Countdown has begun! 5 weeks left!

Big, Huge, Gigantic belly at 35 weeks!

That's all I have to say is I'm HUGE!

Little Luke is getting big!

So we are on Night #1 of putting Luke in a Toddler bed. I've been procrastinating on making this change over the whole Christmas break. The plan is to put the baby in the crib Luke was sleeping in and move Luke to the Toddler bed. We bought this bed set awhile ago to help with the transition. Luke loves it! When I tucked him in tonight and sang his prayer with him he laid there pretty still with huge eyes not sure what to think. I didn't know what to expect but it's been a few hours already and not a peep. Let's hope it continues this way.

Family Gathering. Part 2.

So the family has grown out of Grandpa and Grandma's house. We now rent the school kitchen/gym for Christmas dinner and activities. It works out great. We set up buffet style and dig in. We also made snowman crafts, played in the gym and had a gift exchange. All 30 of us! It was a very Merry Christmas for all of us!

Family Gathering. Part 1

Baby Shawna (Mel and Pete's) She is the newest addition to the family which makes 17 grandchildren for Ken's Mom and Dad. Sam keeps saying "she's so little, and Mommy's baby is really, really big!" Thanks Sam!

Here's Shawna's big sister Simone.

My sister in law Trixie and baby Skyla.

Luke happy as can be playing hockey with his Daddy and brothers.

Andrew being the goalie with only one hockey pad on. It was hilarious watching him.

Houseguests.

We had a house full of guests over Christmas and what fun did we have. And girls....well I very happily had 6 girls join me in this house of boys for a few days. What a treat! Ken's brother Dwayne and his wife Trixie and their six kids came to stay with us. It works out great, they have the whole basement to themselves. I premade all of our meals so I only had to throw them in the oven. I was so thankful for the early Christmas present we got from my parents in September...my dishwasher. I think we ran it 3-4 times a day. The kids had so much fun with their cousins and my nieces were a great help entertaining all the little ones so us parents could visit.

Opening presents.

Daddy has had a busy holiday building and assembling lots of toys. All three boys were thrilled to get this tool bench and set of tools from Nana and Papa. I'm very happy with it, all three boys can play with it at the same time, there are plenty of tools to go around. They spent the whole day playing with it once Daddy put it together.

Luke was thrilled with his new guitar. He's our little dancer and is always sharing some of his moves with us.

Okay, I guess I'm officially a hockey mom now. We got the boys a huge hockey net and they have been burning lots of energy with Daddy playing hockey and soccer in the basement. I stay clear, everytime I enter that room I get hurt!

I'm happy to say that our boys are just as excited over new books as they are over toys. I went to a Usborne book party before Christmas and ordered some really cute books. We are having fun reading them.

Opening stockings first thing.

Reflecting on My Childhood Christmas.

My mind is consumed with memories this time of year, past memories and the present ones we are making. I thought I would share some of my memories as I reflect.

• my most favorite gifts I ever received were either from my mom or my Grammie. They were both very talented when making crafts and so creative. Just a few of the things they made me over the year's were a homemade carebear (Cheer bear), a doll bassinet out of fabric that I carried around, my very own figure skating outfit (just like the one's they wear on tv), a homemade pillow, and numerous dresses made out of velvet that I would get early and wear to our school Christmas concerts. ( I wish I still had them)
• Being a part of the Family Christmas tree lot. My family grows Balsam Fir Christmas trees and ships them all over the world each year and they also operate a Christmas tree U-pick. Nothing puts you in the mood for Christmas quite like spending a day in the tree lot. Grandad built a little log cabin all by himself that sits in the middle of the lot where him and Nannie always served hot apple cider to customers and gave out candy canes to the kids. They also have horse wagon rides for families. Lots of people would make a day of it and invite relatives along, pack lunches, pack some rum and egg nog, or other mix to put them in the festive spirit. It was great and one of the things I miss most of all about being in NS at Christmas.
• Believe it or not another favorite was doing chores Christmas morning. My Dad would give the farm staff the day off on Christmas and family would split up the milking/feeding shifts. I often complained at the time but looking back it's a favorite memory of mine. Milking with my Dad and brother. We would be allowed to open our stocking first before we headed to the barn. I think it was probably the best teamwork and the most efficient shift of the year.
• Breakfast Christmas morning. As impatient as we were after doing chores to open our gifts we would always have a family breakfast. Usually fried ham, bacon and eggs. I don't know why but I think it was the only day of the year that we would fry ham for breakfast. After eating my brother and I would patiently wait by the tree with huge eyes while Dad slowly made a coffee.
• Dad always played Santa Claus during gift opening. He would take turns giving us gifts while wearing a Santa hat. He would always say who the gift was for and who it was from and we would watch each other open gifts.
• Mom was always so excited at Christmas. I can still see her prancing around and teasing us about gifts that we would receive. Along with her excitement was always a very exhausted mother who like anyone that is a mother can relate. Trying to get everything ready: gifts made, baking done, cleaning done, groceries bought, presents wrapped and delivered, you name it. My poor mom would often be heading to bed when we would be heading to the barn at 5am and we would almost always have to wake her up when we'd get back.
• Every Christmas Day evening all of the Scothorn family would go to my grandparents house for yummy treats and to visit. We would be so excited to wear our new clothes and to pick a new toy to take along to show our cousins. Best of all Nannie would always and still makes seafood chowder for everyone. This isn't like the chowder you get in a can with 2-3 pieces of seafood in it, this chowder was loaded and often it was hard to even finish one bowl. Yummy.
• Every year I would get an angel ornament from my mom. She was determined that my brother and I would each have our own box of ornaments when we left home.
• Setting up the manger that my parents got as a wedding gift. My brother and I loved setting that thing up. I have this manger set today. Kevin and I would often have our favorite pieces of it to put in place. It was handled a lot over the years and now the cow is missing an ear. It always makes me smile when we set it up.
• Exchanging names. Our family was really close growing up and cousins were like brothers and sisters to us. We exchanged names in both families, Mom's and Dad's. It was always fun shopping for each other and finding out who had who's name.
• Sharing gifts. We would always visit each others families and show our gifts to each other. It wasn't bragging but sharing our excitement over the gifts we received. It was neat to see the creativeness people had when giftgiving.
• Christmas carolling. I was in a 4-H club growing up and the whole club would get in the back of someones huge farm truck. We would sit on hay bales and take blankets along to try to keep warm. We grew up in a small rural community and would carol at the seniors houses. They often would give us fudge and hot chocolate.
• Christmas dinner. Yum! Turkey and ham the whole works. Mom would pull out her best china and we would eat like kings and queens. Often Nannie and Grandad would join us.

I'm sure there are many more favorites that I could list but these are the most popular. I was a very blessed (spoiled rotten) little girl growing up and like most kids wasn't always grateful for all of the wonderful things I received. But in reflecting I feel so very grateful that I grew up in a family that loved me so much and had so many fun traditions. Merry Christmas Everyone!