Santa: Is he Daft or is he Dangerous?

I don't remember ever being scared of Santa but maybe it is because I can't remember back to when I was 1. What Jonas and my niece Eva don't yet realize is he is the man going to bring them presents on the 25th! Come on kids cheer up a little. On second thought, maybe its a good thing children are scared of strangers dressed up in weird clothes.

Matty

Basics: Mastered

Jonas' Christmas present.
Our new Harker family tradition is to make homemade gifts for each other every year.
Matt's requested a crocheted ear flap toque... not sure my 'umble skills can deliver on that just yet.

My cowl I made, and made up.
At one point during this project Matt asked me what I was making.
My reply: "Whatever it looks like when the yarn runs out".

My Christmas present.
Sorry new winter boots- it looks like you've been pushed back yet another Christmas.
But seriously, the fact that Bethany's soles are so grippy and the boot so warm and waterproof practically makes these winter boots.

Poor 'lil Sicky

Poor Jonas was very sick yesterday. At last the mystery of his miraculous reverence while we watched the First Presidency's Christmas message on Monday night was uncovered (but I still like to think he was feeling the spirit and enjoying the peaceful music too). Our baby was almost unrecognizable yesterday. Let me compare two very recent scenes.

Scenario 1: We are at church sitting in sacrament meeting. In an attempt to subdue our baby's lively spirits I gave him a pack of wet wipes to play with. Jonas absolutely hates when I wipe his face after he eats or when he was a runny nose, so what does our spunky little boy do? He takes that pack of wipes and he roughly rubs into my face over and over again like he is really relishing his opportunity to turn the tables. After Matt and I had let him have his fun for a minute (we were in danger of laughing out loud), Matt took him and Jonas repeated the treatment on him.

Scenario 2: Jonas lay listlessly on his back in my arms for an hour straight yesterday as I read aloud to him from one of my books. He hasn't laid in my arms like that since he was two months old and he hasn't sat still through a single baby book since he discovered he could crawl. He did make a cheeky attempt or two at pulling my hair, but his little arm fell limply by his side before he could reach it. I also caught him looking at me with a slightly annoyed look on his wrinkled brow a couple times as I was reading, as though he thought I was taking advantage of his weakness by enjoying myself with reading a book rather than trying to amuse him, or so I thought.

The Closet

There's only eight days left of my challenge to not spend any money on clothes this year so I've spent the past two weeks washing, drying, and trying on all my clothes. The challenge wasn't as hard as I expected because my online and in store shopping dropped dramatically so there was less temptation to buy. But having said that I'm glad my wonderful Mom and Dad bought me some things right after I had Jonas (it would have been very demoralizing to keep wearing baggy maternity clothes until I fit into my regular ones) and for my birthday (by which time I had reached my normal size and realized I had stretched out a lot of my "regular" clothes while I was pregnant). I also spent a $75 gift card to buy a few comfortable, washable, and presentable clothes so I wasn't wearing pajamas around the house all day.

 I wondered at the start of the year whether it would feel like I had no clothes at the end of it but I don't feel that way at all. I like being able to see everything I have at glance and I actually wear all the clothes in my closet now. I would like to pick up a few new things this year though:

1. more dresses (I only have one and the genius of dresses is that they are a complete outfit)
2. the perfect pair of jeans (I'm tired of making due with the low-rise pair I wear now but I'm not looking forward to what I'm sure will be a long hunt to find the "perfect" pair- Gap discontinued my tried and true fit, and all the new denim everywhere feels too thin, too stretchy and sits too low- where does one look for a solid, long wearing piece of denim that doesn't bag out, with a rise that actually allows you to sit without adjusting the back of your pants?)

9 months

Jonas:

* loves being kissed and giving funny open mouth kisses

* pulls himself up on everything

* likes feeding himself bits of salmon, cheese, toast and peas

* wants to be with me every single second of everyday which I find wildly flattering

* giggles when I eat his food off his tray or imitate his wild head shaking, hand slapping antics

* chases me when I crawl around the house

* thinks waking up is the best part of the day

* has had 10 hour sleeps the past three nights

Just like riding a bike

I wasn't sure how not snowboarding for an entire year would affect my snowboard performance this season. Turns out Matt is right- snowboarding is just like riding a bike. Saturday was opening day at Table Mountain and it was really fun and really busy. 

In case you're wondering why the hill looks so deserted, it's because this picture was taken a couple years ago on a weekday when Matt and I decided to play hooky (hookie?) from school. I miss the spontaneity of those days. I don't miss not knowing whether Rodge would make the two hour journey back to Saskatoon!