Ho, Ho, Ho!! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hope everyone is enjoying this festive season! It IS pretty amazing, ISN'T it? - all the twinkling lights, bright decorations and PAPER! Pretty packages wrapped in colourful paper everywhere you go … just begging for my grabbing hands. Furry red and white BIG people laughing HO HO HO. Music plays wherever you go, sleigh bells jingle (or is it Mr. Tambourine?), kids running around everywhere and lots of people talking and laughing. And I don't know about you, but my SBQ (smile back quotient) reached unprecedented highs in December !!!!!!!

Although I won't remember this first Christmas, it is going to be a very special one for the Morrison family. 2001 sure has been an exciting time for me and my folks. Things were pretty laid back for me for the first half of the year since I spent it incubating inside of Mom.

My folks on the other hand were running around like crazy, buying baby gear, decorating my room, visiting doctors, midwifes, and sneaking peaks at me with the ultrasound. (The photo shoots started early and are still going strong!) They did all kinds of things that they knew they wouldn't be able to do easily after I came along in the spring. They dined at fancy restaurants dressed in nice clothes. They bundled up and went cross-country skiing after being away from the snow for two years. They even took djembe (African drum) lessons. They went to movies and musicals and ran away to Vegas for a long weekend to see Cirque de Soleil ! Dad planned it all and made it a big surprise for mom. The timing couldn't have been better since Mom was still pretty mobile and had a HUGE appetite for the amazing all- you-can-eat buffets.

There were lots of weeks of Mom waddling around, Dad checking off to-do lists and more and more pillows being piled in the bed to make Mom comfy. Then, as they say, the big day came and I was born. Sounds pretty romantic and liberating when they say it like that. Actually, like it or not, I was yanked out on May 28, 2001. Okay, I admit …. I was a little reluctant about coming into this big bright noisy world but now that I am here, I wouldn't go back for anything.

I got it made here. I get fed, cleaned, pampered and carted around like a royal prince. I have lots of loving grandparents, relatives and friends to cuddle me. I love petting the two soft furry cats and talking to them. I have to keep a close eye on the boy cat, Koshka, who tries to get dibs on my cereal. There are lots of other toys to play with and try to stuff into my drooling mouth. And there's daily free entertainment! Mom and Dad are the court jesters who try to find new ways to make me laugh every day. They also play the didgeridoo, djembe and piano for me while I work on my vocals and groove on in my exer-saucer.

I even had the chance to travel a bit this year when Mom and I tagged along with Dad on a couple of business trips. When I was five weeks old, I had my first plane ride out to Vancouver. While Dad worked hard during the day, Mom and I saw the city sights and did some shopping. Mom and Dad strapped me in the baby carrier and we went hiking, hung out at the beach and went to an outdoor music festival which was pretty cool.

In September, Dad got called to Calgary so we took a week vacation in Banff and Jasper. We did some spectacular hikes amid the bright yellow trees and brilliant blue lakes. However, the hike they will remind me about for years to come is the one we did to the top of The Whistlers (not to be confused with Whistler in BC). It was here, way above the tree-line, at an elevation of 3 000 meters, that I had a massive diaper explosion requiring a full clothing change in the crisp mountain air at the mountain's summit.

Mom and Dad have shown me some neat things in this big crazy world and introduced me to a lot of really friendly people. I saw a lot of new faces including some that my parents haven't seen in awhile when we went to Homecoming weekend at Queen's University. In addition to meeting lots of Mom and Dad's old friends, I saw lots of strange looking purple people who had less hair than I did. We had a chance to see some other Queen's folks who couldn't make it out to Homecoming weekend on our trips out west. It was great to see the Higgs, Chow and Harrop-Grant families. And back in Ontario, Mommy had a mini-high school reunion of her own meeting up with Gill and Moe who both have cute little people of their own.

So, as you can see, life is pretty exciting in the Morrison household. Each day brings something new and funny and often some new disgusting flavour that they try to sneak into my cereal. I can't wait until I can figure out how to crawl so I can get to the kitchen and make my own breakfast. Oh, the exploring I will do!

We hope you have a Happy Christmas filled with wide-eyed wonder! And best wishes for a new year filled with lots of love, laughter and adventure! Hope we get to see you in the New Year!

Love,

Connor and my folks, Andy and Andrea