Most friends and family have been privy to this information but for those who have not, Jason and I will be expecting the newest member of our family next September. It will be a first grandchild on both sides and everyone is excited, most of all Jason and I.

So it looks like I will be delaying my trip to gaspe this summer but look forward to introducing the coast to the little one for the first time the summer after. I cannot wait to see he/she experience the waves at troisieme plage for the first time! I keep reminding Nadia that now she is next. We always had this corny vision of she and I sitting on the beach watching our little ones playing in the surf together. I truly hope our children can be as close as Nadia and have been over the years. So Nadia if you are reading this....get busy!

In the meantime I am experiencing the joyous or not so joyous aspects of being pregnant. Poor Jason never knows when I will take something the wrong way. I have heartburn 3-4 times a day and have already grown out of two pairs of pants. I am afraid to see how big I am going to be this summer. Thank god for the pool as I have a feeling that all I will want to ever do is float in the water! Do not know how my 5 foot frame will handle it all. This will definitely be an adventure!

I would like to start off by wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! This is the time of the year were we all act a little nicer, feel a little more generous and talk to those we should be in contact with more. It is also the time where we count our blessings and are thankful for what we have. It is a shame that most of us only do this once a year. We can be thankful this year that most major companies such as Wal-Mart put in place an anti, anti-Christmas plan where they are bringing back saying Merry Christmas to their customers. Regardless of the religious connotation Christmas has, it is sad to think in the past couple of years we have had to alter our greetings and emphasize the commercial aspect of the holiday. I worked 5 years in the childcare field and were we followed public school regulations which meant being prohibited from playing any music or reading any books which had a hint of a religious tone. Funny thing was all the children in my group celebrated Christmas, but still it was taboo.

I find myself really missing my childhood Christmas in Montreal more and more these days. Since buying the house I have started my own traditions that are wonderful but it is never the same as it was back then partly because I am in a different province now and understandably family find it far to travel at such a busy time of year. Christmas Eve was always spent with mom's side of the family and we always had a full house. It was filled with aunt's, uncle's, grandparents and cousins. We would go to midnight mass at St. Brendan's, come back to a midnight meal and I would be sent off to bed. As aunt Lucy and uncle Midas would go home that night and as he would never leave till he saw me open my presents, they would quickly get everything under the tree as I was in bed and he would wake me up once Santa had arrived. I can remember the feeling of sitting by the window in our back room listening to the radio tracking where Santa was at that exact moment. Christmas Day was spent with Dad's side of the family and again it was another full house. We would fill our bellies with Nanny's amazing meat pies and fruit cake till we could eat no more and then gather around the tree opening gifts. As I became a teenager, I would help out with the St. Brendan's Christmas Basket program. On Christmas Eve day we would all gather in the church hall filling boxes with food and toys and then spend the day delivering them. I will never forget the last year I did it before we moved. It was the last house on our list and almost 5pm. A man came to the door and proceeded to cry as he saw us as he thought we had misplaced his name somehow and he would have nothing to give his family. That was the moment in my life that put the real meaning of Christmas in perspective.

What I think I miss most of my childhood Christmas was believing in Santa Claus. The magic associated with him and thinking someone like him was out there making sure those children who were less fortunate, for one day, were not being forgotten. I remember the day a classmate broke the news to Nadia and I that Santa was not a real person. If my memory serves me right, we did not take it well at all and proceeded to rough him up. Poor Matthew, he didn't know what hit him!

If anyone out there still logs onto this blog every once in a while, I welcome you to post a comment and share you favorite holiday memories, recipes or traditions. Not to sound corny, but it is the most wonderful time of the year and I love the idea of sharing the most wonderful aspects of this holiday so we never forget the true meaning and maybe, just maybe, make an effort to continue the feeling all year long.

From my family to yours, have a wonderful Christmas!

I am happy to finally announce I am a full time permanent employee at the University!!!!! You are looking at the Assistant to the Undergraduate Associate Chair. It has taken me 2 and 1/2 years but I am finally in baby! I actually had two positions offered to me just a few minutes ago so it is true that "when it rains...it pours". As always there are always dedications attached to these sort of announcements and I have to pay an ode to my mentor and boss, Darlene. She has taught me so much, instilled trust in me and given me opportunities I never dreamed off. She gave this childcare worker a chance and always had faith in me. And when it mattered most, she looked out for me. I am eternally grateful to you! Ta Ta For Now.

Just received an e-mail directing me to a petition to save the name of the infamous "Park Avenue" street in Montreal. It seems someone has suggested changing it to Robert Bourassa Avenue.

If you feel the same way I do please sign this petion against the name change. Park Avenue is a renown street filled with history, memories and family roots. My grandparents lived and raised their family a few blocks over from Park Avenue and my cousin Karim and Carolyn owned a smoke shop right on the corner of Park Avenue. I loved spending a Saturday walking up and down seeing everything it had to offer as a teenager. Going to Archie's for a bite to eat or getting bagels at St. Viateur Bagel. It just would not be the same. Changing the name would be disrespecting not only it's history but also the history of all the families that came and went from that area. Why not name a highway after him instead? Or if they are dead set on a street; there are plenty of streets that were deignated numbers.

They would never think of changing Mount Royal's name so they should not be considering changing Park Avenue's name! As someone mentioned in the petition, New York would never consider renaming their Park Avenue.

Thanks to all the friends and family who e-mailed me with their comments about my site or even forwarded it on to others.

Uncle Robert subscribes to the SPEC and passes them onto Mom who in turns passes them onto me. I was going through a pile of them last night and saw that they are still debating whether a horse born in the coast is actually half moose and horse and although some parties are interested in the old Chandler Mill, there are still no bites. It is hard to believe that the town right now is running without the money from the mill coming in. There was a time when the town lived through that mill. All my uncles and cousins were employed there and everytime I smelled that old familiar mills smell regardless of where I was at the time, it made me think of Chandler. It was always a treat to walk through Chandler towards the mill, past the grocery store where my cousin Cathy Ann worked, to Campbells' restaurant where they had a giant Budda statue. I have tons of pictures of me posing with that statue as I was growing up. Now hardly anyone frequents that part of town when once it was the heart of Chandler. The only time anyone even goes near is when they drive by to go to the beach or train station.

I did notice on my trip there this summer that they are trying to boost tourism by creating the Parc du Bourg de Pabos, located in Pabos Mills, which houses an interpretation centre and campground located right on the ocean. The interpretation centre is a look back into the ways of the early settles and fishermen. It is also an insight into the "Hunt" side of my family as they have pictures of my great-great grandparents on display. The Day Jason and I went it was almost closing time so instead we climbed the rocks along "Troisieme Plage" where we used to have bon fires as teenagers when I visited for the summer.

It seems I never stopped when I used to visit in my younger years and two months was not nearly long enough as I hated to have to go back to the city and to school. I much would've rathered a few more weeks of walking back at the lake, sitting in Angie's back room pulling all nighters, playing cards in Jennifer Murphy's trailer (which was parked 10 feet from her house) and spending hours at the beach swimming and sitting around a fire. 75% of the time it was good clean fun and the other 25% we were being teenagers making and learning from our mistakes. I would love to have a cabin on the beach someday to spend the summers in and have my children experience all the wonderful things I did. Now as the Mill is closed, the younger generations are leaving and making a living in the bigger cities off of the coast. The friends and family that have not left were lucky enough to get on with the city, school board or created their own companies.

I feel honoured to have Nadia as a close companion especially when I am down there and see all the wonderful things she is trying to do for Chandler. She works for the city and deals with finding solutions to some of the town's bigger issues. She is a wonderful role model for the younger generation as she is extremely intelligent, young, motivated and and influentual part of the community. She in a way is living a part of my dream, with a house near the beach, and one day soon, a cabin in the woods. (So far they have the pontoon boat so it is a start!) In the warmer months her and her partner go back of the woods to their pontoon, canoe down the west river, spend a day at the beach, ride her aunt's horses or travel up to the city of Gaspe for a festival. They also host numberous bonfires in the back yard with friends and family. In the winter months they ski-doo up to the woods to his families chalet where they stoke up the wood stove and spend weekends. Most people have to go away on vacation to experience these things, but she is fortunate enough to have this as part of her everyday life.

One word to the wise, do not go up for hunting season if you yourself are not a hunter and are a tourist. The town empties as all the men go up to the hunting cabins back in the woods (with a few women and children following) leaving only the elderly and some of the wives and offspring. If you walk through the plaza during hunting season, it gives you an eerie feeling. A few years ago I went up for Thanksgiving and would visit family and friends at night. I saw the same scene in every household; the women crowded around a CB radio as the men would announce who got a moose from their cabins which would be followed by the women getting onto the phone relaying the information. Nothing else exsists during hunting season! Tourists come from all over the world to hunt in the Gaspe peninula forests. You also can't beat the scenery at that time of year. Uncle Robert often will walk up to the hydro lines every Fall to take pictures. The colours are spectacular and the view of the Bay is breath taking. Uncle Rob, if you are reading this, can you please forward some of those pictures to me and I will be sure to post them on this site. I do have a site also on webshots with a few pictures from my last trip to the coast this summer. I hope to add some more in the weeks to follow.

This my first experience at blogging so we will see how this works out for me! I received my inspiration from the place I spent many summers and a gentleman who has a blog dedicated to clear Wilbert Coffin's name (http://stoddardsviews.blogspot.com). For those not familiar with the case, Wilbert Coffin was hanged February 9th, 1956 for allegedly murdering three Americans in the woods of Gaspe, Quebec. This hits close to home as my roots are in the Gaspe Peninsula. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, I spent every summer there in my younger years. The moment school gave out in the summer, I would make my way down to Pabos Mills and tour the coast visiting friends and family till the end of August.

Wilbert Coffin was a name I heard many times and was always followed by "they hung an innocent man". It was not until I was older that I started asking older family members questions. The internet is also a wonderful thing when you have questions. According to my mother, her father worked in the Murdochville Mines at the same time as Wilbert Coffin and knew him briefly as my grandfather was an explosives expert and Mr. Coffin was a prospector. Grandpa never talked about him unless he had been drinking. When he did talk all he would say was that Mr. Coffin was innocent and everyone knew it. He was a scapegoat for the quebec government at the time.

Upon a visit to family in the Coast this summer, I was told my great aunt dated Wilbert Coffin for a brief time in her younger years. For some reason the older generation down there are more tight lipped than people from my generation. I urge anyone who reads this to visit Lew Stoddard's website and inform yourselves of the injustice that this man experienced. Not only in memory of him but for the surviving members of his family who are desperately fighting to clear his name.

The Gaspe Coast is a very tight knit community where a stranger is made to feel at home. It is not uncommon to be on the train from Montreal to one of the small towns and meet up with distant relatives and friends. Everyone cares and looks out for one another and this is the case with the Coffin family's plight. I go onto www.gogaspe.com once in a while and there is always some event posted to raise money for the Coffin's families legal efforts. That is a true testament of a community getting together to help one in need! I have lived in many places growing up (Montreal, Peterborough, Alexandria, Ottawa and Chesterville) and no community has shown as much support for one another as the small seaside villages in the Peninsula. That is the very reason it is so near and dear to my heart regardless how far I may live away. You can take the girl out of Gaspe but you cannot take Gaspe out of the girl!