ADVENT

Sunday, Dec.2 marked the first Sunday in Advent.  The first candle in Trinity's Advent wreath was lit by Emma Holzer.  Vickie and Darrel Skjonsby had put up the Christmas tree with all the angels, made with help from Sheryl Westerhold a few years back.

Alan and I enjoyed taking in "Footloose" on December 1, a musical done by the students at Estevan Comprehensive School.  It was hard to believe those were teenagers in the cast and not professionals!  It was so well done.  We especially enjoyed seeing our neighbour, Levi Stepp, playing the lead role as Ren and doing such a fantastic job.  

A while  ago I saw a blurb on Facebook saying that grad dresses or bridesmaid dresses from the eighties were needed for the cast of "Footloose", as well as suits for the guys.  So I looked through my storage closet in the basement and found a few items that qualified.  It was fun to see several bridesmaid dresses of Laurel's on the stage that afternoon. 

The gold dress on the right was worn for Veronica Bergum's wedding.

The turquoise blue dress in the right top row, second from the end was worn in Frontier for
 Deidre Christensen's wedding and the peach one in the second row for Chris  Hanson's.

Then we spent five days in Estevan from Dec. 5 to 9 taking in the Home Hardware Canada Cup curling at Affinity Place.  Alan bought tickets for all draws and we both enjoyed it.  He had chosen great seats - top row in the seats at the end of the ice, seats 3 and 4 so no going up and down stairs to get to our seats.  We had good seat mates too, ladies who were very knowledgable about curling, more so than I am!  It was great to see Canada's top curlers as close by as Estevan, just 35 miles from our farm.  Thanks to the 186 volunteers who helped make the event such a success!

We ate out twice a day so it was a holiday for me - no cooking or cleanup!  We went to a different eating place each day - The Flats, A+W, Humpty's, Jennie K's, Fired up Grill, (with Shauna, Lindsay and Jamie,  The Tower, (with Clare, Jodi, Abbey and her friend Emma) and had hamburgers at the rink twice for noon lunch.

Alan has long been a Koe fan so he was happy that Koe made it to the final on Sunday evening, even though he didn't come out a winner in that game.  The Jacob rink had the best record in the round robin, losing only one game, and won  the final. 

 Jennifer Jones took the women's final on Sunday afternoon.  I was cheering for her as the second on her team, Jocelyn Peterman, has Torquay connections. Her grandparents, Lyle and Agnes (Fonstad) came from this area before moving to Olds, AB.  Kirk stayed in their basement suite when he spent  two years at Olds College. I still use the cooling rack for baking that her grandpa made.  Kirk bought one for Sandra too.  It holds a big batch of ginger cookies!

This week we are busy getting ready for company from Norway!  Todd, Kristy, 6 year old Nora and 2 year old Elly Clara are flying to Calgary on Dec. 14, and will drive to Moose Jaw the next day.  Grandson Dawson plays with AAA Generals and stays with billet parents while he takes grade 12 classes at Vanier Collegiate.  He has a game at 1:30 on Dec. 16 which happens to be Laurel's 50th birthday!  Several family members will be staying at The Spa and going out for supper after the game. 

Monday the 17th is Jodi and Clare's anniversary so we will help them celebrate in Weyburn and then take in Abbey's final Christmas band concert as she is in grade 12 this year.  How time flies!

Todd's will spend several days with us at the farm.  We will have our family Christmas gathering on Sat. December 22. The next day Todd's will head back to Brooks to celebrate with the Ledene family.  Don't look for Christmas mail from us until later in the Christmas season.  Remember, there are 12 days of Christmas, December 25 to January 5.

On Sunday the second candle in Trinity's Advent wreath was lit by Toby Laven, Pastor Nick's son.  Here's a picture.

On Monday we spent the evening at Laurel and Greg's as I had a Dr. appointment on Tuesday morning in Regina.   I was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure three years ago but the specialist said my kidneys should last as long as I need them so I was glad to hear she didn't think I'll end up having dialysis.  They won't improve but with attention to diet and liquids they have been holding their own and I am staying at stage 3.  Stage 5 means a transplant or dialysis so I want to avoid that!

On Tuesday after my appointment we met two of Alan's cousins for lunch at Montanas.  Actually Wayne Stenson and Louise (Stenson) Wilson are my second cousins!  Their Grandpa Clarence Stenson was my Grandma Sophia (Stenson) Erickson's brother.  Alan's Dad, Fred Lutz, was a brother to Velma, known as Dolly (Lutz) Stenson

Well, I better get back to doing some cleaning in the basement!  Enjoy these days of Advent as we prepare for celebrating the birth of Christ as well as looking forward to His second coming.