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These are just a few quotes from Chloée’s journal intime. Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t be reading her diary, but she’s only 5 and I was VERY curious. She had spent at least an hour writing and drawing in it and I had to know what she was up to. Apparently, she loves Jesus and she thinks Santa is nice. Not sure where she gets these notions or that her comments are in order of preference.

Christmas day started early for us. Dawn was beautiful and colourful and full of excitement. We opened the presents that we had given the kids and each other, those that had come in the mail and those that Santa had brought through the night. After the wrapping paper stopped flying, we went to Monique’s parents’ house for lunch and presents … and more presents.

Monique’s parents, as always, were very generous. Chloée and Corinne were totally spoiled. Monique and I also received many lovely things. Monique’s brother, Jean, his wife, Anna, and their six-month old son, Philippe, were up from Toronto for the holidays. We did a gift exchange. I had Monique’s name. I got her a subscription to Maclean’s and a really funky black necklace, which she told me she liked about 5 times. Yeah, 2 points for Rob.

After opening the gifts, we sat down to an amazing Christmas dinner, then spent the afternoon chilling and playing with the kids. I even watched the back of my eyelids on the couch for about 15 minutes. Haven’t done that in a while.

This morning, we woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow. Everyone was so happy to see it. We ate a quick breakfast and then headed out to the yard to shovel the driveway, get toboggan rides and make a snowman. It had to be right around 0 degrees so the snow was perfect.

It has been a full, amazing few days. Merry Christmas everyone from us here in Gatineau. See all the photos from our Christmas holidays

Le week-end passé, Chloée est allée chez nos voisins, Louise et Réjean, pour faire des biscuits de Noël. Louise avait fait cuire au four les biscuits et avait préparé toutes les décorations en avance. Tout que Chloée a dû faire était d’employer son imagination en décorer les biscuits.

Plus tard dans l’après-midi, Monique, Corinne et moi sont allés de réjoindre Chloée et décorer quelques biscuits nous-mêmes aussi. Nous avons mangé plusieurs de biscuits, avons eu quelques boissons et avons pris des casse-croûte fabuleux.

Voir toutes les photos de quand Chloée est allée décorer des biscuits de noël.

Last night, Monique and I made sucre à la crème, a traditional fudge from Québec. We used her grandmother’s recipe.

The ingredients are few, the recipe is simple and the result is sweet and delightful. I suggest you try it. Here’s what you need and how you make it:

Ingredients and Equipment

• 1 cup of 35% cream
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• a lump of butter
• a pot
• a buttered pie pan

Time

2 hours, from when you start to when you can eat it.

Steps

OK, the first thing you do is pour the cream and the sugar into a pot and lightly mix them together.

Next, you boil the cream and sugar together on medium high heat, while stirring slightly. While you are waiting for the mixture to boil, butter your pie pan and prepare a glass of cold water. You will spread the hot fudge onto the pan for cooling and you will use the water to test the readiness of the mixture when it’s boiling.

After about 5 minutes of boiling, drop a spoonful into the glass of water. You want the mixture to congeal into a ball. If the mixture disperses it is not ready yet.

Be patient and keep trying and remember that you don’t have to stir too much while the mixture is boiling!

Once the spoonful that you drop into the glass forms a ball, remove the pot from the heat and start stirring the mixture. You can also add the blob of butter at this time.

Here is the trickiest part. It is important that you stir the mixture for the right amount of time. If you don’t stir long enough, the fudge will not harden properly. If you stir too long, the fudge will be hard and crunchy.

The trick is to stir until the mixture changes colour to a dull brown or beige. When you first start stirring, the mixture will be very shiny. After a few minutes of stirring, you will notice that the fudge starts to get less shiny.

When the hot fudge has turned to a nice dull brown or beige colour, pour the mixture onto your buttered pie plate. Spread the puddle of fudge until it is about 2 cm thick, then put the fudge into the fridge to chill.

Once the fudge has hardened for a few hours, you can break it into not-too-big pieces. It is now ready to eat.

Enjoy!

This morning, Monique and I packed up the kids and took off to Ian’s Evergreen Plantation to cut our own Christmas tree. The sky was clear, the sun was shining and the kids were happy as clams. As we pulled into Tim Horton’s to grab a coffee for papa and 20 timbits for the family, we saw a sign telling us that it was 12 C outside — wow.

We were really excited to get there. We went to Ian’s tree cutting place last year and had had a super time. The only difference this year is the fact that we have absolutely no snow. Check out this photo from our visit last year when we had lots of snow.

Anyways, with or without snow, it was well worth it. We saw Santa and two baby reindeer, comet and cupid, we had hot chocolate and got to go on a hayride. Plus, we got to bring home a fabulous little tree to liven up our living room.

See all the photos from our visit to the tree farm.