Dad's December 30th Party

I think my Dad would be pretty happy to know we still had his December 30th Christmas Party, music and all.  The next few days are going to be tough (well just as tough as the last five months I guess), there are a lot of good byes to be said and it all feels too soon.  My parents had some fantastic friends and over the years I have enjoyed coming back and visiting them.   They have been so fantastic over these last years and especially the last month.  I hope that each of them will make it to Thailand or our next spot for a visit.

Marlene had the house looking amazing, Colleen made a fantastic chilli, Luis was a great bar tender, it was a great night.  Now, we are getting ready for a night to end this horrible year with the fabulous five.  Bring on 2018.

Full House Again

After a week of the four of us organising, packing, cleaning, the house has filled up again, luckily not with stuff but with people.  Karen and her friend, Arno, and Marlene have all come to help get the house ready and have a visit.  

 Paddy making his delicious curry

 We love downstairs, wish we had used it a lot more

 Nicola, Paddy and Freda leave tomorrow, I cannot believe it is our last few days here.  It is going to be heart breaking to go.

Christmas Down Memory Lane

We woke up to a beautiful cold snowy winter wonderland Christmas morning.  The sky was blue and the snow sparkled in the sunshine.  This to me looked fantastic from the inside but was a little cold for me to venture out for too long.  We had a nice morning, just the five of us, then played in the snow (some longer than others) and then went to the Duimstra Christmas party.  The Duimstra's, are our neighbours and friends, they are people that we spent many Christmas days with, New Years parties and many more events together.   Fred and Donna were very good friends of our parents and their three boys use to torment me growing up (made me catch frogs and snakes, etc).  I have very fond memories of our times together and it was so nice of us to invite us again this year.  Fred is the only one left out of the four, Mum, Donna and now Dad dying way before their time.

 My ten minutes in the snow

 Freda's first Christmas

 Ritchie, the eldest Duimstra son and host of Christmas

 Me, Fred, Nicola and Freda

 There was a huge hockey game going on down stairs.  

 Me and Scott.  We use to walk around holding hands all the time when we were very small

It was such a lovely evening and I am so happy that we went.  It made Christmas a really nice day.  

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas! 

I am not really sure what to say.  We just all hoped that Dad would be here for Christmas and it is kind of surreal that he is not.  But we did have a nice Christmas Eve, with a delicious lunch at a near by vegan restaurant and then a delicious dinner made by Luis and have had a lovely Christmas morning so far.

 We started the day outside clearing some wood.  It is such a beautiful property and we are trying to enjoy it as much as possible now.

 A Christmas Eve treat.

 Growing up this use to be our play room.   Now empty and ready for the new owners we had one last night down there.

Luis making his famous Ecuadorian meal.  It was super delicious.  Merry Christmas to everyone.

Packing, Moving, Friends

This was never going to be easy. There is so much to go through and all of it has meaning.  It is not an easy task and brings up so many memories of both Mum and Dad.  Even though it is a near impossible task it has been lovely to be altogether in our home for a final couple of weeks here.  It has helped keep my mind off that this is really the last fe weeks, even as I type it I cannot quite believe it.  Not to mention Freda is such a fabulous lovely baby that you cannot help but smile.

This last week has been full of packing and unpacking, salvation army runs, dump runs, cleaning and trying to put together a Christmas.  So I was very ready to have a night out of the house with Luis and the fabulous five (minus one).

 Some pictures of some of the items already for collection

 The girls (Havana, Mandy's daughter standing in for Jen)

We had a lot of laughs which was very needed.   

Freda's Baptism and More

It is so nice to have people here with us, to just be with us for a few days but especially here for Freda's baptism yesterday.  

 Saturday night Paddy prepared a veggie roast and we followed it by a games night.  A new game that me and Luis bought that day and another night of laughs.

 Luis was honoured to be Godfather and Jen (our cousin) honoured to be Godmother.  In a perfect world Dad would have been able to join us, but as we all know this is not a perfect world.

It was a lovely afternoon and Freda got some great presents and dancing lessons from her Aunties.

Peace and Love

Yesterday we buried one of the greats, one of the kindest most optimistic man I have ever known.  The tributes to him have been amazing and the church did not have an empty seat.  I have been so touched by the kind sentiments and the amount people have done for us.  The service was lovely and his peace and love party he would be so happy with.  The house was full with so many people that will love him and miss him.  I think he would have been happy.

 Simone and Michelle, two old friends from University made the trip which meant so much to me.

 The Bajan representatives

 Karen, Colleen and Ryan

 The Bosches and Jen

 Cousin Jen and Paddy

The fabulous five, they are and have been amazing.  I am so thankful to have them in my life.

The church where my both my parents are now.

It was quite the night.  I now know that I have a long journey to make in terms of acceptance of losing my father.  I really do not know what life will be like without him.