Category Archives: Family

Christmas Tree

After days of requests from B7 the children and I headed out to buy a Christmas tree last Saturday. We did not venture out to a Christmas Tree farm, miles out of town, as we did one year. That time we drove out to a farm with friends so we could have the whole experience: riding on the cart out to field, tramping through the snow, choosing the tree, drinking hot chocolate and collecting greenery for a wreath. It was freezing! By the time we had walked down one row of trees we were so cold we didn’t care which tree, we just wanted to get back where there was a fire. Hot chocolate did not go very far in warming us up or in giving me the warm happy feeling of going out into the forest and bringing back a tree. This is why I don’t leave the city to buy my tree any more.

Last weekend we found our big Balsam fir tree fairly quickly. As we have cathedral ceilings and very little furniture in our living room I like to fill it with a big tree. I put it in the van and tied the back door down as it wouldn’t shut. On the way home we made two quick stops leaving B7 and A11 in the van as I couldn’t lock it. After the second stop L13 and I came back to the van and it wouldn’t start. I tried a couple of things, and checked the manual. The temperature was -17°C outside and the van, having been open for a while was not at all cosy. A11 and I managed to shove the tree a little further into the van so I could at least lock it while I called Andrew for assistance. We waited in a coffee shop, thawing out with hot chocolate and coffee until he came to save us.

Our tree is now decked out in bows, bells and baubles collected and made over the last 17 years. Its lights are turned on around 4 o’clock each afternoon as it gets dark and there is a growing number of gifts around the base. B7 has set up his train track to surround the tree.

Choosing a tree in Australia was a slightly different experience. We did go out to a Christmas tree farm, not far from where we lived, but we chose from rows of pines not firs. There were a few other subtle differences also. That is our little Miss L in the photo with my dad.

The long winter

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In Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book The Long Winter, Pa tells his family what he heard from an Indian in the General Store,

“..that every seventh winter was a hard winter and that at the end of three times seven years came the hardest of all.”

We are wondering whether we are in for a Long Winter here as we don’t remember having had this much snow by mid December in the the seven winters we have spent here. On Saturday night the snow started falling and continued until Sunday evening leaving us with another 37cm. Last night there was more so we are well over half a metre.

Remember how the picnic table looked:

This is how it looks now:

While it was snowing on Sunday afternoon we shoveled twice but before I went to bed I looked out to see if the plough had been by. There was a big wall of snow and ice to clear before either of us could get a car out. You can imagine how pleased we were the next morning to see that our neighbour across the road had cleared an opening in the “wall” for us with his snowblower.

The task of clearing the road goes on throughout the storm and for days after. Once the roads are clear the paths and bus stops need to be done. Eventually the ploughs and giant snowblowers come back along the streets cutting into the snowbanks and blowing snow into large dump trucks to be carted to the snow dump! Snowbanks along the side of the road make the road narrower and when they are higher than the cars, as they are now, visibility at corners gets a little tricky.

Concerts

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‘Tis the season for concerts around here but we are definitely in the home stretch now. The children have a few more performances, both instrumental and choral. Two weeks ago Stellae Boreales had their first big concert for the year. All of the members had been selling tickets for a month or so and we had media coverage in local papers and the Ottawa Citizen. A11 and L13 were interviewed here at home several weeks before the concert and the article appeared in a few community newspapers.

Many of our homeschooling and church friends were there that night to encourage the girls even though the weather was snowy and the roads slow. It was a wonderful concert. The program included pieces from both the intermediate group and the senior group as well as two pieces from the complete ensemble. Two guest cellists and a Chinese pipa player performed also.

Since then the girls have played at a Christian Women’s Club morning and a friend’s Art exhibition at a local gallery. L13 played with the senior ensemble at the National Gallery donor event and tomorrow night A11 will play with her orchestra at the NAC; they are providing pre-concert entertainment before “The Messiah”. A week ago the OYOA had their Christmas concert where A11, L13 and their friends P and H were all performing in different orchestras. L13 hobbled onto the stage as she had sprained her ankle the night before jumping off a snow covered ledge! Fortunately the musicians sit down in orchestras so she was able to perform. The four girls performed together at P and H’s church Christmas banquet also.

Each Sunday during advent Junior Praise, the children’s choir all three children belong to, has been providing a song and some readings to accompany the lighting of the Advent candles. The children also sang and played for our Seniors at their Christmas banquet. L13 organised the program and all the members of Group of Four participated with voices, instruments or both.

Just because most of the concerts are over doesn’t mean the practising has stopped. In January our violin teacher has her Christmas recital where all her students play solos so there will not be a holiday from violin, but I’m sure there will be a few days off.

Sunrise swim

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This morning I finally got back to lap swimming after three weeks off with a cold. It was a bit of a struggle to get out of bed and if I’d had to clear the driveway first I probably wouldn’t have bothered. But A11 accompanied me and it felt good to be swimming again.

After several hours of snow last night the trees were laden. It was rather pleasant to watch the sun rise as I swam up and down the pool. Through the floor to ceiling windows I could see it make gold edged silhouettes of the snow covered branches. When we left the pool it was -1° outside, not cold enough to freeze our wet hair!

View from my door

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It was actually a couple of weeks ago now when we had our first snowfall. It came on a Wednesday, I know this because on the Tuesday night before it came all of us were out in the backyard, in the dark, with rakes and bags, getting the last of the leaves up. We had 40 yard bags full of leaves and pine needles lined up in front of our house ready for the last collection of green waste. Wednesday morning everything was covered in a few inches of snow.

The first two pictures below are taken from my back door today. We have now had two big snow storms and we have well over a foot of snow. Everything looks beautiful but I will have to venture a little further than my back door and try to get some better photos.

Below is the view from my front door, in the last picture you can see the snow banks either side of our driveway. It took all of us quite some time to get all that shoveled up. But we are not complaining. We didn’t have snow stay on the ground last year until mid January, so our chances of a white Christmas this year are looking a lot better.

Citizenship test

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We finished our citizenship unit at Group of Four today. Over the past few weeks we have split the group into age 7-10 year olds and 11-13 year olds to cover as much as possible. Using the material provided online by Citizenship and Immigration Canada we have covered government, symbols, aboriginal peoples, geography, resources, some history and the rights and responsibilities of a Canadian citizen. To close the unit we picked questions from one of the online practice tests and made quizzes for the children. If you would like to test your knowledge the test is here.

At the close of the session we presented the Canadian citizens with a reaffirmation certificate which states that they “…having reflected on the values, rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship, have demonstrated their commitment to Canada by reaffirming their citizenship.” L13 and A11 were not presented with certificates as they are not citizens yet and will not be until their mother and father fill out pages of forms and proceed a little further along the path to being Canadian citizens themselves.

While you’re waiting

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When the entries here are few and far between there is usually one of two reasons. Either nothing is going on or too much is going on. Currently it is the latter. I thought I would provide you with a few quick updates rather than nothing at all.

Yesterday was Austria’s national day. That may seem like a random fact to share with you, but our attention was drawn to it when girls’ performance group were invited to perform at the Austrian Ambassador’s celebration. The group provided twenty minutes of music including the Austrian national anthem which they learnt last Saturday.

As I have been very busy lately I was very excited to be invited to a friend’s place last night to watch the entire BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, all six hours of it. Four of us got together with the intention of watching as much as we could, but once you get past episode four it is very hard to pack up and go home. I have just finished re-reading it, as had another friend, so it was delightful to watch. There was much anticipating and quoting going on. As L13 is reading it now, we will have to plan another viewing.

Although the best of the fall colours are over, our back yard is covered in a carpet of leaves and the trees are nowhere near empty. Any time I glance out the back windows I see one leaf after another floating carelessly to the ground. Andrew usually picks up most of them with the mower but we all do some raking. We will probably fill close to thirty garden waste bags before we are finished, if the snow doesn’t come first.

Citizenship

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I requested applications this week so Andrew, the girls and I can become Canadian citizens. That is the first step. We will receive our package, complete with applications for adults and minors, the booklet A Look at Canada, and all other necessary information for our application.

In order to become citizens we need to meet certain requirements, fill out forms, pay fees and pass a test. The group of four has decided to help us pass the test by doing a citizenship unit. Wondering if their own knowledge might not be enough to pass the test, they were all happy to study with us and increase the children’s general knowledge about Canada, its history, people, resources, geography and government.

We are not relinquishing our Australian citizenship, by the way, we will have dual citizenship, a privilege B7 already enjoys.

Our Thanksgiving Boy

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Seven years ago, on our first Thanksgiving, we were invited to a neighbour’s house to celebrate with her family. As Thanksgiving is not a celebration in Australia we had no traditions of our own. We were thrilled to be included in a family celebration with new friends we had known for only one week. We were sitting down to a full and delicious meal and I was checking my mother’s watch from time to time. My neighbour noticed and joked that I was timing contractions. I was!

We took the girls back across the street and tucked them into bed before calling the midwives to meet us at the hospital around 10:00pm. At 11:52pm our big baby boy was born. By 4:00am I was back in my own bed with a baby in a bassinet at the end of the bed.
So blessed, so thankful, so delighted to have our Canadian son.

Seven years later we are no less delighted but feel even more blessed and thankful for him and the joy, love and excitement he brings to our lives. Happy Birthday B7.

Get smarter

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Towards the end of the summer for some reason I remembered Get Smart, the tv show, and how much I had enjoyed watching it as a child. Consequently we introduced our children to Get Smart. As I imagined they would, they found it very amusing and kept asking for more. After eight or so episodes we are taking a break, but the damage has been done. There are new phrases in their repetoire. I have often used, “Good thinking, 99,” knowing that they children had no idea what I was talking about. Now they do.

B6 has incorporated Maxwell Smart’s lines in a rather unexpected way. They keep popping up during his math lessons! When reaching a familiar type of question he comes out with, “Ahh, my old friend, Complete the number pattern”.

Or when he needs a bit of assistance I might prompt him with a question like, “What are we counting by here?”

To which he replies,”I’d like to handle this myself, if you don’t mind. Now, what are we counting by here?”

Perhaps when he gets a wrong answer he will start using, “Missed it by that much.”

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31