Christmas 2008 Letter

Bonjour! Joyeuses Fêtes de la MacGrandle famille

Christmas is here and there's merriment everywhere!
As you relish the goodies, decorate every nook and corner of

your home and enjoy get-togethers…

Celebrate the joys of this magical holiday season and have

fun with friends and family.

May the joy and festivities continue to radiate in your lives, long after Christmas is gone. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

David, Natalie, Alex, Maddie & Andrew

2008 MAC LIFE HIGHLIGHTS

When we look back the one word we will use to describe 2008 is BUSY. That may have been the same word used to describe 2007, but you get the point. We’ve had a happy, busy year in the Mac House! Although, we’d love to call each and every one of you personally to get your family updates and share ours, I realize busy schedules work against us so here is my best effort to bring you up to speed.

We are still living in Oakville, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. A-mac calls it our temporary relocation facility.

We rang in the 2008 New Year with a trip to New York. Big D , A-mac, Lil' Lefty and MacDaddy were among the 71,000+ people in attendance for the Winter Classic…aka The ICE BOWL, a professional NHL outdoor hockey game at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, played by the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburg Penguins. MacDaddy, a huge Sydney Crosby fan, was thrilled with the outcome of the game. A Penguin win! Thanks to Sid the Kid in an OT shoot out. I met Big D and the kids in Niagara Falls and we checked into Sheraton on the Falls and spent 2 days at the Fallsview Indoor Water Park.

The winter months brought lots of snow, a new Mac bus, hockey, softball and baseball practices and lots of check writing for both ball and hockey. Add fundraising to the mix for all three Rep Ball teams.

We managed to squeeze in our 2nd Annual Beach/ Baseball Spring Training Trip over March break. Summer travels found us in Cleveland, Toledo, Niagara Falls, Chambersburg, PA, DC, Napanee, Ontario and NYC.

In the late summer, we started our own MacGrandlesRUS Blog, http://www.macgrandle.com, as a place to connect all the pictures we take, remember our experiences, show what we have learned and tell our story.

MacDaddy, our baby, is now 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. He is growing like a string bean, proud that he has lost 6 teeth (at a cost of $30 total from the tooth fairy) and has 2 more loose, and just recently got glasses for reading. Speaking of reading, he still is not a big fan, unlike his sisters. Thank goodness for Ready Freddy and Stink books. Reading and writing… he does it because he has to. It must be a boy thing.

He played his first season of rep baseball for the Oakville A’s May-September. He played 2 games a week with neighboring cities and traveled within in Canada to participate in one tournament a month. He had a blast! His team finished third in the province of Ontario at Provincials over Labor Day. If he is not on the ball diamond, he is on the ice. He continues to play and enjoy hockey.















MacDaddy lives to play. He is usually outside with friends riding his bike, playing street hockey, soccer, baseball or basketball from the time he gets home from school until dinner. You will also find him inside playing Wii and listening to his IPOD. His favorite Wii games are Star Wars and Mario Cart Wii. MacDaddy and Big D have just framed the backyard ice rink and are awaiting Canada’s frigid temps to stay below freezing so that they can flood the rink. Soon Mac pond will become the center of winter play.
Lil"Lefty is in 5th grade and is about to celebrate her 10th Birthday with a surprise party. She loves school and is a social bee. She is quite the chatter box. I’m about to nickname her Pokey. She does nothing quickly. While she does things at her own speed, they are always done to perfection. She has learned the meaning of “Put it in Gear”. She likes French, Math and writing stories and songs (but is timid about sharing them).

She played girls hockey for the Oakville Hornets and her team the Shamrocks (they looked more like Christmas trees) won silver in her age group. One season of hockey was enough for her. She has hung up her skates and told us it’s not her thing.

Lil' Lefty played her 2nd season of rep softball with the 10U Mite Oakville Angels. She loves playing softball (dislikes practicing especially indoors). She loves to be on the pitching mound. She likes to hear the ump call her favorite word…STRIKE! She led her team to numerous victories and won 6 medals, including her very first gold medal. Eleven months of practice and tournament play ended with the 2008 Ontario Provincial Tournament in Brampton in August.

Lil' Lefty was disappointed to win a repeat Silver at Provincials. She really wanted to win gold. She says, “silver is good, but gold is best.” Icing on the cake this season, was that she was named MVP of the PWSA Mite Provincial Tournament. I can still remember her frown from winning silver turning into a huge grin when the announced her name after the last tournament game and handed out her award. She was happy and proud! Big D got dirt in his eyes.

A-mac is 12 and in the 7th grade now, even though she acts like a mature old person. Sometimes. She played her second year of rep softball for the Oakville Angels Novice, one level up, which means she’s pretty good. A-mac continues to do well in school, and loves being able to switch rooms for rotary and have multiple teachers. This year she was elected School Ambassador by the school principal and faculty. She is a member of the student council, the volleyball team, battle of the books team and chess club.

She also played hockey for the Oakville Hornets Blue Thunder. She decided not to play this winter because all her teammates moved up to the next age level. She wanted to play with her teammates or not at all. Playing up was not an option, especially with only one season of hockey under your belt. That means she is not that good!

If A-mac isn’t at school, playing softball, doing homework, or complaining about emptying the dishwasher (mind you besides making her bed, this is her only chore), she’s probably on the computer. She likes keeping in touch with all of her friends and family through msn, email and face book (add her!) and she likes playing those time wasting and addicting flash games. Basically, A-mac continues to be awesomer by the second.

Trust me when I say, I didn’t write most of A-mac's blurb! Thought, I’d let her give it a try this year. Truly, I must say I am excited that she doesn’t suffer from low self esteem.

Big D continues to enjoy his current position as CFO at Fusepoint. David is the biggest fan of all three kids and says he realized a year ago that his hobby is now activities with his kids. He is thrilled that all of his children still share his passion and enthusiasm for baseball.

Me, I am the Mac Glue. I am MOM, the most popular choice for general purpose adhering of the Mac Family. Like white glue, I am non toxic and odorless (at least 99% of the time). I am a mom with many hats… taxi driver, cook, party planner and unlicensed psychologist (especially with 2 girls in the house), and feel like I run a 24 hour laundry mat. I am always helping with fundraising for at least one of the ball teams and serve on the board of the American Woman’s Club of Oakville.

Needless to say, if you are reading the MAC blog and wondering if it was posted by MacMom or Big D?…if it is about ball or the weather… and there a lot of dot… dot… dots… chances are Big D wrote it.

We encourage and welcome you to visit our “BUSY” as we update the Mac Family blog through 2009. Drop us an email at david@macgrandle.com We look forward to hearing from y’all.

Merry Christmas and all the best to you in 2009.