Four Day Christmas

In about twenty minutes, Christmas will officially be over for me. In about twenty minutes, my stepmom, Baby Bro and I will be done watching A Child's Christmas in Wales and with it we will have finished all required Christmas traditions.

It was lovely to spend time with family both in Victoria and Nanaimo. I also got everything I asked for: a housecoat (which I put on hold for my mom to go pick up) and a copy of Romeo Dallaire's They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children (I'm so uplifting in my non-fiction choices). I wanted so much this year ;) We started Christmas Day with our traditional waffle breakfast. Waffles always taste better on Christmas morning, it's a scientific fact! The day was very relaxing and I managed to almost finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest before dinner.

On Boxing Day, full of good food and still humming the tunes of the Chieftan's the Bells of Dublin, my mom and stepdad drove me up to Nanaimo for my second Christmas with my stepmom and Baby Bro. I finally got to play Christmas carols on the piano which pretty much made my Christmas complete.

I've spent the last twenty-four hours relaxing in a very rainy Nanaimo watching BBC's Sherlock (which I can not say enough good things about although the second episode is a little lacking but the first and third totally make up for it and I can't wait for the next mini-series to be released in roughly 10 months because OHMIGAWD can you say annoyingly awesome cliffhanger?!?!? Plus it totally makes me want to read the originals which I'm a little ashamed to say I've never won. Very strange seeing as I love mysteries. At any rate, I'll be checking out some second hand shops for cheap copies.  However, as always, I digress so I'll close these parentheses now) and letting my stepmom win at rummy. It's only fair being Christmas and all that I let her have a little joy when it comes to cards.

We had plans to head out today but when we learned that the Dinghy Dock Pub was actually closed on Mondays, we opted instead to stay inside, drink copious amounts of tea, and make fun of each other because that's how we interact as a family unit.

I would have various pictures to include of all this but, of course, the one thing I forgot when packing was my camera cord. C'est la vie! I guess I'll just have to drown my sorrows in another cup of tea and an episode of Doctor Who. That's right. We've just officially finished Christmas so now it's back to regular family programming: dinner and then Doctor Who. Some things never change.

102: Stop Buy Cookbooks

I can't believe it is the weekend again already! It's been a busy past week and it's kept me away from the internet more than I was expecting. I never got to talk about my lamb Thanksgiving dinner. That's right, lamb. We're Irish and my dad didn't feel like cooking a turkey. I love lamb; it really has to be in the top three for my favourite meats (along with fresh salmon and Alberta beef). The only downside is that I missed out on the leftover stuffing and turkey sandwiches. Sigh. Christmas isn't too far away so I will get those sandwiches soon :)

Wandering around dad's property

Despite being away from internet, I've been doing a lot of writing via the ancient tradition of using a pen and paper. How quaint, I know! I have a blog post written but I'm waiting for my mom to come home from Nova Scotia so I can use a few of her photos. Even knowing that I was writing it for the blog, there really is something about the act of writing that I love. Computers, for all their ease and speed, will never replace that.

Here's a hint: the post has something to do with Grandpa's farm in Milk River, AB

Tonight is the AGM for Matoto, the non-profit connected to MoonDance. I'm going to go check that out and if it looks like something I want to get involved in then I can cross #23 off 101 in 1001. During morning coffee with a friend (during which we also played rummy... me and my cards!) there was a discussion about a possible cross-Canada road trip in the future. It feels good to know I'm working towards crossing things off the list!

Taking names and kicking ass in Rummy. It's what I do.

As much as I'm trying to cross things off my list, it would help if I stopped buying things that added to it. While in town this morning, I bought another cookbook. It was on sale for $7, how do I say no to that? So that's one more meal that I have to cook for #97. Two steps forward, one step back!