May the seasons peace
wrap you in its arms
May its joy dance
in your heart
And may its love
fill your life now and
throughout the New Year

Merry Christmas
From the Pippus Family

The last day for the dog of black and white (almost)

So tonight we are out celebrating the festive time of year with friends and return home to what looked like an explosion all over the back yard. My good friend and neighbor had been Santa and left gifts for us at our back door. Now if you know nothing about Murphy our dog you will preface the rest of this story with this information. He has cost us at least $2,000 since his adoption into our family. Something that of course has endeared him to Tim. He rarely chews on anything and has stayed clear of all gifts even ones containing chocolate... SO in the debris of the torn gifts and ripped packages we found the remains of 12 lindor chocolates. All consumed by you know who. The girls began to cry (depending on the size of your dog and the amount and type of chocolate your dog can die within 24 hours of eating it) and so I began to look up what to do online. That was no help and so having an in with my vet ( I clean for them) I decided to call them. She advised me to give him a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to make him vomit and he did alot and so he is alive and puking. I won't even mention what he did in the yard later on. ewwwww! So if you are planning to be Santa the front door is an excellent way to get to our house or the chimney or the windows... :) What else could this beautiful season hold for us?????
S

The Last Week before the Man in Red

We have had a full weekend and really a full month. We have spent time with friends and enjoyed this season and all that it brings. One of those times was spent at our church Christmas supper. We had a hotpot luck supper and sang carols. Tim inspired us with words about family and times like these to be thankful for. Some shared moments of thanks from the past year. It was a time to be reminded of how good life is when you share it with those you love. It is hard to believe that this is the 13th Christmas I have been here. You learn a lot about a group of people in that time including just how blessed you are to have so many people who really love each other. My kids said the best part of the night was watching pictures of everyone on a power point show of a bunch of events from this year. So as we look ahead to holidays we are all ready for a break. We are looking forward: To being with family. To doing nothing. To laughing. To watching the Anne movies for the first time with my girls. To playing with the kids toys. ( after all why be a grown up if you can't play with the toys you picked out:). To staying in our pj's. To sledding. To skating. To playing games. To sharing why Jesus was born. To drinking hot chocolate and spice tea. To just being together.
Have a yummy week!
S

Boarding Boy

Yes this is what it looks like and no that is not a snowboard. Our Saturday afternoon fun did not end in any broken bones but we learned a few valuable tidbits. Did you know that after a certain age you no longer bounce when you wipe out??!?!?? And did you know that things that Tim makes look easy are not easy for Sara..?..I tried it and only got about 15 feet before crashing. Some people have to learn the hard way...yes I kept trying it thinking I would "just keep trying" and get it eventually...well not so much. Anyway the kids had a lot of fun and enjoyed the break from the chilly weather that has bogged us down for the last two weeks. We walked up this long hill enough times to go to the moon and back...at least that is how it felt when we took the last run of the day after 3 hours of slippery fun. Oh by the way "Don't try this at home" there at least I have said it and if you feel inclined to try this just remember to roll. And don't plan anything important for the next few days...especially if you are over the afore mentioned bounceable age.

Snow Snow and more Snow!!!!

Winter has really arrived. Although not officially here yet according to the calendar it is here in a very deep way. Each of us has enjoyed the coming of this glorious season (yes I am one of the freaky people who actually enjoy winter) in our own way. Tim has taken a crack at Noon Hockey and came home after finding only one other skater to play against...it was a very cold day. He redeemed himself by taking his girls to a hockey game on the weekend...also a very cold night with the windchill it was -38. The girls of course have been down a hill or two already. Testing to see how many times one person can have a concussion!?!?!?!?. Katie smacked her head while trying out a snowboard...while on her Christmas list it may not make it under the tree without an airbag system attached. Megan has had the joy of a snow ball slithering down her back while dressed to the gills with snow gear. Only to wiggle out in time to find nothing but icy water. I have had my driving out to the middle of nowhere adventures which you can read in my other posts. And shoveling out the yard and driveway at least six times now. But I have also had the best french vanilla cappuccino after being out when it was so cold that my nose hairs froze. I have also seen many a scene like this snowy fence line and thought "amazing". I like that winter slows me down and makes me sleepy and reminds me that I truly can't survive on my own.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!!!!

I got up this morning and after hearing my husband say "You better stay home" I headed out to a farm south of Estevan to work. Well I drove on sheer ice and went about 40 kms/hr til I reached the grid road and thought Crud!!! The snow on the grid was 2 feet deep and I was driving the van. I decided after much thought...all of 10 seconds of it...why not go ahead? SO using the laws of momentum I plowed on and almost headed to ditchdom several times. You know the wild careening out of control fishtail thing you do in deep snow...well at the half way mark I pulled onto an approach and breathed in really deep and then I backed up and headed on again. I reached the farm yard only to find that the windbreak at the yard had made the drifts at least 3 feet high and a lot scarier looking. Now normally I would have stopped here but I could see the house and figured if I hit the ditch I could walk even though the wind chill was -35. So I plowed on and made it through and then I parked the in the driveway and went in. I stood in the doorway shaking like a leaf only to hear my employer say "Oh I was going to call you and tell you not to come out" Well a fat lot of good that did me. So I stayed and worked for 3 hours and then I realized everyone was leaving the farm for the day and maybe staying in town for the night. This meant if I couldn't get out I would be stuck for the night. Well the minute they included me in the mass exodus I was on that train. Toilets are glamorous work but sometimes a girls got to do what a girls got to do. So I made it back into town only after following a Dodge diesel that was like eight feet taller than the van. I was considering a stop at my local Dodge dealer to pick one out for myself and then I realized oh yeah I am not Oprah and I slunk home. I sat in my warm house and was glad to not be out in the cold. I can now say that Tim was right...that's right Tim was right...there I said it. (Oh and remember don't believe everything you read.)
Hoping the weather is better where you are
Sara

Tim's Side of Sari's "Black Friday" Experience

When Sari got home at 9 pm on Friday night - I could not believe it!!!! She had all taken all the stuff that every one of the 10 girls in her group had bought (and all the stuff that several other people from Estevan whom she did not even know bought) - and stuffed it all into our van!!!!!

Actually - that was my first thought - then I realized that all that stuff was OUR STUFF!!!!!! I did not know that a van could actually expand at the seams like that (like a briefcase or luggage) but somehow Sari managed to make it happen! Good thing there was a strong southeast wind blowing her home - I am not sure that the van would have had enough power to make it up the hills with all that stuff otherwise! :)

This display of shopping prowess brought about an intellectual debate regarding the size of our bank account and its ever increasingly quicker free fall into a black hole of utter despair vs. buying a present (or 17) for EVERY PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!! (Including but not exclusive to the unborn, the about to be thought about and anyone who was living but may have passed on to their reward in the past 56890809478904870987 years. The presents for the deceased apparently will be sent to their heirs or to any other person who just happens to be walking by our house..... Sari has been doing that - running out with presents in hand - "Merry 'You just walked by our house on a day with more than three letters in it' day!!!! Here is your present!!") :)

So after a nice discussion in which I made a few really good points (like "So are you" and "I am not a moron!!!").... I decided that generousity and joyfulness was the way to approach this festive time of the year (that and the fact that she had already thrown out all the receipts and could not return all this stuff anyway!) - so that is how that went!

It truly is "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" :(

BLACK FRIDAY

I can now say I have been through a Black Friday in the US. The day after American thanksgiving has become the day to begin Christmas. So 7 friends and I arrived in Minot on Thursday night and began to shop at the few stored that were open. Then we headed out to eat and back to the hotel for a soak in the hot tub. All the time knowing we were going to be getting up at some time before 5 am to be get the best deals. We dosed off at just after midnight and some of us tossed and turned all night in anticipation of the next day. Me being one of those people. We set three alarms and got a wake up call and then we all rolled out at 3:45. We split up and went to several different stores. For the record a mad dash to any item or elbows flying or running over little old ladies never happened. I am sure I saw over a hundred people from Estevan and really had a lot of fun shopping with my friends. By 8:30 in the morning we all felt like it was 10:30 at night but the sun was just coming up and so we continued on. By noon I had all of my Xmas shopping done and spent the rest of the day browsing and trying to catch up on sleep. We went out for an early supper and headed home at about 7:30pm. I don't recall ever being that tired. I got plenty of great deals which I will not mention here due to little eyes at my house which do read this so.....
A super day which I would do again.... for those of you who are worried about materialism and this kind of shopping experience I can see how that could be an issue. But for someone who would like to get something thoughtful for people and not have to break the bank to do it I really felt good about it all. Thanks to all my friends who went along for this crazy day.
Sara

Nothing like throwing up!!!

When your kids grow up too fast it is easy to forget that they need you. Well yesterday was one of those days for Megan. We woke up to her coughing and not sounding to good. I tried to get her to stay home, knowing that I had the day off and so we could be mellow together. She said she wanted to go to school because she had swimming lessons to go to. So I sent her to school with some halls. At lunch she came home and stayed home. We thought we could go run an errand or two on my list and after one store she wanted to go home. We got to the front yard and well there really is nothing like throwing up.....SO I am reminded that you never outgrow needing your mom. I am not sure what my neighbors thought we were doing but we went inside and she crashed out. I am sure there are bigger things that braver parents than me deal with everyday. But my kids just don't have very many days like this anymore. Anyway I am hoping whatever bug Megan moves along to bug someone else. I am glad for the chance to be here to know when the girls are just in need of a bit of mommying. Hoping for a quiet night.....

Dave Retires

It was a fun weekend of seeing people we haven't seen and taking a walk down memory lane with mom's power point. All of dad's co-workers showed up and made several presentations. What a great time of honouring a man is who truly worthy of good things and kind words. We love you dad and think this is just the beginning of many more sweet memories. 

No Riders No!!!!

I have never before in my life wanted to throw up while listening to a football game. Who knew I really cared so much about how the riders did. While driving home from Manitoba yesterday we listened to the game which seems to be the worst way to do football, but every play was just plain yuck. And Justin I can kick farther than the one Luca Congi kicked of 10yards!!! Anyway I have say to stamp fans who I heckled recently that I am sorry. Our team stinks, stank, stunk yesterday and there is just now other way to say it we did not deserve to be there and you probably should have been. Of course a rider fan is always a rider fan but what happens when you are disappointed time and time again....OK so yes they got to the western final but we were so close we could almost smell victory. Well now I have made my apologies and all I have to say is you just wait for next year...we have stuff goin' on in the big green province.
Sippus

There is something an older sister should never do and this may just be it but...while recently going through old pictures for dad's retirement supper I ran across this one and thought of each of you. Thank goodness some styles die never to be reborn.
love
your sister 

Heaven

"Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Him and his still invisible kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for. "
Elisabeth Elliot

Roche Percee

Tim seen here trying to break every bone in his body. The daredevil lived to tell
about it and so we can return again in the fall of 2007 to the "Pierced Rock" and
enjoy a good climb. No animals were hurt during the taking of this picture.

Murphy

Murphy is one member of our family we have not talked about yet.
Here is a pic of the charming lad.

Go Riders Go

What an awesome game. To beat Calgary when they spent the better part of the week bashing our cuddly rodent. It seems as though the Stamps have been put to bed for this year. Let's just hope the Riders keep on going. So who wants in on a trip to the Grey Cup?!?!?!?!? I am enjoying basking in the glow of another well deserved win. Sorry Justin but when you are green, you are green. I have no idea what that means but it sounded final. I guess you could come serve drinks and munchies at the next few parties as the green move ahead to the WIN!

Click on the Pumpkin family for more pictures

Pumpkin family
Originally uploaded by pippus9.

Is the "blog " for me????

Truly I must admit the idea of having our world just out there for anyone to see is a little disconserting. I do love the idea of being able to put up one post and lots of people can check in now and then to see what we are up to. I completely admit my failure in keeping in touch with people. So with that in mind I will continue to set this up and hope that you might keep up with our family. As we press on i find this like a launch of a boat that I hope floats. I hope the tour is interesting enough that you will want to return.