THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life ~ December Edition

First of all, I am shocked that it is now December and we do not have any snow in Edmonton. My lawn is still partially green. I've barely worn my winter jacket. I'm not sure if I've ever experienced this in Edmonton before as we usually have permanent snow on the ground by now. It's very bizarre. I don't know if it's El Niño or climate change (or both) but I can't say that I'm mad at it! The snow and freezing temperatures can stay away for as long as they like! I wanted to mention a thing that happened back in September. We participated in a photo shoot for the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market (which we love) for their latest advertising campaign. It has been really cool to start to see the images being used in various ways. The best, of course, is that we are on billboards around Edmonton!

We celebrated Rachelle's birthday! She chose to have dinner at a restaurant called Cilantro and Chive and we had a great time showering her with birthday love!

There was Family Yoga!

There were nature adventures!

I even got my anti-social ass to hang out with other humans! All of the moms of the kids in Archie's class are in a WhatsApp chat group together (to be fair, this was my idea). Is this normal? Is everyone else in chat groups with all of the other classroom moms?? Anyway, one of the moms owns a cafe and she invited us all to visit for free food and drinks. It was very kind! Of course many of the classroom moms have jobs and work during the day. But the stay-at-home moms attended and it was nice!

I also had a Yelp Elite event where I got to hang out with my Edmonton foodie friends, which was also fun. Konzy (far right) was Archie's kindergarten teacher last year - so yes, we really did become real life friends!

One of my favourite days of the year is the day that we put up our Christmas tree. We put it up on November 19th so that we'd have a decent amount of time to enjoy it before leaving town. Everything feels warm and twinkly in our house and I love it.

I also found THIS GUY at the Old Strathcona Antique Mall and I LOVE HIM. He's a vintage light-up Santa from 1988 and he was made in Montreal. I literally spent Christmas in Montreal in 1988 when I was six years old... The exact same age that Archie is right now.

We've also started attending the various holiday events that are beginning to pop up. The Winter Whyte Light Up is one of our annual favourites.

We've had a bunch of crazy health stuff going on this month. First, I've been seeing a Naturopath and also my regular doctor to try to get to the bottom of my extremely irregular menstruation cycles. The last time that I had a normal cycle was April 2021, over two years ago. This was around the same time that I stopped using birth control. Sometimes I have cycles where I won't get my period for 80+ days. Is it perimenopause?? We're trying to figure it out. I have also started to see a Pelvic Floor Physio Therapist again (I did this a few years ago) because I'm still experiencing incontinence issues. I'm hoping that I'll start to notice an improvement now that I'm addressing the issue once again. AND THEN I caught viral conjunctivitis. It was pretty terrible just for the fact that my eyes were SO gross. AND THEN Tim developed Shingles. He is still dealing with it and is on medication. It looks pretty awful. So yeah. We're somewhat in shambles but are also taking it all in stride and getting on with things. I got some other pretty surprising and amazing news this month! Do you remember my friend Mary? We became friends when our sons were in preschool together. She's British and they moved back to England about a year and a half ago. I'm usually pretty new-friend-resistant but she and I hit it off and really did become actual friends. Tim and her husband Jonny became friends too and we used to have great double date nights together. WELL! They're moving back to Edmonton! Jonny was hired to work on the second half of the new LRT line and they've decided that Edmonton feels like home! (I mean, I know the feeling.) They're returning in January and we're really looking forward to having them back!

We are in FULL Christmas mode and I am completely finished all of my Christmas shopping! It feels great to have so much accomplished before December even started. I'm looking forward to a fun and busy month ahead and I hope that I'll get to see some of you as well!!

Life with Archie:

The mild and beautiful weather has allowed for plenty of time outdoors.

A new LRT line opened in Edmonton called the Valley Line and Archie was VERY excited to ride it on opening day. (This is the same line that our friend Jonny, mentioned above, worked on. And will continue to work on.)

He's still my little yogi!

Archie had a fall break from school so I tried to fill each day with fun activities. The cat cafe is definitely one of our faves.

During the fall Archie had been taking ukulele lessons. He seemed to really enjoy it and he learned several songs. It was really cute! We're hoping that he'll try a few different instruments and then decide on a favourite to focus on.

This is just my child using a girolle. He fancy.

Putting up the Christmas tree was very fun and Archie has enjoyed making our home all festive.

Archie attended the Old Strathcona Antique Mall Kids Christmas Shoppe, which is a really adorable event where kids get assigned their own grandma who helps them shop for and wrap their own gifts. It's sooo cute to open the gifts from Archie that he picked out himself and to see what he chose for us!

He did another Home Depot Kids Workshop. Again, I highly recommend these!

And finally, Archie had his official visit (and photos) with Santa. He seems to be in a really ideal sweet spot where he REALLY believes in Santa and is very excited to see him, as if he's a celebrity. It's the best. Archie asked for a LEGO Passenger Airplane... Which we have already bought for him.

It's December and it's one of the busiest and most exciting months of the year for us! We've got BioWare's Whimsical Winterfest, which is their kids Christmas party. Should be pretty cute. We're going to visit the Edmonton Christmas Market, another of our favourite holiday events in the city. I'm greatly looking forward to our annual Christmas Girls Night!! This year we are going to be attending a Holiday Centerpiece workshop and then having dinner at Chartier. I can't wait! Then there's BioWare's Forever Young party, which is their adult Christmas party. This year the theme is "80s prom" so you KNOW I'm gonna be busting out my hair crimper!! As usual, we are going to have our own Christmas at home in Edmonton where Santa visits early. We always do this because it's important to us to celebrate with just our own family before all of the extended family gets involved. Archie's school is having an actual (in-person) Winter Concert this year and I'm so excited! (They didn't last year.) AND THEN WE'RE OFF!! We arrive in Regina on December 23rd and we'll be spending actual Christmas with my family. I'm looking forward to spending a cozy week with them and for all of the traditions that we do. To celebrate the January birthdays this year we're all going to spend a night at Temple Gardens Hotel & Spa in Moose Jaw which has a geothermal mineral pool. I really hope that I'll be able to see as many of you Regina ladies as possible! We'll be continuing to London on December 29th and spending New Year's with Tim's family. And then we return home to Edmonton on January 3rd. It's a big month with a lot going on but it's also the best. I'm looking forward to all of it!

As I do every year, I want to end my December entry by telling you ladies how much your friendship means to me. I am incredibly grateful to have you in my life. We're all busy women with our own families, careers, and responsibilities... And I am so proud of each and every one of you. You have created and accomplished so much. Having each of you in my corner is a true gift and I value you all. <3