went down for Christmas so I won’t replicate that here but it has been a nice day.  For tonight we are making a traditional Christmas dinner with Rosemary Roasted Turkey, twice baked potatoes, salads, dressing, and even some turnips.  

Tomorrow the plan is to avoid the malls, go for a walk along the Meewasin Valley Trail and enjoy some of the teas that I got for my birthday.  Hopefully the weather cooperates but it’s Saskatchewan so you know it won’t.

I was spoiled this Christmas.  Jordon gave me some iPod speakers & some perfume.  Mark gave me a griddle and electric skillet.  Maggi gave me a kitchen scale.  Santa brought me a new a knife set and the famous Edge of Glory knife sharpener to help rehabilitate some of my knives that aren’t getting used.  Mark also gave me a pink Zepco fishing rod and tackle kit.  Luckily for me fishing isn’t that great near our cabin but I am looking forward to sitting down in the north beach of Arlington over some coffee and snacks with the boys.

Lee and Brittany gave me a Dutch Growers gift card which I can’t wait to use.

2012 Christmas Gift Guide for the Men in Your Life is Online

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Christmas Gift Ideas and Gift GuidesI just posted my 2012 Christmas Gift Guide for the Men in Your Life over on Jordon’s blog.  It’s an extremely popular feature of his blog but it takes a lot of work in brainstorming, planning, researching, and then writing the post.  I am glad it is done.  Now I just have to go out and purchase Jordon something for Christmas.

If you have any thoughts, idea, or feedback, let me know over in the comments of the post.

Christmas Shopping

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So we are pretty much Christmas shopping.  Oliver is totally done sans a toboggan and a hockey stick we want to get for him and Mark is down to one gift to get.  As for Lee and Brittany, they both are pretty much done.  While we need to get them a couple other things, we are getting them in Calgary when we go in a week.

We went out to Costco today and picked up a couple of things.  I will admit, getting things now is a lot less stressful than waiting for December.  

The last big person to shop for is Jordon and he is always the hardest but I even made some progress with him today at Costco.  The secret for me is to purchase to Christmas  gift each pay check starting in September until we are done.  I find that if we stay disciplined with that, we are okay.

Boxing Day

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This morning Jordon and I got up because he wanted to look at iPad cases.  I bought the wrong one for him for Christmas and the one he wanted was sold out
(and quite a bit less money than I spent… doh!).  We went to Best Buy and it was insane there.  Long line ups as people were going crazy getting what they wanted for Christmas but didn’t.  Instead of hanging out there, we wandered across to Indigo! and used some gift cards that Lee had given me for my birthday and Kristi gave Jordon for Christmas.  I got SoulSpace: Transform Your Home, Transform Your Life — Creating a Home That Is Free of Clutter, Full of Beauty, and Inspired by You by Xorin Balbes and some tea while Jordon got an oversized Moleskine.  It was actually quite quiet in there, apparently readers are more civilized than electronic buyers and we had a nice time wandering around.

After Mark took me for lunch, we checked out Visions (zoo), Future Shop (end of civilization), Walmart (where we got Mark a floor lamp) and finally went back to Best Buy where the lines had subsided quite a bit and we picked up an iPad case.  It isn’t a smart cover but works the same way which is a cool perk.

After that it was back home where we ate a light supper and we started to take down Christmas decorations.  The tree is taken down, the decorations have been put away and now we are just doing a deep cleaning of our place.  It’s an odd Christmas tradition but a tradition none the less.  Tomorrow we are off to the Saskatoon Blades game with the Sieberts and Reimers.  It’s too bad that Credit Union Centre is almost half-way to North Battleford.

Tonight is the kind of official end to Christmas around here.  It’s not a bad thing and we love the New Year but Boxing Day always is the transitional day for us.  Tomorrow we start to wrap up 2011 and get ready for 2012.  Whatever works right?

Christmas

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Well it’s Christmas morning and the gifts were largely opened last night at Lee and Brittany’s place.  Christmas Eve started with us running out early to Wal-Mart for batteries and then chilling out a bit at home until we went by Jared and Katherine Siebert’s with gifts for them and the boys.  We bought the boys (and Jared) multi-tools which were promptly taken to their backyard start cutting down trees.  Hopefully none of them bled out.  Shopping for Jared and Katherine was quite easy as we gave them a couple of our favourite books of the last couple of years.   We got a wonderful card and gift card from them which we hope to share.  Jared did the impossible and got Jordon reading some science fiction in 2001: A Space Oddessy.  Jordon doesn’t read a lot of fiction but Jared had been working through the series which got Jordon interested.

After that we drove to Warman and saw Lee and Brittany.  Lee being Lee started to lobby that we open all of the gifts right away.  Brittany stopped him (and Jordon) and made us a wonderful dinner first.  After Christmas we exchanged gifts.  We gave Lee a Flip Mino HD video camera, a case, and a tripod.  Jordon got into the TV show MI-5 so we gave him the DVD of season one and an authorized history of MI-5.  Hopefully he enjoys it as much as Jordon did.  For Brittany we gave her some serving dishes, a spice rack, a book journal (she is an English teacher), and a hot chocolate maker with a plethora of hot chocolate mixes.

They gave me a Keurig coffee/tea/iced drink maker and gave Oliver a Thomas the Tank Engine railway track.  Mark was given a Denver Broncos hat that he won’t take off an a mini Denver Broncos helmet and most funny, a Denver Broncos iced Pilsner glass.  I guess that is for when the Broncos played like they did this weekend. 

Jordon gave me a Kobo Vox tablet.  He had to fight a bit to get it set up but it is sync’d up with my email, contacts, calendar, and now has a variety of apps on it.  Mark got me a case for it and a season on the Muppets.  Oliver got me the third season of the Muppets, Star Wars Lego for my Nintendo DS, and some Halle Berry perfume.  Jordon also gave me a book on the Titanic because we are heading to Regina to see the Titanic exhibit at the Saskatchewan Science Centre on Friday.  Along with my stocking came the traditional gifts of a ladies razor upgrade, some beauty products, and a new kick butt tooth brush.

We gave Oliver a Rescue Heroes fire truck and helicopter, a Lightning McQueen fishing rod for the cabin, some Nintendo Wii controllers for kids (with some games for him and Mark to play together), and some Toy Story action figures.  Of all of the gifts, he cared about the Fire Truck the most and was heard at 3:00 a.m. singing a song about how awesome Rescue Heroes are.  He had a iPad like reader from V.Tech and we got him a case for it as well as some more reading cartridges.  While shopping, we saw a V.Tech laptop for only $10.  We weren’t going to get it but the price was really good.  As I write this, Oliver is chilling out and “blogging” about his Rescue Heroes right now on it.

We gave Mark an official Kinsmen Football League football by Nike, Coleman field watch, a Husky football jersey (that we got really cheap on sale at the Husky Store), a remote control car that he really wanted, a nice multi-tool set, Modern Warfare 2, Wayne Gretzky hockey (along with Ollie), a magnesium fire starter and some board games for the cabin.  He was thrilled and promises to be the chief fire starter at the lake this summer.  I am not holding my breath.

Scott gave the boys a classic book series that his kids loved.  Mark is already digging it.

Because all three of the guys mocked for me for my Snuggie, all three of them now have Snuggies.  Thrilled is not a word I would use to describe their reaction Smile.

After we opened the gifts last night, ate some ice cream cake and then watched Elf with Will Farrell.  Bob Newhart and James Caan should have both done more Christmas specials.  Nothing like a silly Christmas movie with family to make the night a great one.

We are heading over to the Reimer’s today for Christmas dinner and to enjoy some more Christmas cheer with friends.  I hope your Christmas is a good one.

Update: Spent evening with the Reimers and Kristy.  We ate a great traditional Christmas meal; turkey and the trimmings.  Mark and Gloria played Jenga, Oliver locked himself downstairs, and Kristi is the alpha-nerd with a heated Snuggie that we gave her for Christmas.  It was a great night.  Oliver ran himself ragged on a sugar high all day and as he fell asleep on the drive home he said, “I love Jerry, Gloria, and Kristy” as he fell asleep. 

‘Twas the week before Christmas

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After three weeks of violently coughing, I am over the worst of it.  Finally.  I have no voice (I coughed it out last week) but I am not coughing so hard I throw up.  It seems like a big victory.

Here is what what is new around here.

  • I turned 42 and I was able to get out for dinner with the Reimers, Lee/Brittany and Jordon/Oliver.  Mark didn’t come as he has been ridiculously bad and is grounded to the kitchen table for a while longer.  This hurt me quite a bit as no one likes seeing their son struggle and it really hurt him but after some tears were shed, he is understanding that every action has a consequence.  He has promised to make it up to me and is taking Jordon, Oliver, and I out for lunch on Christmas Eve.  Reimers got me a great light/smell infuser while Lee/Brittany gave me a gift card for Indigo.  Lee promptly told me he wanted a Christmas gift from Indigo so it will all work out in his mind.
  • Jordon is feeling a bit better but is still quite ill.  It made for a quiet weekend around the house as Jordon really needed the weekend to rest up and get better.  His hearing still sucks and that is a concern but it is going to take a while to come back.
  • Maggi has ruined two Christmas gifts.  She apparently has a smell for chocolate.  Dumb dog.
  • Christmas shopping is done except I need to get some batteries and some more wrapping paper which I will do at Dollarama tomorrow.  We picked up a couple of last minute gifts this weekend but we more or less avoided the craziness that was the malls.  Jordon went into Cool Collectibles to get himself a Saskatchewan Roughrider lanyard and that just about drove him insane.  We went to Canadian Tire which was full of good deals and small crowds and Wal-Mart which was not nearly as scary as you would think this close to Christmas.

Christmas Gift Guide for Your Husband/Boyfriend and All of the Men in Your Life

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I don’t freelance write much (umm, never) but every year I write a Christmas gift guide on what to get for your husband/boyfriend and all of the significant men in your life over at JordonCooper.com.  It has become quite popular and I encourage you to wander over and check out my holiday gift suggestions.  Let me know what you think over there in the comments.

Basically I use Evernote to keep track of all of the ideas I get, suggestions I get from Jordon, Lee, and others and I take a day and put them into a big long post.  Then I get Jordon to format it for me because getting the formatting right is a big deal when you consider how much traffic the post gets and how stressed people are when Christmas shopping.

In case you are wondering, I will be back over there as I write the “What to get for a brother in law post”.

Around here

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Jordon had the week off work.  What started as a week with one meeting week morphed into an amazingly busy week for him.  So much for vacation.  He’s happy that he got some stuff done and the meetings he had are all good things.

A pink SnuggieOn the weekend we are heading south to the cabin for the last time in 2011.  It’s will be cool but we have good heaters so at least we will be toasty warm inside.  The projected lows are going to –6 and we are expecting some snow but it will be a good time to be out there.  The coldest it ever got to when we were out there was about –15 one night and even in an uninsulated cabin, it was warm enough to be comfortable in it.  Either way, I will bring up my Snuggie.

Speaking of the Snuggie, a couple of weeks ago Jordon and I were heading over to XS Cargo and Jordon said, “I’m going to get you a Snuggie”.  He knows I hate them and think they look stupid but I didn’t take him seriously.  Sadly when I got it, I liked it so while they look really stupid, they are good for watching television with.  I still may have to hurt him for getting me one though.

While we are up at the cabin, we’ll close up shop for 2011.  We need to bring back our hot oil heater and some food but other than that, it is pretty much ready to be locked down for the winter.  It’s always a sad moment when we drive away.

The cabin has always been a struggle for me with the depression and abuse.  While rationally I love it, there is a part of me that says, “you don’t deserve this” and I would really undermine us going up there.  In the end it created a lot of conflict with not only Jordon but Mark as well.  It really sucked.

This is the first year that I was forced to confront that and deal with the fact that this is a family place and it’s not about me.  It hasn’t been easy and I almost caused us to lose the cabin but things are better and I am looking forward to spending the weekend up there.

Christmas shopping is almost done.  It’s a bit different getting something for Brittney this year.  We all really like her but Lee’s doesn’t even have much suggestions.  Maybe I should just take all of Lee’s stuff back and get Brittney something nice Smile.  They did buy a new home this week which means that a) we may be spending Christmas Eve in Warman b) Hutch will soon be gone. c) I can get her something for the house.

Speaking of Lee and Brittney, there is a weird dynamic in that Lee and I love our Android phones while Brittney and Jordon are both passionate Blackberry fans.  Kind of odd if you ask me.

On the topic of Christmas, while I won’t post what we got Mark, we got Oliver a couple of cartridges for his VTech reader, a couple of Rescue Hero toys, a toddler remote controlled truck and some Toy Story figures.  I imagine he will love it all.  Now I just need to figure out what I can get for Jordon.

Sketchers

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SketchersLee gave me a gift certificate for Sport Chek to get myself some Sketchers and today we went over to The Centre at Circle and 8th to look around and see if I can find some shoes I like.  After looking at some Reebok ZigTech and a bunch of other funky shoes, I decided to go with the Sketchers.  My thinking is that if they can make Joe Montana a better quarterback, they should be able to help me.

Jordon was no help to me at all in there.  When I asked him his opinion he said, “Well Peyton Manning said to get ZigTech while Joe Montana says to get Sketchers.  I don’t know who I can trust anymore”.

Blackberry CurveWhile we were out, we went into Best Buy.  Jordon has been having a horrible time with Virgin Mobile over how his phone is working.  We have spent hours on tech support and while they have given him a lot of credits and been really nice, his phone isn’t working, despite three different phones being used.  I started talking to a sales rep and a Koodo Blackberry was only $150 with no contract so I signed him with Koodo.  As we were leaving, the sales rep gave me a $100 Best Buy gift card which was a nice touch.  We picked up a case for Jordon’s iPod and Blackberry and Little Big Planet for the PS3 (a game that I am told that even I can play).

While we were setting up Jordon’s Crackberry, he leaned over and said to me, “They have three sales reps that have done nothing the whole time we were here other than sell and set up phones.”  The Best Buy guy said that it wasn’t even busy compared to yesterday.  I can understand why.  A lot of people want to give out cell phones for gifts but don’t know which one to get and that was the conversation that I heard the entire time I was there.  Which Blackberry should I get?  iPhone or Android?  Rogers or Fido?  Choices galore.

Now open on Christmas Day?

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Some stores in West Edmonton Mall were open on Christmas Day

A small number of stores in Canada’s biggest mall were open for five hours beginning at noon Saturday as merchants were preparing their stores for Sunday’s Boxing Day rush.

Ali Chovkair, a manger at the Coliseum, a men’s clothing store near the mall’s massive movie theatre, said opening for a few hours on Christmas was worth it since a number of attractions at WEM are always open during the stat holiday.

“Some customers hate to come here on Boxing Day because the mall is so busy,” said Chovkair as dozens of customers were seen sifting through his store.

Many items in the store were marked down by 50% and one winter coat in the store was valued around $30.

“For them, it’s a good idea to come here today because it’s so slow in the mall,” said Chovkair.

Stitches, another clothing store near the Ice Palace at the mall, was also open for business on Christmas for the entire afternoon.

It was the first time the business has ever been open on Christmas Day, said one employee who didn’t want to have her name published.

“We will definitely do it again,” she said while helping a customer. “We’re so busy we had to call in staff. We never expected to be this busy.”

Close to 70 customers were seen in the store sometime around 3:30 p.m. and some who were visiting the mall to watch a movie, or to go skating, were surprised to see some of the stores open.

Long lineups were also visible at both of the store’s tills.

“Seeing these stores open on Christmas Day is extremely odd,” said Donna Wendel who was able to find a deal after watching a movie Saturday.

Zelia Tavares, a resident from Kelowna, B.C. who is spending time with her Edmonton family at the Fantasyland Hotel, said she wasn’t surprised to now see stores open on Christmas Day.

“All of the stores would be definitely closed in Kelowna,” Tavares said. “It’s a good way for the employees to make some overtime. They are making a good amount of money.”

Yeah that must have been fun to have to work on Christmas Day.  Yes there is overtime and yes other people have to work on Christmas but since when is retail an essential service.  Well Safeway has been open on Christmas Day since 2004 in some parts of the United States although Walmart stays closed.  For all of the grief that Walmart gets, good for them for staying closed. 

My problem with opening on Christmas has nothing to do with the religious aspect of it.  Stores have been open on Easter Sunday for years.  It’s the lack of ANY day that a FAMILY can get together any longer.   Saskatchewan has Family Day but it’s just a big shopping holiday as well and the result is that even more retail staff have to work.  If you are open on Christmas, Easter, New Years, Thanksgiving, and every other holiday, when does it allow for any family life.  I have worked for over 20 years in retail and I still don’t get off two days in a row. 

Already I am not allowed to take holidays in December and this year is the first year that I have ever had Christmas Eve off of work.  Without exception I have closed up the store on Christmas Eve and then had to come in on Boxing Day for store opening and never had any say in it because of seniority issues.  Of course Zelia Tavares doesn’t mind the stores being open because she doesn’t have to work in them and is in Edmonton for a family holiday.  It reminds me of the all of the Christians shopping on Sundays and then lecturing me for working in a place that opens on Sundays. 

It’s a sad commentary that as a society, we can not stay away from the malls for even one day a year anymore.  Yet governments and opposition parties don’t want to do anything about it because they don’t want to hurt business yet we ignore the impact it has on families.  Retail workers work for wages that are barely above minimum wage, don’t get tips, and in many cases have unions that have collectively bargained away labour laws for more perks for senior staff.  If there is an industry whose staff need to be protected from it’s employers, it is retail.  There is no reason why stores can not be compelled to close on Christmas, Easter, Remembrance Day, Canada Day, and Thanksgiving Days each year.   That still leaves 360 shopping days a year.  More than enough to get the salad dressing that you can’t be without.