Nov 11

We’re back from our holiday to New Hampshire which was everything a short family trip should be: relaxing and fun.  There are things to complain about tell but that can wait for tomorrow. Today, being Veterans Day here in the USA and Remembrance Day in Canada, calls for a more sombre and reflective mood. 

Being in the USA today means I haven’t seen anyone wearing poppies and I haven’t yet hear a recitation of In Flanders Fields (a poem written by a Canadian soldier during the First World War, traditionally recited on Remembrance Day in Canada) so I decided this year I would have to do it myself.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae
Although the poppy is traditionally worn in the two weeks before Remembrance Day and not after, I will be wearing mine this week as ours did not arrive until just yesterday, despite a dear friend’s best efforts to get them to us.
We will not forget.
Oct 31

It’s Halloween today. I know because my kids woke up in the middle of the night early to howl at the moon. Ok, maybe they weren’t howling at the moon. It was more of a maniacal cackling over their plans to wreak destruction and perform unspeakable acts of evil today. Evil like TORTURING THEIR MOTHER BY WAKING UP AT FIVE IN THE “BLESSED” AM. Happy freaking Halloween.

And just to clarify? Yes, Canadians DO celebrate Halloween. I’ve been asked that a number of times already and yes, we in the Great White North also indulge in trampy wacky costumes and excessive sugar on October 31. It’s not just an American custom.

I don’t do Halloween the way many people here in the states seem to do it. I don’t do the decorations and yard displays.  I don’t do the “adults investing time and money to buy and make slutty elaborate costumes and dressing up for any event where it might be considered even REMOTELY appropriate”. I don’t do dressing up. Even as a child (when I still did dress up) it was less of an exciting opportunity to be “someone else” and more of an excruciating test of creativity and, undeniably, a litmus test for popularity. I could never quite get it right. I could never come up with a funky and interesting homemade or thrift-shop costume and I didn’t have the money to just buy a cool costume. I managed to pass with some winners that I considered acceptable.  But it always felt like a test that I was somehow failing. 

So now? I don’t do it. And I’m happy with that. We carve ourselves a pumpkin or two and I dress up my kids and I enjoy that. So maybe that makes me a hypocrite? Whatevah. I refuse to feel like I’m missing out on something big by not dressing up when it makes me feel exceedingly awkward. Comfortable is the new black, y’all. And black is a Halloween colour, right?

So. I don’t dress up. I DO, however, do Halloween in the stuffing my piehole with chocolate and candy sense. Because if a holiday that’s all about candy is wrong, baby, I don’t want to be right. And isn’t it SO UNFORTUNATE that my 2 year old is still not allowed to eat anything with peanuts/peanut butter in it? It’s a complete and utter travesty that he will not be able to eat any Reese peanut butter cups until at least next year (assuming he doesn’t, in fact, have a peanut allergy) and instead, I will be forced (forced, I tell you!) to consume them in order to keep him (and my peanut allergic husband) safe.  Because that’s just the kind of dedicated mother I am. 

Happy Halloween, folks!

Oct 12

Here we are. Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Well, actually it will come and go tomorrow. But in our household it came today. Because, while much of America gets Columbus Day off tomorrow, my hubby’s employer didn’t jump on that bandwagon. So our little family of four celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving by cooking all day and feasting on turkey at dinner time. I don’t want to make any guesses about how old the turkey we purchased may or may not be since the American grocery stores won’t be stocking up on turkeys for quite a few weeks yet. 

Nonetheless, it all tasted good and I was able to find the bread cubes for the stuffing and the cranberries for the cranberry sauce. We didn’t miss any key items and we had a lovely dinner.

How is it that it looks totally underwhelming in the picture even though I cooked and baked all day yesterday AND today to make that baby happen? 

We missed our family and friends dearly today, but we had each other and that was good enough for this year. On the plus side, we barely made a dent in the 14 pound turkey which means lots of leftovers!

We had one other special visitor with us at the dinner table.  Can you see it?

No? Look closer…

If you were thinking that Kieran’s right eye is looking especially pink and gooey then you would be right.  Looks like we’re in for an unexpected visit from the Pinkeye Fairy.  Lucky us!  And I have no idea what I’m going to do tomorrow if our pediatrician’s office is closed.  I don’t know what I can do on weekends except go to the emergency room. Are we really expected to go to the ER just to get a prescription for eye drops? I hope not!

I just reread this post and realized how fantastically boring it is.  Sorry about that. I lost my funny somewhere between mashing the potatoes and carving the turkey. It’ll be better tomorrow (I hope).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!