MERRY CHRISTMAS to you too!!!

Dear Family,

You gotta love winter. Yesireee. Its JUST -29 here at the moment. (O. K. Mona Ann, get your butt over here & see how much you like it.) If I see one more snow flake, I'm heading south. WAY south. No news really, same old, same old. You know how it is, mop the floor, change the bed. Thorough clean in the toilet. Oh.  & mop the floor. Do mega wash, & in case I didn't mention, mop the floor. I'm sure you are getting the message.

We have had a very unusual December. Mo can have this sort of weather, (she deserves it), but in sunny Alberta, we are not used to it.

Lin arrived, safe but late. "They" cancelled her first flight, so she had a sleep over in San Fran.,

or Denver, I've forgotten which. I think Kate has kept her busy since her arrival. They head up to British Columbia tomorrow, for Drews' hockey. First in Cranbrook I think, then on Sunday, over to Creston. A LONG drive from Whitefish. Doug is somewhere in Montana with Dan, for his hockey. I'm hoping these are the last games for this year. They usually have a "family team"

contest over Christmas, so I'm assuming ditto for this year.

Today is 19th, so too late to get any more Christmas cards in the mail. If you have not received one, then "this is it". I still have to ring quite a few, but with the time difference, by the time I 

can ring over there, (2.00pm here) I'm usually involved with something else here. Bit of a nuisance,

but not much I can do. It is only like this at Christmas.

We have tons of snow, with more coming most days. Traveling is not recommended most days. I had hoped to get up to Calgary tomorrow with Deda & Ivancic presents. However, I think they will be "new year" gifts now, as I am running out of time, & the forecast is more of the same. We are planning on leaving for whitefish on 23rd., but will all depend on conditions at the time.

I sent Jett Myers the info to get on the blog, & have been waiting patiently to see his entry. So

far, no word, so if you are logging on Jett, PLEASE post a blog with  information on family & life in London. It would be great to hear from you. I know I am very remiss, but I DO love to log on  first thing in the am. Most days I'm disappointed, but when there is a new post, I'm "fed" for the rest of the day. It is always a stimulant, & also a source of news.

I'm wondering how everyone is surviving the economic turmoil? I know it has been very hard on our retirement fund. Hope the rest of you are faring better. I have warned everyone, that come the new year, I will curtail every expense excepting the absolute necessities. I have not

even glanced at our investment portfolio, & I don't intend to look at it till things pick up. I don't want to know how bad it is.

We have a funeral tomorrow for one of our church members. She was ONLY 96. A very dear soul,  & very active till the last few days before hospitalization. She will be missed, as she was STILL doing a weekly column for our local newspaper. 

I got our church baskets done yesterday. Each Christmas we do "goodie" baskets for the sick & immobile of our church. It was a h--- of a cold day, & my helpers didn't show up. I only had 16,

so it wasn't a big deal, & the vestry decided that Peter should get one too. He was a happy camper. A big party tomorrow night, but it is 25 miles out in mountainous country, & the forecast is for COLD, (surprise) so I rang today & said I just couldn't make it. Too old for the driving conditions, so will be warm & cosy at home instead.

As usual, I'm just prattling, so will sign off. I wish you one & all, a Blessed Christmas, & good health & happiness in 2009. Love to all. Kell

@##!!!%**!!#$ telephone!

Dear Family,
It is now 3.35am, here 7.30pm there (on Sat. eve for you.)
I have been trying to ring now for over 30 minutes, & the call WILL NOT go through. I have no idea
what is going on, but I am VERY disappointed. I have been waiting all night to ring, & now this.
I can see you all gathered there, talking all at once, & it is delightfully noisy!! Yet I CAN'T hear it, thanks to this telephone. I have checked the # so many times, so that is not the problem. I will ring Mrs. Junie tomorrow arvo, her time, but am very frustrated @ not being able to ring tonight.
I'm sure you are all having a great time, & will go on till the wee hours, if I know my family.
I'm going to bed now, but probably won't sleep, as I feel very "let down." I'll expect to hear lots
of comments about the evening. Love to you all. Kell

Greetings from Pilot Mound.

Good morning all except Kelly, and good afternoon child ! My little cleaning girl just came, so I have time while she vacs, so here I am.
I am having a bad diabetic day, and as soon as the bed room is cleaned, I am going to lie down for half an hour. Have friends coming for supper, so cant spend too much time. I just did my veg., and got a chicken ready for the oven.....Bill had a meeting over lunch time so wasn't home.....man, you forget how much time lunch takes!! I got a mile of stuff done!!
Sarie, so sorry to hear about Tony's dad. I will get a card off to him when I go up town, but am baby sitting my Princess Rosie and the chemist doesn't love her like I do, so I cant take her shopping with me, hence no cards for a day or two. So long as he knows we are thinking of him, we all know how it hurts to lose your dad.
Our complex is almost at a stand still till the electrician gets the wireing done. Very frustrating for everyone. Bill.....the most patient of all people....is getting stressed about it. The plan was to open this fall, but as soon as the weather gets good, the farmers are on the land, and they are a big part of our volunteers.
The weather man promised me a blizzard today, but the sun is shining and there is hardly a breeze. The temp -26 with a -45 wind chill factor. Cant think what it would be like if it was windy !
If anyone is talking to Cec, I haven't been able to get her on the phone. So happy birthday child ! I hope it was a good one.
The Aust. weather on The Daily Telegraph site.....and what a sleezy site it is...said the Gov't had lifted the drought des. of out back. John said they had had some rain but he didn't say enough to declare the drought over. I just hope it is true.
Good to hear from you, Hannah. Now you know how to, maybe we will hear from you more often???? Does anyone know if Jessie and Melissa are still alive? Also Stew?
We do so look forward to hearing from the youngens.
Lyn, it is time you updated your site, too !! Bill is going to go get my little table loom from Crystal City one of these days, then I may have to have some help.
A note from Kell this am. She has posted my little slide reader thingy to me...bought it at Christmas time....Katie ordered it for me, I am not so talented as to be able to order over the net...so as soon as it gets here Frank and I are going to go through my slides, put the ones I want to keep on DVDs and discard the rest. Free up some space. Then Kell is going to start on hers. I have a couple of hundred, she has thousands !! DONT TELL FRANK !! He doesn't know yet !!
I am just rambling on, so best go. Lisa and Bernice, always good to get your news, do keep it up. I dont suppose we will hear from Jane again till holidays? We need to keep up to date with the childer! I am not going to try to spell check this...the last one I tried that with, I lost. Long page it was, too. So just read over the
errors. If I go back and read it over I will delete most of it.
Love to you all. And if I dont get back soon enough, have a very happy Easter !!
Mona, Moe, Han, Wom. Take your pick !!

Polar bears

G'day all.
I am FULLY caught up with e-mails! One bebefit of cold weather----can't get my 'giddy-ups" on,so HAD to do something, & not waste ALL my time. Sara, in case Mo doesn't log on, the polar bears are ornaments, just out for Christmas probably!! They
would have been put back in their boxes, & stored in Bills' work shed likely.
Glad things are happening in Toms' life. I'll ring while she is there Sara. I can't imagine how Lin did that laser (or ???) light weaving!! Fascinating. Too much talent for one person!! Angelina is just as lovely as always Sara. Nice to have a wee girl around
to keep you busy!! No news, so I'll be off, to work on dinner. ( Was VERY cold this week for meals-on-wheels. I have 2 weeks off now, by then it should be a lot milder.) Another avalanche death. 23 year old father of 2. That is 13 for Alberta this year. Several in Montana, 26 altogether for the winter so far. They WILL ignore the warnings, & there are always warnings posted when there is any sort of threat. Very sad for the families. love to all. Kell

Just a quick update on Auntie Wynn's funeral

Hi everyone I have not dissappeared just busy like every one else. I am on holidays so hopefully I will get more time to fill everyone in on what has been happening in the Egan household.
I got back from Grafton last night extremely exhausted it was very emotional, however the funeral was lovely very simple poignant and meaningful.

It was lovely to see members of the family Ken and Bernice, Bob and Trish,Mandy and Bruce and lovely Auntie Cec and Uncle Ray and of course my immediate family. (And some members of Auntie Wynn's family)
It is very hard to see one's mother and father very upset particularly my father as he has always been the stoic one.
The evening before was mum's birthday so we celebrated that in true Payton style with Ken and Bernice and many funny stories came out.

After the funeral there was a cup of tea at the rectory, We then proceded to Lisa and Ron's and the stories continued (Marjorie holding court no-one else could get a word in!!!)

I feel Auntie Wynn would have been pleased with the whole event and I pray that she is at peace now and looking down on us all.

I will come back on later and fill you all in with news. I am just a little emotional at the moment.

with love Jane