Holidays

How time flies! We have had a most wonderful Christmas. My Mom arrived from Toronto on the 18th and she just mucked right in with whatever was going on. I took her shopping, to pottery class, to a "yoga girls" lunch, got her swimming at the pool, and back to pottery to pick up things that had been fired.(We even got her to mass on the 24th!) And all with lots of laughter! Kieran and his girlfriend Ashley arrived by plane on the 23rd and Barb arrived at about 2:30 that same day ( after not getting on the ferry by 7 cars and then the next sailing was 1/2 an hour late!) The wind picked up and we lost power for about 3 hours, it came back on just in time for dinner!Christmas eve saw us doing our traditional chocolate fondue and decorating the gingerbread cookies then the reading (by me) of the book The Polar Express. I have been reading it every Christmas eve since Gwen gave it to my children in 1993 and now that the children are much older they watch me to see when I will start to cry! Well this year it was hard to get the last page read through the tears! Christmas Day saw Fred making waffles(he's a master!) and Barb and I whipped up a fruit salad. Presents were open with leisure and once the turkey was in Barb, Mom and I (and Casper) went for a walk to the beach. It turned out to be a rather cool, blustery walk but we saw the seals and an eagle flying with a fish so it was worth it. Christmas dinner was a great success with 14 of us sitting around the table. Barbs stuffing was a hit with everyone, and the turkey was tender.(we had a little trouble with the brussel sprouts not wanting to cook but we ate them anyway and nobody else seemed to notice!) I got Barb turn on to a game call Bazzar(while Fred and my Mom played scrabble) and we had some good laughs over it! Kieran and Ashley flew out on the 26th and Caitlin and Bronwynne caught a ride to Victoria with friends. The rest of us did the usual Boxing day shopping. Barb and Mom left for Barbs on the 27th. It was truly a wonderful time had by all but we did feel our losses, my Dad and Molly were close to our hearts this season.