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.