Every mail has a Santa during December. We visited the Santa at Market mall today and like all the mails, came away with photos of the kids with Santa. Market mails were in electronic form while the one we visited at Midtown plaza we got a print. When we visited Midtown Plaza, I was chatting to the receptionist and then when Santa greeted my girl, it was with "I was wondering if you were coming to visit me, as I heard you have moved." My girl was relieved to know that Santa now knew where to come for Christmas day.

Our roads are now white or gritted. We saw our first snow plough today. The only hiccup with the snow plough is after a while the amount of snow builds up and straight after the snow plough getting into the side roads is hard as the snow banks up over the hardly used junctions. But my kids thought it was fun as Mavis the car had to drive over the bank of snow.

We keep being told by locals that loads of thin layers are better than thick ones, as it is wiser to remove one thin layer when hot than all the winter clothes in one go. So I should not be surprised to see a shop selling leg warmers, Jessica thinks they are wonderful as they cover all of her legs. As with everything over here for winter they are not a fashion statement.

Winter is a fact of life in Saskatoon, and after a heavy snowfall, getting around can be a problem. .... To help improve public safety and mobility, a bylaw requires that residential sidewalks must be clear of snow and ice within 48 hours of a snowfall, and ...."

So I have now realised when it snows one of us goes out to clear the pavement. In my case in two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves, minimum of two jumpers under my coat, the nearest hat and scarf wrapped round my face (so I look like a Muslim) and expect to be out between half and hour to an hour clearing the pavement (depending how clear it is). If you are wondering why so long, this house is on a corner and has a service road next to it. So about three times the length of pavement compared with our place from January. It is alright clearing the pavement but very demoralising when you just finish as it starts snowing again.

I went to see Twilight last night with my hubbie's boss, her sister and Devan also from Point 2. I will not spoil it for anyone in England by saying what I think. But I am looking forward to seeing it again with my sister for my birthday present when she comes over to visit.

I joined Abigail and family today. It meant I had to drive Mavis and get over the panic of trying to drive her. Her son and I decided to build a snowman as it had started to snow, and so we cleared the pavement outside their house and the paths near the front door. We had just enough snow to make a small snowman but discovered the snow was too powdery (like molding icing sugar) to make a snowman, so we made Jabba the Hutt instead. Then we both collected my little one from pre-school and went shopping for lunch together. We made it home just before Abigail's eldest arrived home by school bus. As it was still snowing after lunch started to clear the paths again but in the end went to collect my eldest. This time on returning I made a really good effort at clearing the paths (although the snow falling kept covering them up.) So the snowman started to get to be a better size even if the shape was still like a mountain. Abigail's girl found two celery sticks for its arms and we sliced up a carrot for eyes, nose and buttons.

Prince Philip School had Spirit Day today, which basically meant everyone dresses up. I had paid the $5 in advance and so it was all sorted so I thought. My oldest seemed to think dressing up in pajamas was not a cool thing to do, and so basically got dressed and then put his pajamas on top. (Apparently the only one in his class that did not dress up got into trouble so he was pleased he did in the end.)

It had snowed last night and so the powdery snow made it easier to walk and scoot to school (unlike yesterday where we seemed to skate and scoot). On the way home from pre-school there were seven untouched slides. My girl had to be the first to go down all of them all, sending snow everywhere. There were also two snow angels and a very small snowman by the time we reached our door,

For those of you who haven't heard, we are now in Movember. This is the month dedicated to honing ones manly mustache, in the name of a good cause. So, as with all good causes, there is a cost attached. I'm raising money for prostate cancer research, and would like your donations please. You can find details of my efforts so far here. To donate in the UK, you need to go to http://uk.movember.com and choose the donate to Movember link. Anything you can manage will be greatly appreciated. Close family will know just how much cancer has affected us, having lost my Nan and Grandad to it, and my mum having survived breast cancer. If you do donate, please send me an email with how much you gave so I can update my progress as you will be donating in pounds and my team efforts only show canadian dollars.

It is lovely to get links to stuff every one is up to at home. Here are a couple of links for you tube for my brother and sister in law
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tuVEJsHEZiM and http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YzJgeAyLgRI

Today we helped Cameron collect up the leaves from the front lawn. He had cleared the lawn only two weeks before but the leaves all drop at once. My little one started helping clear with the rake but decided when Daddy appeared that taking photos was better. My older one decided rescuing ladybirds was a more immediate job. But between the five of us all the leaves were raked up and put in eight bags.

We discovered loads of ladybirds hibernating while raking up the leaves. Very few were willing to move. The leaves were raked up into piles, and then as they were so dry they made a wonderful noise when jumped in. We filled eight bags with the dried leaves.

We did not do much today. After cleaning the kitchen floor we made Jello (Jelly) and then had to clean it again.