bye bye santa

each year, for the last several years, kai and i visit santa on grouse mountain. it is always alot of fun - skating, building a snowman, taking a sleigh ride, and visiting santa's reindeer.  this is the only place i would let kai see santa and it has been the same santa all these years (no mall santas for us)! 

despite my efforts to keep santa alive, last year kai hinted that he may not believe in santa.  unable to let go of the magic of santa i rented polar express to encourage him to believe. i think it kind of worked.

2010...

2007...

2004...

this year kai declared there was definitely no santa. he told his dad, on the walk to school, that santa was just a nice story but it wasn't true. he further explained that it was us, stefan and i, that placed the presents under the tree. to my chagrin, stefan confirmed this fact. do i just say bye-bye to santa for good? do we not leave out cookies and a note on christmas eve? 
this website, capture the magic, lets you upload a photo of your living room and then add an image of santa into the scene.  voila, proof that santa exists.  cute, yes?  but believable to an 8 year old that no longer believes?  sigh.

at least, i think, he still believes in sinterclaus, the dutch santa that fills his and stefan's shoes with candy on december 5th. he hasn't said anything about him, yet.

wishlist

a gift guide for your sister, mother, girlfriend, self.  just saying.

from castor and pollux, engraving this brass bracelet makes it more personal and special

(i like the idea of a birth date on it (perhaps her child's birth date?)

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fostering an elephant from the david sheldrick wildlife trust would be the perfect gift

from elizabeth street jewelry

a fancy camera strap from here

inexpensive, pretty, and wanted from the bay

a subscription to martha steward living

monthly flower delivery from local florist the flower factory

high tea at the vancouver fairmont hotel; i am a fan!

a kiss on top of the empire state building; image from here

perfect pinky-peach cheeks with subtle accents of golden shimmer

by nars orgasm available at sephora

what is on your wishlist?

one year ago

we visited winter wonderland, aka whistler with snow :)

  

 

 

weekend pics

we are back from whistler! 

we were expecting a winter wonderland in whistler as is usually the case for our annual holiday visit but instead we got dirty snow and green trees.  nevertheless, my boys had a great time on the mountain - the words spectacular and awesome were used to describe their time skiing and boarding.  without any snow to snowshoe on, i thoroughly chilled out - reading, sitting in coffee shops drinking chai, walking (alot!) along the trails, and i even managed to do just a bit of shopping. 

we stayed at the crystal hotel, located right in the middle of the village it was the perfect spot for my boys to hit the mountain and for me to wander about.  once the sun began setting, the the village became full of twinkling lights, making for a festive feel despite the lack of snow.

whereas i was a tad disappointed with the lack of snow, kai managed to find joy with the small patches of snow here and there in the village.  it is so easy to forget that it is the simple things that bring us contentment.  thank you for the reminder my sweet boy!  i loved watching you free and happy.

 

blueberry tea, my favourite warming drink

during my wanderings around the trails and visiting the aboriginal museum my boys were high up the mountain...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and we even got a glimpse of santa...