Merry Christmas to Charlene and Alvin

We miss you guys and look forward to seeing you here soon!
love all of us!

Gerald and I took our turn making a meal. For our Christmas dinner we ate spaghetti with white sauce, fried onions, bacon, carrots and salad. We were all fed and satisfied.

It is a bit chilly, but we are so enjoying relaxing, visiting and being together. The pool is heated and some of us went swimming and had a great time.

Flight to Pensacola

Wow! What an experience we had flying to Pensacola. First our flight was slightly delayed, that's fine, but our first flight couldn't land in Minneapolis so we had to refuel in Fargo. When we finally arrived in Minneapolis it was about midnight. We missed both our connections in Minneapolis and Memphis, so we got to sleep in the airport for night. A bit cold, and not much sleep, but we were rebooked for first class to Dallas, so that was okay. But, when we arrived in Dallas, things went downhill fast. We were told we were booked to a flight to Pensacola previously, but when we got to Dallas we were told we were on standby and nothing was guaranteed. We were led on one big goosechase after another. If you want to hear the full story, I'm writing a book on this one. It was quite crazy with one flight agent after another telling us different things. Finally, we ended up at NWA ticket counter asking kindly and FIRMLY to please straighten out our mess. We were booked on a first class flight to Atlanta and then Pensacola - finally!!!! We received some food coupons and some travel vouchers as well. I'm not sure how helpful they were be. So we arrived in Pensacola 24 hours after we originally should have. But now we are here and happy!

This is for all you southerners.

Here's a glimpse of the fun we get in Manitoba with our snow and winters. The snowmobilers seem to be quite happy though. The toboggan hill is doing quite well too.

NO SCHOOL!

Here's what a no school day looks like at the Brandt house. There were some road closures around here, and zero visiblity for a while, so the kids and I got to sleep in. They also got to help me out with some house chores like laundry and dishes. They are hoping for another one tomorrow. I'm not sure if I am.

Feed-Rite Kids Party

Gerald and I had fun taking Felix to the Feed-Rite kids party that was at the Children's Museum. We had hot dogs for lunch, and Felix got a motorcycle that is powered by air, kind of neat. We're having a hard time making it work properly though. It was fun going through the museum too.

Tired in the Brandt home.

Relaxing after a hard days work! Gerald works long hours, and sometimes has a bit of time to relax on the couch. Our kids are all hard workers too. Celine has jazz band at 8 a.m. wednesdays and friday mornings, basketball on Mondays 5:30 - 6:30 pm, piano lessons to practice and tenor sax to practice and homework. Jonas' schedule is a bit lighter this semester, but now with his job, he works three to four shifts a week. He also takes guitar lessons, and practices guitar and should practice jazz drumming. He regularly plays in church for worship teams too. Felix is in grade four, so most of his homework he can do at school. He does have piano and voice lessons to practice. Him and a friend, Brayden Epp have their own little "clubs" each wednesday night at our house.

So, there's a taste of life in our home. I'm busy too with teaching close to 30 piano and voice students on Mondays - Wednesdays, trying to cook supper sometimes, keeping things organized around here, doing my festival job, and volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages - usually a shift every other week, although right now I'm taking a short break from that because my festival job is too busy.

Boy, this must be the longest post I've written. Hope somebody finds it interesting.