Bitter Sweet

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend and that Monday wasn’t too bad (we all know how I feel about Mondays). I have to say I’m happy it’s Tuesday, one day closer to Friday and one day closer to … Christmas! I cannot believe that we are officially into the Christmas countdown zone which, for me, begins at the 2 week mark, but we’ll get to that later.

The reason I didn’t write all weekend was because my family and I were away for my aunt’s memorial in Ontario. We left Saturday morning and only got back later yesterday afternoon. Without going into too much detail, it was a… difficult weekend…. but one that was made easier being surrounded by family. Memorials are never pleasant, and though this one brought some closure to our family, it was very difficult. My aunt fought a hard battle, and was surrounded by many amazing friends throughout; she will be greatly missed by all of us. Despite the obvious sadness, my mom’s side of the family doesn’t get together too often because we live in Montreal, my uncle and his wife live in Ontario and my aunt and her family live out west in Calgary, so when we do get together it is always so nice to see them. Unfortunately, the past 4 out of 5 big family get togethers we have had have been on a negative note (T’s wedding being the only positive one), but luckily, we all share a great sense of humor and love to laugh.

The sucker fish in the fish tank behind our table at dinner that T and I couldn't stop laughing at... Inevitably, everytime my mom was saying something serious he would be right behind her.

Growing up, we spent many summers in the small town where we spent our weekend. My grandmother and grandfather, who have since passed away, moved there before we were born and so we would spend weeks every summer going to the zoo, the beach, and every park within 10 kilometers. We would eat ice cream made from milk from local farms, skip rope out on their driveway, and visit their closest friends who had a big pool that we would cool off in on hot days.



I have so many fond memories of our summers there, and it was sad to say goodbye this weekend. My aunt and uncle moved there to care for my grandmother, but now that they are gone as well, it will probably be a while until we do the 5+ hour drive to visit.



One day, my sisters and I will bring our kids there and visit all the places we used to go as kids. The zoo will probably be more developed and the beach may be more packed than when we were kids, but hopefully we can make these places as magical for our kids as our parents and grandparents made them for us.

 View out of the back of the car... the sun was putting on quite the show.

Since I missed work yesterday, I have a lot of catching up to do, but I’ll try and do a Christmas post later today if I’m not too busy. I wish you all a happy Tuesday, and have posted a link to a video below that really made me J

http://perezhilton.com/2011-12-13-shit-girls-say-episode-one-juliette-lewis

With Love,
S