Twas the Day Before Christmas...

When all through the malls,
The crowds were hustling and bustling,
Stressing about...

I host my family Christmas Eve dinner. It's quite the event. This year the house sparkled and shone. There are sparkles on my mantle, on the banister, on the tree and little sparkly things that have trudged all through the house.

We were expecting 19 for dinner so the dinner table is quite cosy and tight.  We don't eat meat on Christmas Eve; it's seafood galore. Because it's a fishy meal, it's best to buy some of the fish day of so I had to run to the grocery stores in the morning. I hate crowds so lucky for me there weren't many people out shopping yet. I did find a lone cent in lying on the floor in one of the grocery stores I went to.  The year of the penny was 1972 which also happens to be the only year I went to see a department store Santa and had my photo taken with him.

For anyone interested in what was on the menu this year I made a fabulous mushroom soup, salmon with Hollandaise sauce, pickerel, shrimp, muscles in a white wine sauce, rice, three types of pierogi (I didn't make them), herring (delicacy made by my sister-in-law), vegetable salad made by the same (sister-in-law), yummy fried white fish (made by my mother-in-law), holiday salad (made by a close friend who always joins our Christmas Eve celebration with her family), and grilled peppers with pesto and feta cheese (delicious dish made by my other other sister-in-law). Lots and lots of wine and beer and other alcoholic beverages were consumed.

We had many desserts for Santa to choose from: we had two types of cheese cake, lemon tarts, apple cake, many different types of cookies and white chocolate and cranberry cake (I made the cake - I'm not a baker so although it tasted good, I couldn't get it out of the pan).

Gifts were opened, laughter, warmth and love of family was shared all about.

Hope your Christmas was as enjoyable as mine and your family is as wonderful and loving as I am blessed to have.

"... and heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight..

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

The forgotten find

I totally forgot to write about this find.  This happened last week. I was walking at lunch time with one of my work friends along King Street. We were heading to the book store. She was on a quest and I was joining her. We were heading west, on the south side of King. Just before we hit John Street,  I found a student/senior TTC ticket.  This ticket is worth $1.65. Although it's not a coin, it's still worth something.

The Night Cent

It's days til Christmas and still so many gifts left to buy.  I went to my local mall. I needed a Zellers. I broke one of my Christmas storage containers when I was taking it down from the shelf and needed to replace it. On my way from my car to the store I found a 1985 penny in the parking lot.

 And my luck continued. Zellers, much to my delight, was having a two for one sale on their Rubbermaid containers so I got a couple plus some goodies for my pooch for Christmas. Plus, I found a stocking stuffer for my husband. He needs a new wallet and is quite picky about them so when I left Zellers and went wandering through the mall, I found a leather wallet with all the features he likes, plus it was on sale.

This was a good day.

Monday break cent

The Boomtown Rats sang about not liking Monday's. Ok, the song was about about a girl who shot a bunch of people at her school cause she didn't like Mondays but I think Mondays are not so bad, they just seem to come around very quickly.

Yes, I'm tired on a Monday and have a hard time hauling my butt out of bed and scramble out of the house, rushing to the train station hoping I don't miss it. On the plus side, most Monday's I find a  "copper" or two, like today.

I went on a my morning break with a co-worker - she needed stuff from one store, I needed stuff from the drug store so she did her thing and I did mine. I happen to have needed chips today - it's just that kind of day. Pringles were on sale so I bought the healthy type - multigrain cheddar and also regular Pringles. As I was paying for them I spotted a penny by the check out next to the one I was at. No one claimed it so I gracefully swooped down and nabbed that cent. Now that 1973 penny has joined the rest of my collection.

Saturday Cent

Christmas is fast approaching and I have lots of Christmas shopping to do. Saturday (December 17) I psyched myself and headed to the mall. I usually try to avoid the mall on a Saturday especially a Saturday, one week before Christmas. I hate crowds and let me tell you the parking lot was busy and the mall even busier.

I coerced my daughter to come with me and we went out in the afternoon. We found a parking spot - no problem. As we walked toward the mall from the parking lot we had to cross a road. It was on the road that a spotted a very worn 1986 penny. Nearly got hit by a car picking that sucker up.

We had a mission so the plan was to be in and out as quickly as possible. I bought my daughters silver sequence tops for the holidays. They will sparkle for our Christmas Eve family dinner which is important this year as this year's family dinner party has a theme - sparkle and bling. We got a couple other things and left before the crowds really annoyed us.

Manic Monday

So, today I drove into work with my husband. We were a little late leaving the house which meant that I just missed my train and would have been late.

The drive in was great - not a lot of traffic. We flew downtown and I was even early. No coins were found on my way in but I did find a quarter on my lunch time. I decided to do some Christmas shopping at lunch and had a mission. I headed west on King and north on Peter - destination The Gap on Queen Street.  I was on Peter, just south of Queen by the side of the building that houses the Gap and I found a 2006 quarter.  This made me very happy.

Fabulous Friday

Friday (December 9) I had a fabulous day.

My husband's car  is still getting beautified. He had the day off and drove me to the train station. I got off at my usual stop and took my usual route to the office which means I take the stairs from back road to Front Street and jay walk across Front Street. I avoid crowds that way and the street isn't that busy in the morning. I often cut across this parking lot on the north east corner of Front and Simcoe. I an empty spot facing Simcoe I found a 1940 Canadian penny.

Later, I was meeting a friend for lunch. We were going to this Korean place on Queen Street. We were heading north on Duncan Street when  I spotted a 2010 dime in a crevice between sidewalk. It was found on the east side of Duncan, just north Adelaide.

My grand total for Friday was 11 cents.

Not another manic Monday or Tuesday.

Yesterday (Monday) was a horrible day. It was a grey, rainy day - bleh. That was the yucky part of the day. On the bright side of the day,  I found 20 cents - a 2011 Canadian dime and a 1966 US dime.

My husband's car is in the car plastic surgery shop. Yup, that's what you call it when the car is getting some minor body repair work and a paint job. We're making this old car look new(er). So while it's getting done, we have to commute together which means we drive to the subway - he takes the TTC and I  take the GO - both are available at the same same location. While I was walking from the car to the station, lying beside some black car, in a bit of water (water cause it's raining) were the two dimes.

Today (Tuesday) I had my night course - final exam. Yup, it was difficult but somehow I muddled through. After the ordeal of writing the test, I was walking to the GO bus stop. On the south side of King Street, across from St. James Park (nice to see the Occupy tents gone and the now muddy park), right beside a parking metre was another US dime - 1965 tonight.

30 cents in two days - not bad.

Cash out pennies

I have a weekly lunch date with a friend. We used to work together many years ago. We still work for the same company but in different offices now. Our offices are across the courtyard from each other so we meet weekly to eat, catch up, gossip and sometimes, if there's time, we shop. We usually meet on a Thursday or Friday and have our staple of local restaurants we hit.

On Friday (December 2) we met at our usual Japanese place. Food is good, cheap and fast. There's the odd item on the menu that's so-so like their tempura (I think they cook it ahead of time and let it sit so by the time you get it, it's warm (not hot) and soggy.  The service is fast so often we have shopping time once we're done eating. On this date, we went to a discount book shop (BMV). I did buy a book - a hardcover version of Stephen King's On Writing for $4.99. After I had paid for my book, I looked down and found a 1999 penny by the check out. It was so shiny, it looked new.

Today (December 4), my mother-in-law (MIL) and I went to visit my mom who's currently in the hospital. The visit was pleasant. The mother's were exchanging growing up on a farm in Eastern Europe stories amongst others. After the visit, MIL and I popped into a grocery store. I needed to pick up a couple of things. The grocery store was huge - one I'd never been to before but we pass it en route to the hospital.  I picked up what I needed and went to the self checkout. When I was picking up my items off the check-out thingy, I spotted a shiny 2007 penny - it looked brand new. It wasn't my penny - must have been dropped by a previous shopper. I'm surprised that sensor didn't sense that penny lying there. That thing usually senses everything.

Coin find catch up Part III

I've been so busy this last week and half that I haven't had a chance to write about my great finds. I wish I could be cloned so one of me could do all that I have to do and the other me could do all that I want to do.

Last Wednesday (November 23), I found four pennies. I went for morning break with a co-worker for a walk. She needed to do some banking and the bank (Scotiabank) is about three blocks from where we work. While she was in the bank doing her thing, I waited outside. This bank is on the northeast corner of Queen and McCaul so while I was wandering, checking out local eatery menus I found a 1982 penny in front of the bank.

Later that same day, I was walking with a couple co-workers at lunch time. There's an outdoor parking lot on the corner of Mercer Street and Blue Jays Way. On the Mercer Street sidewalk, in some dirt by the parking lot I found three pennies: a shiny new 2011 penny,  nondescript 2007 and 1986 pennies.

Monday (November 28) started off well enough. I got up in plenty of time, got ready quickly and had time to kill so I decided to do some stuff and next thing you know, I'm rushing out the door cause now I'm late. And guess what - yes I just missed my train. Hate when that happens. Anyway, now I have time to kill before the next train comes so I decided to go to the newspaper boxes and get the free papers when I noticed a 2007 penny by the middle entrance to the train platform.

Then on Tuesday, on my way to work, after leaving the train station and walking along that back road toward my destination, I found a TTC token. That sucker is worth just under $3. That was a good find!

Tonight was the last night of one of my night courses. We had the final exam and it was brutal. It's been a long time since I've had to write an exam and this was a tough one. A bunch of us were going for a post exam drink to a pub that's right across the street from the college. On the street, right by the sidewalk in from of the pub, I found a shiny new 2011 penny. It was a little worn around the edges, I guess from all the cars that would have driven over it.