Another Year Almost Done

As Christmas week draws to a close I thought I would take a picture of my "tree" before I pack it away for another year.  With the kids gone as of December 01, I didn't see much use in decorating too much, which makes un-decorating very easy.  And now to put this tree in perspective ...

it sits on my counter.  Above, I put the beautiful Salt and Pepper shakers I rec'd from my YYZ bud this year.  Now you can see the actual size of this Xmas decoration.  It wasn't a big tree but did light up my counter each night during Christmas.

And, although I neglected to take a photo, I had a wonderful Christmas Day meal at the Legaré's house, out on the Old Alaska Highway.  The meal was delicious and it was great to spend time with old friends at this special time of year.  That is what Christmas is all about and although my family was miles away, my heart was warmed by the companionship of friends and their families during this holiday season. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve and was invited to Debbie's house for a family turkey dinner.  The meal was delicious - and it was lovey to enjoy a meal with the family, especially at this special time of year. 

                                      

We had crackers and one of the prizes was a magnifying glass.  This is how close you had to look with this powerful instrument - but it did work.

The best of all was seeing the excitement of Silas and Ella. They were tracking Santa on the iPad, who happened to be in Santiago Chile at that time.  And they could open one gift - both opened a nerf rifle but without batteries could only pretend to shoot bullets.

In his excitement Silas even kissed Ella.  A bit of brotherly love on Christmas Eve.

Winter Solstice

The shortest day - the longest night.  But the sky was clear and the sun was shining in the little time it had to shine.  It was so pretty with the newly fallen snow.  Hope the cooler temperature keeps up.  It is -19°C as I speak and that is the way we want it.  No more 0 or warmer till March please.  And the good news is that after today, our daylight hours get longer and longer and longer .... 

Almost Christmas - December 19

Popped in to the Legaré's house on the Old Alaska Highway for tea this afternoon.  The cold weather has returned as it was around - 14°C.  We had a lovely tea then a wee walk around their immediate property (as someone has a bad hip!!!).  SR phoned while I was there.  He was driving to YVR from Horseshoe Bay and it had snowed 6 inches in one hour and the traffic was at a standstill.  Well, that's Vancouver drivers for you!

December 15 2017

Last Friday, met with Gramma for lunch and touring her around town.  It is hard living in an area with no mode of transportation especially around Christmas.  We both had appointments to keep; ie chiropractor / physio so we both had to be in town in any case.  I pulled out my camera while she did her banking and snapped this photo above on her return.

We have just had - how long has it been now? - two weeks of above 0 temperatures.  This is what is left of winter in downtown Whitehorse.  A pretty sorry site if I do say so myself.  This is also how bright it is at 3:30 PM in the north.

Winter 2017

December 9th ... 4°C and raining.  It looks like dusk at 2 in the afternoon.  Roads are messy, cars even worse ... a steady stream of windshield washer fluid.  Where is winter?  Or perhaps we have been transported down to Vancouver.

Guess who is in town!

I am a week behind in recording this but last Saturday, we had Breakfast with Santa.  I guess since we are so close to the North Pole, this is one of his first stops.  The kids went to Soccer first thing in the morning.  I heard on the radio that this breakfast was happening, so told SR to meet me there after their practice.  It was an event made for kids. The breakfast was Pancakes of course.

The room was festive with the all the Christmas trees from NorthwesTel's Festival of Trees.  We sat by the Canada tree.

And what event could be complete in the north without Can Can Dancers.  (We met one in the bathroom.  She went into a stall and Emerson said "Can Can lady, are you going pee?)

And the finale for the kids was sitting on Santa's knee and having a picture taken.  They were both a little nervous but couldn't pass up the change to sit with the man in red and his wife.

The next stop for us was a craft fair where we met our neighbour Ella selling her earrings.  Lucky Brooke got two pairs as Christmas presents.  Unfortunately I didn't get her earrings in the photo but I can tell you Brooke loved her gifts.

Coco

Went to see Coco last night.  The theatre was filled with kids which should be no surprise as I also went with two of them (plus another adult).  It is a story about:

1.  The importance of respecting your past (relatives)

2.  Following your dream

with lots of minor themes thrown in - ie forgiving, for one.  I think it is a good depiction of the Mexican custom of the Day of the Dead.  It clearly states the importance of the custom as well as taking you to the "other side" where it lets you know how the dead feel as well.  It follows a little boy's desire to become a musician despite his family's wishes.  If you are not Mexican, parts of it can be slightly confusing, especially since you have to follow back through generations and remember who is who.  Not that difficult I guess for adults, but I wondered if the youngsters understood this.  Although there are a lot of skeletons (especially since you cross over into their land) but in true Pixar fashion they become endearing rather than frightening.  The young girl I went with cried a lot although I am not quite sure which parts she considered sad and I think the boy was just happy he went to a movie.  I don't think it is a good movie for young children as although colourful I'm sure they will not understand it.  The more I think about the movie the more I liked it.  I give it 3.5 Stars.

Murder on the Orient Express

This movie, chock full of movie stars, did not receive a good review by the critics - Rotten Tomatoes gave it 58%, Roger Ebert 2/4 (nor audiences) but I went to see it anyway.  It is a classic Agatha Christie story starring Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective.  Although he is looking forward to a holiday and is enjoying reading his Dickens novel, he finds himself on a train with a murder mystery he is asked to resolve.  It is your typical Christie story ... someone is murdered, Poirot questions all the suspects, deduces who the murderer is and gets the suspects together at the end to do the big reveal.  No surprises here.  Although I enjoyed watching it I do not think this production is among the greats in the film industry.  I give it 2-1/2 stars out of 5.  (a moot point:  Poirot's moustache kind of bothered me).  

Loving Vincent

How do I describe this masterpiece of a film.  Over 100 painters worked at recreating many of the paintings of Vincent van Gogh (he painted 800 in his life time and during his life, sold only one!) to create the storyline of the movie ... the mystery of the death of Vincent.  His paintings are animated although there are a few scenes with real actors.  These scenes are in black and white and there is slight movement or shimmer on the scenes making it is difficult to know if it is real or a painting itself.  It is difficult to explain what I watched on screen, so below is a link to Youtube explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOtwJL4iV8s

I sometimes judge a  movie by how many times I look at my watch.  This movie was over before I knew it - not one sneak peak at my watch - and left me wanting more.  Oh yes, one additional suggestion ... see it on a large screen if possible...your eyes will thank you.  I will definitely watch this marvellous creation again and give this movie 5 stars out of 5.

November 10

Getting a bunch of seniors to sit still for a photo is as difficult as getting two 3 year olds to do the same. The plus side is everyone is having fun and that's what counts.  Gail's Birthday dinner was celebrated at Sanchez Cantina tonight.  Great Mexican food, great company and lots of laughs.  Thanks for having a birthday Gail!

November 9

Winter is seeping into the landscape.  Driving to town this morning with slight ice fog in the distance.  Above, the sun it just rising over the trees at 10:00 am.  Weather is a bit cooler now, around the -15°C mark.  It's a good reminder to dress properly.  On the very plus side, the northern lights were spectacular the other night.  They lit up the entire sky.  I'm sure I said this before, but it doesn't matter how long you have lived in the north, even if it is all you life (right SR?) you NEVER tire of the magic of the Northern Lights.

And, being November 9th ...  Happy Birthday Dawson!

Happy Hallowe'en

This is Hallowe'en number 4 for the twins.  Of course, the family comes to my house as I have the busiest Hallowe'en street in the world (I think).  Above is Emerson Batman with Lily Minnie Mouse.  This is what he wore to Day Care and no Debbie, I don't think he is not happy but this is what he looks like when you put a mask over his eyes.  Or maybe this is his tough face???  Alanna was a Flying Unicorn ballerina for Day Care but as soon as she comes to my house she transforms into Princess Allana.

We ate a quick dinner then it was time for another transformation.  Above Brooke is performing magic on Emerson's face.

And this is the result.  Shark Mouth.

And here is the Shark!

Alanna was transformed into another Flying Unicorn (her current favourite thing) and in case you couldn't recognize what she was you just had to read the front of her hoodie.

The family was ready to depart.  The theme was eclectic this year.  Everyone was just whatever they wanted to be.  

And off they went.  

While they were off Trick or Treating, I stayed home to hand out the candies at my house.  

 Last year we have around 100 Kids!!!!  This year we have around 160 Kids!!!!  I think part of the reason our street is so popular is the Haunted House that is just a few houses down from me.  (Lucky me!)

Once home again the kids emptied their jack-o-lantens out to see what they got.  They also helped me hand out the treats to the kids that came to the door.  They each could eat about three small treats before they had to repack their pumpkins.  (If left to themselves of course they would have eaten ALL the candies at once). 

!!! Happy Hallowe'en Everyone !!!

Twins

Brooke had to go to Vancouver for the day yesterday, so I took the kids overnight.  This morning I put on a kid's TV program, gave them their smoothies to finish and told them to go and sit on the couch while I got ready for the day.  When I came back into the living room this is what I saw.  Although they had the whole of the couch and the whole of the living room to sit in, they sat right next to each other.  Yes, they ARE twins!

October 11, 2017

We were lucky.  October 11 came and SR was in town.  

Happy Birthday SR!  

The kids couldn't keep their hands off the gifts.  As soon as they entered the house, he had to sit down and begin opening presents or they would be opened by "someone else".  

Interestingly enough, Alanna was more enthused with the small wands I bought as favours.  Above,  she gave one to her father.

We had a lovely old fashioned dinner of lasagna, Caesar salad, and garlic bread.  I haven't made a dinner like that in years and everyone gobbled it right down.  Then came the cake.

I had help putting the candles on the cake, lighting the candles and the three of us carried the cake from the kitchen to the table while singing Happy Birthday.

And of course SR had help blowing out all those candles.  Cake is always the BEST part of the meal!

And, true to form, is began to snow after dinner, so when they left, we had our first skiff of snow on the ground.  

Thanksgiving 2017

Happy Thanksgiving.  If you've ever followed my pictures, you will recognize this shot as I must have taken 1,000 pictures of exactly this part of the lake.  Spent the day Jackson Lake.

Although it was threatening rain showers when I drove up, the sky cleared and we were able to enjoy some time outside.

SR chopped some wood with two little helpers.

And while he was chopping wood Brooke was inside cooking up a storm. 

Of course, there is always time in a busy schedule for a story or two, especially when you have two avid listeners.

The cabin smelled to good.  Most of the food was local including the turkey. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  It was nice to have Chloe join us for the meal.  She is the twins' new Au Pair.  She fit in well!

As SR lit the fire in the RSF for the night and
as we were waiting patiently for him to return
so we could eat the Pumpkin Pie, the kids got
their first taste of whipping cream shot directly
into their mouths.  THEY LOVED IT and
could have done this all night long.  Dadda
did return and pie was served and they loved that as well.

It is such a great setting for a Thanksgiving Feast. Great idea Brooke and SR. Thanks for the great family meal.  Happy Thanksgiving to All !

Oct 1 again

As I said, the kids had a sleepover.  Sunday we did have "nap time" as they were up at 6 AM.  I tiptoed into their room and found out how they were napping (above) so we put everything away and started all over again.  I was successful but it took separating them to achieve the desired goal.

Princess  Alanna wore her tiara all weekend.  And courtesy of a garage sale, I got a slew of beaded bracelets which she put on (all 8 at once), took off, put on, took off, lost, we had to hunt for them, found, put on ...  It keep her very busy.  Above is the watch that she got also.

Emerson is in the silly stage.  It is difficult to take a photo of him where he is not making a face or giving me a weird pose.  I did snap one of him watching TV, but not before he glance over and weird faced me first.

They did have fun with their Dadda.  Emerson was quite a bit rougher than Alanna but they both had fun.

We had a good dinner which included Apple Pie, then my little friends (and big friends) left.  Now my house seems so empty but at least I can actually sit down with a glass of wine and watch one of MY TV shows..

October 1

The kids had a sleepover at Gramma's house.  We always have fun when this happens.  Then on Sunday, Dadda and Chloe (the new au pair) came over for supper.  Dadda has been out of town for about a week, so the kids haven't seen much of him.  They were excited and Emerson was full of beans.

Haines Junction

Was offered a scenic drive today in a brand new car.  It was a treat to be driven with a "new car" smell, a non-pock-marked windshield and smoother tires.  Went to Haines Junction and haven't been there since SR's wedding time and that was 2013!

The colours were brilliant and the mountain shapes changed constantly as we got closer and closer to Kluane Park.  Of course, it also got cloudier as we went.

We stopped at the Mile 1016 Pub for a delicious lunch.  Above is Debbie's new car parked with the mountains of Kluane Park in the background.

Stopped into beautiful Visitors' Centre.  It almost doesn't matter where you are in Haines Junction, you always get a view of the mountains.  Love it!