Bison

Went for a luncheon on the Old Alaska Hwy this afternoon.  We had Bison Vegetable Soup and salad.  It was delicious.  Jean had just gotten another bison a couple of weeks ago and above are the sections hanging and waiting to be butchered.

Here Jean is holding the head.  It is already spoken for by Mel in YVR.  Bruno looks longingly in the foreground!  A parting gift to me was a couple of Bison steaks, a roast and ground chuck.  Where else but the Yukon does one get meat as a parting gift?

Potluck

Once again this year Joan hosted our annual Christmas Potluck dinner.  I should have taken a picture of the wonderful food we had to choose from but filled my plate with the goodies instead.

Of course, there was bubbly to start.

And Gwen was home to take a photo of all of us at the table.  Good food, Good Friends, what more could one ask for??

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner at the McArthur Johnston house last night.  Turkey and all the fixin's.  I especially liked the cauliflower dish.  Must get the recipe for that one.

Ella and Debbie.

Silas and Ella.  The kids were pretty excited on Christmas Eve, tracking Santa's progress on the Norad site throughout the evening.

Ben made good friends with Henry.

I didn't bake much this season, but did take a sampling of my wares to the party.

And They're Off

Just received this photo this morning of Emerson who is dwarfed by the Business Class seat he is sitting in on his way to Mexico.  Business Class ?!?! No wonder he is smiling!   Is he ever a lucky traveller.

Heather and Len

Just received this picture of Heather and Len (Andrea's older sister) standing by their Christmas tree which they visit every year and watch it grow.  Heather is living in the renovation of the "old" cottage in Ontario.  Now retired she and Len live in cottage country year round. Thanks for the Xmas photo Heather!

Merry Christmas!

With the kids going to Mexico for Xmas and my leg hurting, this is as Christmassy as my house gets this year. 

We celebrated Christmas on the 16th (and they flew away on the 17th).  Before Brooke, SR and their new roomie Tom arrived I set out some cheese, crackers and grapes.  I left the room and when I returned the twins were making cracker cheese sandwiches and eating grapes, all of which was spread all over the coffee table.  

Trying to get a nice photo of them is sometimes impossible.

We opened gifts

Emerson not only handed out the gifts but also helped people open them.  Here he is helping Tom (below) with his gift while Alanna examines one of her favourite gifts, Strawberry Shortcake bandaids.

Below, Alanna shows SR one of the Christmas books she received.

 After gifts, we all settled in for our sushi dinner ... complete with the dogs under the table.

!! Merry Christmas !!

Potluck

 And so it begins.  Nancy hosted the first of the Christmas Parties...this one an afternoon potluck.

Thanks Nancy.  It was fun to get together with old friends over delicious food and Christmas spirits.

December 2 continued

We went back to their house for dinner and Brooke had erected their Christmas tree.  With lights aglow, it was ready to decorate.

With a little help from Dad, Emerson topped the tree with Rudolph & Clarice.

Then it was time to try out the Nutcracker.  Unfortunately they only had pistachios so the two worked on cracking those small nuts in the mighty jaws of the Nutcracker.  Some of them did crack open but they did have fun trying.

December already

Saturday morning I picked up the kids and we headed over to the United Church for their big COOKIE WALK.  The Church made over 10,000 cookies and they were spread out in a variety of tables.  We paid for two containers, then the kids pointed out which cookies they wanted in their container as they walked along the tables.  They were very pleased with their stash.

Once home, I was told by Aunt Teri, that they had to open their Xmas presents on December 1st.  They were pleased to oblige and both received Advent Calendars.  Great Gifts!

The next morning, feeling all Christmassy I decided to put up a tree.  You have to understand that my leg is quite sore these days and I only had enough energy for a small tree!  The kids stood by it so I could take a picture, but they hid the tree, so I had them sit.  Happy Christmas!

They did some cartoon watching as well while eating snacks.  I love this picture as it reminds me of Will many Christmases ago when his mom said he looked like a little old man with his housecoat and slippers on.  Above is Emerson and he is always willing to keep his slippers on.  That's all he needs is a housecoat and we'd have the total look.

Eating Healthy

There has just been another e-coli scare with the romaine lettuce being sold in North America.  And there is a Facebook posting of a frog that is perhaps Kermit collapsed on the ground lamenting the fact that just when he was going to diet there is now no lettuce.  Well, that was not a joke for me because I was just thinking that I had to put more ruffage into my diet, so salads every day was the new regime for me!  I knew Romaine lettuce was out but the grocery stores are filled with a variety of lettuces. So, on Thursday I went to  my local store to begin my healthier life and here is what I found.

I didn't expect to see Romaine lettuce on the shelves, but ...

... there were only a few bags of coleslaw type packages to purchase.  Nothing else.  

The Crimes of Grindelwald

This is movie #2 in the series.  Apparently there will be 5 movies as the prequel to the Harry Potter movies.  I loved the first one.  Of course Eddie Redmayne is a favourite actor of mine and I found the first instalment of this series to be fun and whimsical.  So, I was looking forward to the second movie just recently out.  I was looking forward to being entertained once again.  No so.  I found The Crimes of Grindelwald to be very dark and I don't just mean the story.  The actual film was mostly in shades of grey and so dark and misty it was sometimes difficult to tell which actor was speaking.  And actors there were.  Many many many which at times made it hard to tell who was who. And to top it off the movie was very long and the theatre, which if you follow my reviews and know I have a lot of grief about our two theatres, hit an all time low at this showing.  It was colder inside than it was outside and it even had a cold wind blowing at times.  We not only sat with out winter coats buttoned up to the neck but had to put our hands under out armpits to keep them warm.  And our feet were very cold despite the fact we were wearing our winter boots.  So all in all I had a miserable time and just keep hoping that it would end.  I was not impressed with this movie.  I give it One Star out of Five!

Busy Saturday Morning

Day started out waking up at Gramma's house.  We had a good breakfast (fruit smoothie and avocado toast), completed two puzzles and got ready for soccer.  Didn't know this was the last day for soccer.  At the end they were presented with a "gold" medal, their soccer photo (although Emerson wasn't in it as he was in Vancouver with his mother at that time) AND a soccer ball.  Wow!   All the kids were so excited.

Then it was off to Breakfast with Santa (although it was lunch with Santa for us).  At first I thought Alanna was going to refuse to sit with Santa as I saw him pat the seat of the chair many many times for her to sit down and she was still standing.  

She never did sit beside him, but did lean against his chair for the photo.  Emerson was certainly in the good books with Mrs. Claus.

And what would Breakfast with Santa be without Can-Can Dancers.  Emerson is mesmerized by them.

Bath Time

A full day for the wee ones... singing cowboy songs with Mom (if you watch Instagram), lunch and playing Veterinarians at Gramma's house in the afternoon along with a late movie ... The Grinch then back home for a delicious dinner.  It was Emerson who took off his clothes and requested a bath.

Not only a bath, but a Bubble Bath in his parents' tub.

They were both having a jolly good time when I departed their house.

Movies

Finally, the movies I do want to see are arriving in Whitehorse.  It took a while but A Star is Born arrived.  This is a remake of an old movie with current twists.  Bradley Cooper AND Lady Gaga both excel in their roles as musicians that fall in love, become (or are) famous, and bring their past lives into the present.  I, and all the people I went with, enjoyed it even though it was a very long movie - 2 hours 14 minutes - and I am watching it in the most uncomfortable seating possible, being one of our two movie theatres in Whitehorse, Landmark Cinemas. (And yes, I have written them complaining about this venue.)  I give it 4 out of 5 Stars.

A week later, Bohemian Rhapsody came to town.  If you are a Queen fan and if you are a Freddie Mercury fan, you will absolutely LOVE this movie.  The acting was superb and the music was superb.  The only thing that could have made it better for me would have been a better sound system in the theatre and NOT hearing the thunder roaring from the movie in the attached theatre (which may have been Overlord) overtaking the conversation in my theatre.  The recreation of Live Aid was superb.  I give this movie 5 out of 5 Stars.

And the most current viewing was yesterday with two 4 year olds ... Dr. Seuss' The GRINCH.  We watched the trailers for this movie at home, as, for some reason, the kids think "movies" are scary and do not want to see them.  On the way to the theatre Alanna said, "I don't want to go to the movie", then as we neared the theatre she said "I just want to watch a little bit".  Hmmmmmm, I thought, this will be fun.  As it was, she sat in her seat for the whole 80 minutes glued to the screen.  It ended up being Emerson, who sat on my lap for the whole of the movie.  

This animated movie  stars a grumpy Grinch with his adorable dog Max and a fat loveable reindeer named Fred and cute little Cindy-Lou who brings the child into the plot.  Benedict Cumberbatch is the voice of the Grinch and he does a wonderful job of it - not too gruff - not too scary - but very grumpy and sometimes very bad.  Pharrell Williams narrates the plot and Angela Lansbury is the voice of the Mayor.  I was glad it wasn't any longer than 80 minutes but have to say I enjoyed the animation and the story right up to the happy ending.  I give this movie 3.5 Stars out of 5.

For Girls Only

Emerson went to Vancouver with his Mom.  The first evening they were gone, Alanna and I spent the night together.  I gave her a choice of restaurants to dine at.  She chose Mickey D's.  And so it was.

I was photographing her just as she happened too get something in her eye.  But is went away quickly.

This day happened to be the day After Hallowe'en.  That morning I went to Wall-Mart and pick up some play clothes for them (at 75% off).  As soon as I showed her the clothes, she was ecstatic.  She donned the girliest fluffiest dress in her closes to wear this night.  Little did I know that all those sparkles do not stay on the netting, but ended up all over my house.  Five days later, I am still finding them all over.  If you know how to either get rid of sparkles on clothing or how to make them stay on clothing, please let me know.  She love the dress so much I may not be able to say no when she want to dress up!

Then Saturday, as it has been for the last two weeks, was Soccer Day.  It was also picture day which is kind of too bad as Emerson was in Vancouver.  Oh well, Alanna made it.  She is sitting in the first row on the right, second player sporting an orange shirt and holding a ball.

She seems to enjoy soccer.  I noticed a smile on her face most of the time.