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December 29, 2006
Thank You, Santa
Our Christmas holiday with Bev, Colleen, Jorge, and the rascally pups went beautifully (and too quickly). We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.
The snow arriving on Saturday meant a gorgeous winter wonderland all around, without a worry that they'd have trouble on the road up here Sunday. (They had similar luck on the way home - we got another 4 inches of snow on Boxing Day night, after they were safely home.) Richard made an amazing Christmas Eve dinner, a special ham following the tradition of my family, with mashed potatoes, squash baked with brown sugar and spices, grilled peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, and zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, and sauteed green cabbage. The man knows how to make vegetables to die for, and our honey-baked ham was well worth the expense. Mmm.
We followed that up with various Christmas treats that Bev, Richard and I had made, and then drove into town to work off the excess with an hour walk through the Wildlights display at the wildlife centre. It was an even bigger show than last year and with a slight wind blowing the tree branches, all the LED-lit trees looked magical. It wasn't too cold, either, hovering just around zero for most of their three-day visit.
We got up Christmas morning to presents under the tree from Bev, Colleen and Jorge, as well as Jorge's parents, and a bow marking a very special belated present to ourselves that we're picking up tomorrow. Then Richard made eggs Benedict with the leftover ham and we sat around feeling decadent and relaxed until noon, when Richard went to take a nap and the rest of us took the pooches out for a walk in the snowy meadow.
Poor Grizzly didn't enjoy donning his dog booties but soon got the hang of it, and they helped keep the snow from matting in his curly hair. He still needed a few minutes under a blow dryer when we got back to the house. The snow was just deep enough to make walking a bit of a slog so we had to cut it short, but I bet Jorge got some stunning photographs. Then it was time to leave the dogs in the yard and go visit the llamas, goats, and sheep. We had lots of vegetables, alfalfa, and fruit for them, and they swarmed the fence, even giving Colleen a kiss. Bev learned just how bad llama breath can get when we let Coco indulge in too much alfalfa and she spattered us with a wet green sneeze. Bleh. Buddy wasn't interested in the food so much as visiting. He stuck close to me on the way back to our gate and insisted on being let in once the dogs were back in the house. We let the llamas wander around out back while Grizz kept an eye on them from the windows.
When we got back Richard had finished deboning the turkey and it wasn't long before we sat down to a traditional turkey dinner. Richard made his cranberry-apple-pecan stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie (more brown sugar and spices), gravy from the turkey bones he cooked all day, carrots, peas, and brussel sprouts, and cranberry sauce. And, since my attempt at stringing cranberries to decorate the light above the table had ended in a tablecloth catastrophe, he used the string of cranberries to decorate the platter instead. He also dried mandarins for a garnish, and the rich colours on the plate were just gorgeous.
Later, for dessert we made plum pudding - which includes neither plums nor pudding in it, mind you - with custard and ice cream, and watched a movie with half an eye while catching up with each other and ogling magazines full of decorating ideas. Very relaxed, snug and warm... I'd wished going into the holidays that we had a fireplace in the living room next to our tree, instead of our ugly metal shelving holding our media stuff, but curled up on the couches with the dogs on cushions at our feet and the tree twinkling in the corner, lights on the trees visible outside and snow all around, it was very cosy and Christmasy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, when our New Year's guests arrive to enjoy the same all over again. There will be six of us a least, possibly more, and Richard is planning another decadent meal (if you're not coming you're missing out on perfect prime rib, just so you know!). We might also get Rob's pool table in the basement set up, and then there's that present of ours arriving tomorrow to play with. Might even go to Wildlights again. It's going to be another wonderful weekend!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!
Posted by anita at 11:23 AM | Comments (3)
December 23, 2006
Happy Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! Much love and joy this holiday and all the best in the New Year from Richard and I.
Habitually I would be posting a lot of photos this time of year - all the snow we've had, the extra efforts we've gone to around the house with decorations and lights, since we're hosting family and friends - but sadly, my ISP still has not fixed my upload problem. As I write this I'm unsure I can even get it to post.
But, we've got so much to be merry about this Christmas, after a very difficult December, that I have to share the news:
First, Richard, who has been devastated by one setback after another at work this month, has recovered his optimism this week: he has sold 3 more Unimogs! The commissions from those will make the New Year bright despite the eventual phase out of his job in the next 3 to 6 months. (More on that if/when we talk in person.)
Secondly, it is SNOWING! After a warm week that has melted much of the two feet of snow we got weeks ago, we woke up this morning to a fresh winter wonderland. And a day early, so that our family can drive here safely tomorrow.
And last but not least, the fact that Richard's family is joining us for Christmas, and that for the first time in years our financial situation is fairly rosy, has made it a lot easier to get into the Christmas spirit, for Richard especially. He's been slaving in the kitchen this morning, preparing for two Christmas feasts, and I'm about to take over to make gingerbread. Outside, we've put up lots of lights on our trees and across the front of the house, I made my first ever from-scratch wreath with materials from our garden, and the fresh snow is making everything prettier by the minute. Thank you, Santa, for the snow!
We'll be warm and happy and very well fed with family and friends this holiday. We wish the same to all of you! Cheers!
Posted by anita at 10:35 AM | Comments (3)
December 1, 2006
December
I'm having technical problems with my blog... A post of almost equal length that I wrote after a trip to the post office on the 29th disappeared as if it never existed when I got up yesterday morning. And of course after successfully posting that morning without the usual glitches, I was over-confident and did not copy it to my text file. When I read the post as it came up on my home page yesterday, I noticed an error that I'd fixed immediately the day before. So I hit refresh, and the post was gone. I wonder if anyone else even saw it? I described driving home on the highway with snow floating across the surface of the road, like driving on a plateau of cloud. So frustrating when this happens. It's hard enough to get entries to save without them disappearing afterwards!
Anyway, I just wanted to say that except for a glorious sunny break in the afternoon yesterday, it's been snowing lightly on and off the past couple of days, and it's coming down quite thickly now. No return of the hoarfrost, but Wednesday night's snowfall left all the trees covered as well as the rooftops, so it's whiter than ever out there. A neighbour kindly used his little bobcat to plow my driveway and it was much less nerve-wracking getting my post office run done last night. We'll have to get him and his girlfriend a bottle of something.
In other news, Jonathan came over to borrow our compression fitting crimper, which meant a foray into our shell of a master bathroom full of beautiful fixtures in their boxes, tile samples, under-floor heating pad heating nothing, gorgeous 5' wide plastic-sheathed shower... sigh. It's hard to believe this time last year I thought I'd have a completed ensuite by Christmas. Given the chilly weather, though, our next project really must be insulating the basement!
Oh, and the best news of all: Warren and Melissa are the proud parents of a baby boy. Richard got to meet young Gavin last night. He's healthy and apparently very cute. Congratulations!! We look forward to the advent of your blog with baby photos!
Wow, the snow is really coming down. I checked the forecast earlier and they mentioned flurries but this is intense. And they changed the longterm, from cloudy and warmer to cooler and snowier. You know me, I love snow, but I want this to come at Christmas - I'm afraid our share of snow for the season has already fallen, and then some. It would be such a shame for it to be green and wet again on Christmas day this year. Especially when we're looking forward to having Richard's family join us this year. And of course, our New Years party will be dull without a winter wonderland to play in! We certainly could have built a hockey rink in our back yard last week, but the chances of that kind of cold for New Years Eve are looking pretty slim now. Contrary to what you might thing, this is NOT normal weather for this area in the first months of winter. But I'm not complaining, I love it. Down on the coast it's warming up and rainy, slushy, damp and gloomy... I don't envy that at all. Here it's bright and crisp and at -7 this morning, hardly feels cold at all because it's so dry. It's a good start to December.
Posted by anita at 8:08 AM | Comments (3)