About a week or so ago, I was moving around some files online and making some changes on the server where my blog is stored. Suddenly I had a huge fright. My blog was gone! All the files! I had deleted the wrong folder? And then confirmed that this was indeed the folder I wanted to delete, and yes, I understood there could be no changes?! Yikes! After my heart started beating again, I fell into despair. I knew – just KNEW – that I had done a very bad thing, and remembered very clearly confirming and reconfirming. It’s not as simple as it seems – the folders and files are not clearly laid out like on a computer hard drive.

When I went to the blog’s website (this page you are reading now), there was simply a bold black note: “Database not available.”

I almost wept. Although I keep another online journal which is a lot more personal than this one, this is the blog where I share my photos and stories, my adventures and family time. And it has documented my life with Mehmet since just before we were married.

Well, long story very short, the problem was not my fault, and somehow a password had been corrupted. The hosting service had a backup of all my files and nothing was lost. PHEW!

But at that time, I had to think – will I start it again? And I decided I probably wouldn’t. I probably wouldn’t put all the energy into building a blog like this again. But thankfully I don’t have to make that decision.

And thank you to those who read, and those who leave comments, because it motivates me to keep it up.

Having said that, I’m really falling behind in my blogging. This year I will make an effort to write more often. We’ll see.

ANYway, I have this collection of photos I want to share. Just images of things Spotted Over the Holiday Season.

Here we go.  I think a few of these I may have posted already.

On our tree, one of my favourite little ornaments:

My niece, Sophie on our way to the SkyDome (Rogers Centre) for her Christmas gift from her parents – Disney on Ice. I went with her and my sisters for a great girly day!

Cynthia’s parents brought this nativity scene back from Kenya, where they are currently living and working. It’s made inside a gourd – don’t you just love it?!

Me!

The next few pictures are from my sister Joan’s house. She has so many cute vintage-y, crafty decorations. Here are the seasonal jars of cranberries… er, beads.

Her husband Matt made this village scene from paper!

New Year’s Day snow.

It was our first real snow experience of the season…

That day we went cross-country skiing with Joan.  Such beautiful scenery!

Night-time tree

I’m a bit of a sucker for Christmas decorations in big shopping centres. This is at the Eaton Centre downtown, and this year’s tree was decorated with thousands of Swarovsky crystals!

From close-up, you can see the crystals. There was a barrier around the tree, and security too of course.

There were lots of spotlights shining directly on the tree, so it really sparkled!

There was this Ferrero Rocher chocolate tree too. I’m not sure what people were lining up for – free chocolates maybe?

I don’t mind Christmas-time busyness in malls, when things look so pretty. It’s the Walmart-type shopping that makes me want pull out a semi-automatic.

I really love the Eaton Centre.

And moving along, from shopping to celebrating Christ’s birth, the following two photos were taken at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church downtown, where Mehmet and I went to listen to an evening of carols by the choir.

We felt like we were among maybe a dozen people under age 30. Oh wait, I’m not under age 30. We felt young. But it was beautiful!

Poinsetta in our kitchen window. When the sky is so blue and the sun so bright, winter is so much more bearable!

We did lots of baking in December… and Mehmet really enjoyed doing some of the decorating!

Oh, some more of brother-in-law Matt’s talent. Carolling cheeseballs! Cheese to eat with the crackers. At Easter, he made klompen (Dutch wooden shoes), so the expectations are high for next time, Matt!

This is also a re-post, but so worthy! Our nephew Bryce made these adorable placecards for everyone at our family Christmas. I love how all the pictures were specifically drawn to represent the person on the card.

Cozy hearth at Dad and Carol’s.

Carol goes all out for Christmas. The house is transformed! My favourite decoration is this lit up village on the piano. Our piano teacher had one of these when we were growing up, and I remember being so transfixed by the magical little town sitting on the cotton ’snow’ in her cozy home on cold winter evenings.

Too cute!

And finally, the beautiful Christmas cactus.

It was a great holiday season, our second since being back in Canada.  How is that possible?!