The Big Apple ... North

Ah.  The sights and sounds and smells of Christmas were all very different for us this year.  Our Christmas in Toronto with Dayna and Elliott was a lot of fun.  We flew in on the 22nd, checked into our hotel and immediately put Harry to bed.  He was down with a fever and chills from a bad cold and an ear that wouldn't pop after being in the airplane.  He really didn't feel well.  Awwww......

Wednesday we hung out at Dayna and Elliott's house nursing harry back to health.  We did some last minute grocery shopping and played team Scrabble in the evening.  The boys won.  Of course, the fact that Dayna and I drew only vowels in turns 7-12 aided their victory!

On Christmas Eve we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario and saw the Tutahnkamen exhibit.  It was great.  Dayna especially liked the sarcophagus for the pet cat (a Siamese cat, of course!)  She went home and told Saul (her Siamese cat) all about the sarcophagus she would design for him.   We had a good laugh over that!!  Saul seemed fully un-impressed. 

Christmas Eve evening we spent with their friend Sean and his parents (Dayna and Elliott's "ontario parents".)  It was so nice to finally meet them.  We made homemade pizzas and just gabbed the night away.  This has been their (Sean, Dayna & Elliott's) tradition for the past 4 years.

Christmas Day was spent at Dayna and Elliott's apartment.  We played Starfarers of Catan all afternoon.  Harry made his traditional clam chowder for supper, then we spent the evening playing another round of Starfarers. 

One of their neighbours stopped in with gifts for Dayna and Elliott and then stayed for the rest of the evening, too.  These are the kind of gifts artists give each other ...

... homemade paper mustaches, complete with double-sided tape for wearing!

Boxing Day (the 26th) we were absolutely crazy and went to the Eaton Centre (mega downtown mall).  You have to realize, of course, that Boxing Day is our "Black Friday" -- the biggest shopping day of the entire year.  The mall was literally wall-to-wall people but I was only interested in seeing the 20-foot Swarovski Christmas tree.  Beautiful!  And sparkly!!

See all those people hanging around?  Twice as many were actually inside the stores!  We lasted about 30 minutes in the mall before escaping back out to Queen Street for some good old-fashioned "window shopping".  Queen Street is full of interesting, unique shops and eateries.  The rest of the day was spent strolling up and down the street, in and out of shops.

Dayna had to work on the 27th, so Elliott, Harry and I went for a leisurely brunch.  We hopped a cab back to the apartment.  Soon after, I discovered my wallet was missing - presumably left in the cab.  Fortunately I only carry a few essential cards when travelling --  license, Visa, bank card.  I called VISA and cancelled my card.  My bank card is microchipped so that was not usuable to anyone but me.  The other fortunate thing is that I never keep my Social Insurance Card, my Citizenship Card, and my health insurance card in my wallet.  Instead I keep them in a seperate very small card wallet.  So that meant I still had one piece of photo ID (my citizenship card) to get me back on the airplane!  Yay!   Yesterday I went out and got new bank cards and a replacement license.  I just hope that the person who found my wallet guiltily enjoyed the $200 cash that was in it!!

All in all, though, it was a great trip.  It was so good to be able to spend Christmas with Dayna and Elliott in their home.  Other highlights of the time together -- be careful when juggling fresh eggs:

(Yeah this is blurry, but in my defense, I was laughing pretty hard when I took it!)

And ... watch your mailbox for an email from Saul!!

Sugar and Spice and everything nice

It's Christmas time again and for Linda and I that means BAKING!  Every year we put together goodie boxes for 15 (or more) friends.  We spend 2 days baking and 1 day packaging ... and that's what we've been up to for the past 3 days. 

Linda (of course!) chooses time-intensive goodies -- "otherwise they wouldn't be special!"  And for this year's boxes we needed 930 portions!  (By the way, I just added that up.  If I'd done that beforehand I probably would have found the adventure way more intimidating!)  This is what that much baking looks like:

The plastic containers have at least 3 layers of goodies each!

Our boxes have three layers, too:

We fill the boxes "assembly-line" style.  Anthony helped by putting in the dividers!

  

The finished boxes:

Recipients this year, get to nibble on Fudge, Rice Krispie Bites, Cream mints, Coffee Meringues, Chocolate Swirl Toffee, Peanut Butter Balls, and Rum Balls.

I decided, too, over the last 3 days that Linda is amazing!  She hauled two little boys in to town every day, baked all day, kept the boys occupied, happy and fed.  She even managed to fit in a Christmas appearance at Grandma Pilats' school and an obstetrical appointment.  Did I mention that she did all of this while being 5 months' pregnant?! 

And if that wasn't enough, she whipped up some gingerbread and slapped together a gingerbread box for Anthony to decorate:

 

It may not win any competition, but Anthony thinks, "It's beautful, Oma!"

So, another year of Christmas baking completed.  Tomorrow and Sunday we'll deliver the treats -- that's always fun!

P.S.  If I don't smell something sweet for a few days, that's just fine!!

Twinkling Lights

I love Christmas lights.  One of my favourite December activites is going for a drive after dinner to look at Christmas lights.  I like community light displays.  I like lights on the houses.  I like lights in trees.  I love driving through the country and seeing Christmas lights in the distance on a farm house -- I may not be able to see the house, but the lights show me it's there.

The days this time of year are so short.  Especially here in the north.  It's dark so early and stays dark so late in the morning.  Then comes the Christmas season and there are lights everywhere.  It's always been a sort of reminder for me that the Christmas season is, in fact, about light.  What better way to remember that in this dark time of the year we are celebrating  the coming of the Light of the World.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light

-Isaiah 9:2a