Monday, December 19, 2011

CMC: Canoeing on Thetis Lake

This is part of my Christmas Memory Challenge, a goal I set for myself to recall 25 things I love about Christmas. You can also check out Shannon's memories here.

It started as a way to get us out of the house and out from underfoot while the dinner cooked. Decked out in Santa hats and carrying various bells, we'd strap our red canoe to the top of the car and make our way over to Thetis Lake (the closest lake to my dad's house).

We'd put the canoe in and paddle both the upper and lower lakes. Save for a few walkers we'd see from afar, we usually had the place to ourselves. When we did chance near enough the shore to speak with the walkers, we'd wish them a Merry Christmas and sing a carol as we parted ways. It never failed to elicit a smile from those we met. Then we'd stop in the middle of the lake and just enjoy the calm and silence... until one of us got antsy and we'd start shaking the bells and singing another carol.

Of course, our favourite year was when my dad got a little too excited about the bell shaking and sent our pole of bells flying into the lake and then almost tipped the canoe tyring to grab them before they sank to the bottom. We call that the jingle, jingle, oops! incident!

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