BON VOYAGE, JEFF!

Jeff's holidays start on Saturday so I have known that he would be leaving for Ontario on Friday after work.  But today we both found out that he won't be coming back to Torquay after Christmas.  This morning he found out that he has a job at Toyota in Cambridge, starting on January 13.  I am happy for him and his family as he has been away from his wife and two sons for six months, except for trips back to St. Thomas when he has enough time off.  His parents will also be happy to have him close by again.  He plans to go back to working for Canada Customs when a job becomes available at a port nearby.

I have been blessed to have him here at the farm since the first part of July.  He was willing to do odd jobs that I couldn't (or wouldn't!) tackle, like cleaning out eave troughs, chopping down trees that were growing where they shouldn't have been,  raking leaves and so on.  He often went to Estevan to work out at the Leisure Centre and would check to see if I needed anything from the city.  He would pick up groceries, jugs of water or whatever else I needed.  A couple times he delivered things to Kirk's via St. Jospeh's.  I really appreciated that he took the time to do those things, saving me a trip in on several occasions.

Someone asked me today if I am ready for Christmas.  As far as my "to do" list, I'm never ready until the day arrives and then it's here, ready or not! But I am ready for the event of Christmas and am so glad that according to our church calendar, Christmas is not over on Dec. 25th but there are twelve days in the Christmas season.  The other morning an announcer on TV stated that she is tired of Christmas songs.  That made me feel sad, but part of it is that Christmas songs are not played during the Christmas season, but are on the air from November and on.

 I made a trip to Estevan today and plan to go to Crosby tomorrow and that will be the end of my shopping.  Groceries take priority!  I'm kind of like my sister.  When her "kids" are coming home she asks them "Do you want food, or a clean house?"  I don't think they ever prefer the latter!  I have lefse and flatbread made, as well as Hardanger lefse and sandbakkels.  The girls will bring baking too so I'll make some Julebrod and krumkake and that will likely be it for this year.

Laurel's, Clare's and Kirk's will all arrive on Christmas Day.  The seven grandkids will be excited about being together again.  We will be missing little Nora, Todd and Kristy but we will be visiting with them via Facetime.  We can watch each other open gift packages.  When Nora opened the package with Todd's "Walter Freddy" doll, she was most interested in his shoes and tried to put them on her own feet.  It is fun to see her learning to walk again after getting the cast off her leg.  Soon she will be running!

The play school class had a potluck lunch this morning and they invited the librarian too!  I am enjoying my volunteer work every Thursday morning and getting to know these two to four year olds along with moms and a dad.  One little boy came to the desk with three thick books "for my dad".  I didn't think his dad would appreciate his choices so his friend helped him put them back on the shelf.  Some come in "to buy a book".  It's so good to see children enjoying books and wanting to visit the library before they go home from play school.

 I got a haircut today so that's another item off the "to do" list.  Now I'm going to visit with Jeff on this last evening as my boarder. I was pleased to find Johnny Reid's special "Christmas Gift to You" on TV so watched that while I was reading some of the Christmas mail and chatting with Jeff.

 I've never been to Ontario, except in Toronto between flights, so now I will have an excuse to venture "down east"!  Safe travels, Jeff and "God be with you", which is what the word Good-bye really means.