The CANSCAIP Pin--a great honour

Not sure how it was that the whole economy suddenly flushed down the toilet but certainly the publishing industry was having its problems for a few years now. 2009 perhaps won't be a year for lots of contracts. Still on February 11, at a CANSCAIP general meeting Gillian Chan, one of my favourite partners in projects with no profit, officially awarded me with the highest token of esteem the Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators and Performers has, their pin. I believe Mark Thurman designed it and the three entities represent writers, visual artists and jugglers...I mean performers.

Gillian mentioned all my executive positions in the past, recording secretary, treasurer, vice-president and president; as well as my current position as programs officer along with Gillian O'Reilly and Andrea Wayne Von Koningslow. I learned things from each of these positions but my favourite pet projects were the mass book launches at the Mississauga Public Library, OLA, Book Expo and coming soon at the Saskatchewan Reading Conference in Saskatoon.

May there always be books to launch no matter what the economy does.

Sunrises on a New Year

So 2009 begins. Lovely eiderdown snow blankets. So far the most exciting thing we've done is go to an Ontario Science Centre Sleepover. Can we ever get enough of wheelchair races or forming face and hand sculptures out of red metal pin thingies?
We got there at 4 in the afternoon and explored till midnight. Here's Hunter competing in a balloon race.

Much more excitement to come.

Mini Santa

So Santa came in a much smaller form this year but still there was Christmas Lego. Here's Hunter finishing up a Sponge Bob Square Pants Lego present.

The Best Christmas Gift Ever

Originally, the new baby was scheduled for January 5th but the birthday was moved back to December 20. Christmas Eve,
Jennifer( eldest daughter) began experiencing contractions. It was surreal timing them instead of concentrating on more mundane things such as opening gifts.

Five-fifteen on Christmas morning, Jadzia finally made her appearance. Bob and I were in charge of William, her brother, and it was only us three for Christmas dinner. Later, we sent a Christmas meal to the hospital because Joseph Brant's idea of the traditional meal was fish sticks.

No present could have stood up to the excitement of the Christmas birth so it was a good year to go without stuff.

Christmas and of the year wrap up

So much time has gone by but I did want to record some high events from the end of 2008. The most important one won't be mentioned right in this blog as I have to hunt for a camera cord connection to upload a good image.

This year I decided on no presents for adults. It sounds like a me, me decision but I consulted around the family. No consensus was ever reached on a time when all four families could meet even though I was willing to put on lavish spreads for any day they chose. So we couldn't opt for a Secret Santa or that gift game where there's a lot of trading back and forth.

It was the right decision financially for my family. Emotionally it was a downer because shopping for that perfect gift, whether you achieve it or not, is fun.

Still some highlights of Christmas that don't involve presents were: We went to the city with Hunter to see Aladdin, the Ross Petty musical. Very funny. And we ate burritos for a magazine Whine and Dine review before. I even enjoyed a margarita in a plastic glass and we still came in under budget. The Christmas tree is from Nathan Philips Square. City decorations are always a highlight for me.

We also went snowshoeing for Today's Parent Toronto. You can read about that in the March issue. I just keep hoping it will snow one more time so readers can try it for themselves. The highlight really was just the absolute prettiness of all that snow. It's something I wrote about again and again in my last Wild Life book: The Nine MInute Disaster Zone.

That book and the March deadline was the main reason for no postings all this time.

Now I shall go hunt for a photo to document the most exciting Christmas event of all.