Gasp!

That's me coming up for air. The past week or so has been really hectic...unusually hectic. There have been a couple of Christmas parties, a parade, an elementary school musical (not nearly as torturous as it sounds), a cookie exchange, a children's concert and a bit of shopping and baking. Incredibly, it's not over yet. Between now and next Saturday we are entertaining guests for dinner twice, going out for dinner twice, attending a goodbye party and attempting Abner's first Sears photo shoot (at Grandma's request).

Phew...I'm tired just thinking about it.

We had a great time taking Abner to her very first parade last weekend. We met up with our friend Daniel and his little girl, Linnea, in the bitter cold of downtown Vancouver [yes all you Easterners...it actually was cold].

We chose a spot a fair ways away from the start of the parade so we were stuck waiting in the cold for quite a long time. Abner was awake and alert for the whole standing around bit, but fell asleep for the main event. Thank goodness parades are free.

No great loss though. The adults packed it in after only half an hour (parades are actually rather boring when you think about it) and headed into the mall for poutine and to wait in line for the only change table in the food court.

If you're reading this Kerith, don't worry, Linnea didn't have any poutine and Daniel showed incredible restraint! Just look at this picture...that's determination on his face. "I will not eat all the poutine. I will not eat all the poutine. I will not...." The look on TDSH's face however, says something different, "Ha ha! Your loss sucker. I'm eatin' that poutine." Well, okay, maybe that's not what he was saying.

Anyhoo...

We were also invited to attend my mom's Christmas musical this past week. In my family, the children attend their parent's musical. It's a bit backward but that's what happens when your mom is an elementary school music teacher. Here we are eagerly waiting for the show to start.

Having heard all about the ordeal my mom went through to put the thing on, it was nice to actually get to see it come together. Not that I'm an expert on these things, but I thought it was pretty darn good.

Some of the other audience members need to learn a thing or two about appropriate audience behaviour. For the record, just because your three-year-old wants to run up the aisle and sing along with the performers doesn't mean you should let him. Especially if such behaviour may lead to my mother getting knocked off her feet. My mom picking your kid up and marching him back down the aisle should have been your first clue. Grrr.

Glad I could get that off my chest. It all turned out well in the end. One of the perks of knowing the music teacher is a chance to walk on the stage.

As for the rest of my week? I won't bore you with the details. Instead, I thought I would share with you a few things I learned:

• Leave the stroller at home if you're going to a parade. No one likes a stroller at a parade. Trust me.
• The 1812 Overture can, in fact, be a lullaby - enormously entertaining to watch Abner flinch in her sleep each time the drum blasts sounded.
• Do not try to bake a new recipe for a cookie exchange...especially the morning of. On the positive side of this lesson, it's good to have a tried-and-true recipe that you can whip up in a moment's notice -- thank God for gingersnaps.
• Christmas parties are far more entertaining with a baby. It's like a built in conversation starter. It helps if the baby is cute.
• Do not believe the information online about a store's "current stock available". It's wrong half the time anyway. It's wrong three quarters of the time if you've had to drive more than half an hour to get to the store. It's wrong all of the time if you've had to drive more than half an hour to get to the store and it's raining.
• Do not delay in posting about life's events on your blog.