Christmas 2008

Christmas was a little crazy this year. First there was the party with my dad's side of the family. It was out in the country at my cousin's boyfriend's house. There was pool and ping pong and darts and air hockey, food and wine and beer, and a silly gift exchange.



Next we had dinner with A&S and S&L. Good food, good company, cookies by the fire. A&S even surprised us with a gift each. J and I scored a crock pot! I've wanted one for a long time.



Christmas Eve we chose to skip a family dinner with J's family and instead go to LB's house for a dinner party. LB's family has a tradition where they get a bottle of vodka and go around the table during dinner doing shots until the bottle is gone. J, LB, SB's parents, JP and CC did the shots like champs and everyone was quite festive. We had a ton of food, vodka, wine and even saw Santa who came to give LB's 2-year-old son a present. I drove us home on sheer ice.



Christmas Day was busy. I woke up early, super excited to give J his present. Since we bought the piano we decided we weren't getting anything for each other, but I couldn't resist getting J a stuffed Wall-E and Eve from the movie Wall-E. They are so cute. J was surprisingly not hung over, so we headed over to his parent's house pretty early. We opened presents there and then went to his grandparent's house. We saw his whole family and opened more presents.

We left not long after lunch to head to my parent's place. We opened more presents there and had our first turkey dinner. The food was good and it was nice seeing my parents, my brother and his girlfriend and the deer.



After dinner we headed back to J's grandparent's house for another turkey dinner. J ate again like a champ but I couldn't handle more food. We were actually home pretty early, exhausted from the excitement of the day, and all the turkey, and happy to see Sandy.

Boxing Day we avoided the malls but bought some things online. We managed to score another dinner with family, but again were home pretty early to spend some time alone together. Seeing everyone is nice and that's what you do at Christmas, but it's also so nice having some time just lying on the couch in your own house.

Another couple of dinners with J's family to round out the Christmas week, but yesterday it was back to work, for a few days at least. Still trying to figure out plans for New Year's.

Pre-Christmas

The time leading up to Christmas is strange. People get a little crazy and put up all sorts of decorations and lights and start baking like it's their job. They go to malls and spend lots of money, finding that perfect gift. There are lunches and dinners and parties and gift exchanges and get togethers. And it all leads up to one day - Christmas.

Christmas is generally pretty chaotic. It used to be that I would rush home after finishing my last exam, start and finish all my shopping, see as many friends as I could, drink and be merry, and see my family for the traditional things. Things are different now that I'm out of school and living in my home town. I get my shopping done early, I hardly bother with cards and don't bake. I see some friends that come to town but I see more family. We sometimes rush between my family and J's family, but we try to balance the two as best we can.

We slowly get the house decorated for Christmas: putting up lights, putting out some candles, and eventually getting the tree up. The tree isn't a big deal because we don't have many ornaments (can't when you have cats).

I think the biggest thing for me around this time of year is seeing just how cranky people get. It goes against the whole idea of Christmas. I'm not a religious person, nor do I enjoy Christmas carols or eggnog for that matter, but people are just awful around Christmas. Our worlds move so quickly and to add all the obligations this time of year, often not-so-spectacular weather, and the stress of seeing everyone you possibly can... people just lose it. It's interesting.

All that to say, I'm happy it's almost Christmas. I've seen a bunch of family already and will see more in the days to come. I will give gifts and receive some. I'll eat all the turkey I possibly can and groan when my belly is too full. I'll avoid singing Christmas carols.

And then I'll be happy when it's all done and people can go back to being their regular selves, though full of turkey and eggnog.

A week and a bit in pictures

I went to my work's Christmas luncheon. It was at a reception hall down the street. It was incredibly snowy out so the turnout wasn't as great as last year. The food was good though and it was nice to socialize with the people I work with every day.



L&S hosted their annual Christmas party. J dipped into the red wine and showed everyone up at RockBand.



SM is a great host - there was lots of food and drinks and music.



J left Sunday afternoon for a week of training in Markham. I took the opportunity to go to Walmart (J hates Walmart). I drove all by myself (eee!) and roamed around the store. I was able to pick up Christmas presents for my family and didn't punch anyone in the head. Feeling a little more Christmas-y, I decorated the house.



I wasn't entirely alone this week. Monday night A&S came over for dinner and Wednesday night I went to J's grandparent's house for his aunt and uncle's birthday celebration. There was cake and lots of singing.



That night, I got home and parked in the road. It snowed a lot and the plow had come by. I went inside, said hi to Sandy, put on my snowpants and my new boots (thanks SJ!) and headed out. Our neighbours are out of town and we agreed to take care of their driveway and in return they've let us use their snowblower. I've never used one before, but I read the instructions and got it working. Our combined driveways are 4 cars wide and 3 cars long. That's a lot of driveway. I was thinking of just doing a little lane so I could get in and out, but a nice guy came by with his huge snowblower and helped me. In an hour the whole thing was done. And my feet were nice and toasty in my new boots.

After parking the car in the garage, I was getting out and snagged my headphones on part of the door. The earbuds ripped right off the wire. I had to root around to find another set so I wouldn't go crazy at work.



Thursday night after work, I headed into town (away from home) to meet S&L in Chinatown for dinner at Jadeland. It was the most chinese chinese food I've ever had. It was snowing again so driving wasn't the most fun but I got home eventually. Meanwhile J is in Toronto playing with fluffballs. What a tough life.



All in all, not a bad week. I have really great family and friends - thank you for taking care of me this week.

Back at it

I stopped going to the gym when I started training for my half marathon. That was back at the end of June. July, August and September, I ran my little heart out. I ran the race at the end of September then I promptly took up a more sloth-y lifestyle.

My gym membership expired at the end of September and I didn't bother to renew. I wasn't sure at that point what sports I would be doing, whether I would continue running outside all winter. I finally decided to not play hockey or volleyball this winter. I thought about trying a martial art or taking dance lessons, but shied away from both because they are complete unknowns.

Three weeks ago, I decided I would renew my gym membership. I also decided I would try and go to the gym three times a week - on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I managed to go the first Monday and Wednesday but was too sore to go that Friday. Last week I was good and went all three days. It feels nice to work hard and have sore muscles. I didn't realize how much I missed it.

Driving 101

My driving has been steadily improving. This is my last week with J in town so I made a bold statement Monday morning: I was going to drive to and from work each day this week! Monday was a little shaky. Tuesday it snowed and J decided it would be better if he drove. Yesterday was a little better. This morning I had no problem.

Being in stop-and-go traffic for multiple hours in one week is trial by fire. You either get it or you don't. I'm happy to say that I am much more confident driving than I was a week ago.

I even took the car out by myself for about an hour and a half (two 45 minutes trips) last night. My leg is really sore. I've been told you get used to clutching but still get shaky after about 30 minutes of stop and go.

I'm a little embarassed to say that while I was super new, I was completely unable to do anything other than drive. I would do something wrong, ask J why the car was shaking/making that weird noise/bucking around wildly, and not be able to listen to his response. It was sad. But now! Now I can carry on a conversation and the car doesn't suffer the consequences.

I am officially getting there. The true test will be next week when I am left to my own devices. I get nervous just thinking about it....

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

J and I loved the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show last year so when I got an email about pre-sale tickets forever ago, we bought some. Tickets for us and also for SM, LS and S&L.

J and I met S&L for pho before the show. Poor SM was doing a french test so the four of us met SM and LS at the show. We were sitting to the left of the stage, near the front.

The show was similar to last year's but still good. And this year they had a female violinist who was awesome. She made me want to play the violin so I can only imagine what the boys were thinking.

The lights were crazy. I'm almost sure I had a seizure at one point when the bright white lights were flashing.



The best part though was when three of the members of the band "entered the stage" by being lowered down from the rafters on these platforms. That was fun.

I would recommend the show when they come back next year.

4th Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange

This year I decided to do two cookie exchanges - one for my friends and one for my baseball girls. Two Sundays ago was the first of the two with the non-baseball girls. There were six of us, all decked out in red, white and green. It was nice having a smaller group - better conversation and fewer cookies (too many cookies and you end up feeling sick).

The boys were in the basement killing zombies and rocking out, while we were drinking wine, munching on cookies and having a good time. The cookies were incredible. Two cookies tied for first place so when the boys came up they weighed in on the voting and SM and JY ended up figuring out a winner.



Good times.

(Cookie Exchange 2008 - Whole Set)

This past Sunday was the cookie exchange with the baseball girls. Again, there were 6 of us. It was so nice to see the girls again. Lots of the cookies had nuts though so I stuck to three kinds.



(Sharks Cookie Exchange - Whole Set)

My absolute favourite cookie of the year was JK's mint chocolate chip cookies. JK, you are MY winner!

Madly

I have been madly uploading and putting descriptions on pictures so I can post about some of the things I've been doing lately. It's a slow process when you don't do it often. And now it's time for bed SO I will have posts with pictures for you next time.

I'm such a tease.

Believe me

Believe me when I say that I've been busy. I do things, I work hard, I play hard then I come home and do not want to write about it. But I will. So much is going on these days and I think I'm getting sick but I will still go to work and I will still go to the gym and I will still do the million and one things I have to do because that's what you do. And I will tell you about it, at least the summary, at some point. I might even include some pictures, if I get around to uploading them. Oof.