Merry Christmas

Gran and Grandad Burnett arrived safely after a long trip across the pond. Despite the international flight (delayed 8 hours), a connecting flight delayed 3 days (they took a train instead) and even a cancelled train (they caught a later one), they made it! Fortunately, they are here in one piece and have had a fantastic time with Callum (and us) thus far. He stayed home with them all day yesterday and had a blast! My fingers are crossed that Santa finds our house, but there will be cookies and carrots waiting so I think the odds are good. From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Cookies, Snowfall and Visitors!

As the 10th or so inch of snow falls, I'll post a little update, which may be my last before Christmas. Fours types of cookies have been baked and two more will hopefully be completed tomorrow (along with the cleaning of the kitchen floor and some other nooks and crannies). Callum helped me make Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies and Mocha Frosted Drops last weekend and then again today, but this time it was Peppermint Chocolate Cookies.

Callum also managed to get into Iain's boots, hat and one glove without me noticing him. I was alerted to his outfit when he needed help with the second glove. Too funny! He also calls Santa "Ho Ho" and keeps cracking us up with saying things like "Bye bye Ho, bye bye Ho Ho". He has yet to meet Santa but this may be for the best because he isn't too fond of strangers.

As I type, I say a silent prayer that Gran and Grandad Burnett have a safe and uneventful flight to the U.S. Yes folks, they leave tomorrow during the Blizzard of 2009 or so they keep calling it on TV. When I last checked, their flight was delayed an hour and a half although they likely don't know this since it is 3:30 a.m. U.K. time. I am hopeful they arrive without fanfare into the dreadful Newark Airport and manage to have no delay or cancellation for their flight into Harrisburg. Now whether or not Iain can make it to the airport from our house is a whole other story! He went out three times today to dig out the cars and do the sidewalk and path. Fingers crossed! We'll likely take Callum out in the snow tomorrow so I'll do my best to post some pics of that! Good luck with any last minute preparations and stay safe and warm! We'll have the kettle on for Gran and Grandad. I think they'll need a cup of tea when they get here.

Visitors and Christmas Preparations

Iain and I were fortunate to have a date night last night at the Olive Garden as well as to get some shopping done. Aunt Karen and Uncle Tedd came over to watch Callum and put him to bed. While Iain and I were spending some time reconnecting over a real conversation- not interrupted by words like "snack, juice, poopy diaper or don't hit Shuster", Callum spent some time with his great aunt and uncle. Interestingly enough, Callum has taken a great liking to Uncle Tedd. While most children, Callum included, often prefer woman caretakers, Callum spent most of last night making sure Uncle Tedd didn't leave his sight. He also made sure that Uncle Tedd read him his stories and didn't leave the room for too long. It was very nice to hear that he had such a strong connection with his uncle!

Last Sunday, Iain, Callum and I had the pleasure of a visitor, young Andrew Sloan, who came over for a play date. Andrew has a new sibling, Britt, and we wanted to give his parents some time to themselves and their new son. Andrew and Callum had a great time together playing and chasing one another around the house. Towards the end of the afternoon, they reached a point where they needed a distraction so I tuned into the assistance of On Demand Cable TV and switched on an episode of the Wiggles. The two boys sat on the couch for close to 20 minutes without a peep and watched these crazy multicolored shirted men sing and dance. And a good time was had by all...

Tonight and tomorrow will be spent wrapping and baking. I have all of my ingredients for cookies and although I've scaled down the quantity of cookies I am baking, I still have some plans for some tasty treats. I've recently lost 25 pounds by joining Weight Watchers and this time of year is very hard for me because I love baking. Baking is an activity that was big in my home with my mother so I feel a special bond to include this in my Christmas activities. But I also don't want to tack on any unnecessary weight because if it's in the house, I'm probably going to eat it. Anyway, I'm still trying to find some slightly healthier W.W. cookie recipes that might take my sights off of eating 25 Mocha Frosted Drops. If you know of any semi-healthy holiday cookies, let me know. Best wishes for a great week!

Callum Meets the Christmas Tree

Holidays ahead

The holidays are approaching and the Burnetts have been busy. We spent Thanksgiving in Uniontown with Pappy Al and Grandma as well as various aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. It was a good trip both there and back partially because of the loaned, portable DVD player which had Callum enthralled from start to finish of trip. He was amazed that the Wiggles and Elmo shrunk so small in order to fit in the backseat. We'll be buying one of those come tax return time. Many thanks to cousins Ben and Mindy for the loan. We all ate turkey, did some shopping and went to the movies which was great fun. Moving onto Christmas, we'll be busy shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating and getting ready for the season. We'll have some very special visitors this year since Gran and Grandad Burnett are making another trip across the pond to spend Christmas week with us. I think they'll be amazed at Callum's development and growth. A new and cute thing he does every morning is to sing a song with me. Nothing elaborate but I've begun singing a song "Shoes on, shoes on, time to put our shoes on" to get him to sit down while I tie his shoes. Callum now sings it too "Shoes on, shoes on". Good times. Best of luck to all of you with the madness of the season. May you have peace and joy with friends, family and co-workers leading up to the big day.