Dark days of the Year

Here in Victoria we only get about 8 hours of daylight at this time of year so when the Solstice passes I'm pretty happy and once the Christmas decorations are packed away it's offically spring in my mind. It may still be dreary and cold but daylight extends by minutes every day and the sun starts to gather strength again while our first flowering trees appear right about now and the bulbs are starting to push their leaves up. But, while I am looking forward to longer and warmer days, I don't want to hurry away from Christmas and quiet evenings by the fire so this post is about the Merry Christmas season.

some over-the-top houses!

The pre-season ripped by this year with our trip to Halifax and the laundry room fiasco, until finally on the 23rd we called a halt to all except Christmas activities. We had Kaye Mains staying with us as Randy is on a working tour in Abu Dhabi, and my cousin Jamie McAra rounded out the party. On the 24th we made the rounds to look at some of the extreme decorations that people do, had tortiere for supper, and watched the George C Scott version of "A Christmas Carol": 1983 and the BEST version I don't care what you say.

This was a year of travelling for many of our friends and family members so our usual dinner table of 10-12 was down to 4. Knowing that well ahead of time I grabbed what I thought was a small turkey, 3.78kg, only to realize later that it was $3.78 per kg and actually weighed in at a hefty 8kg! If only the customer would read the fine print... And you know how it is with recipes you've been using for years; you just keep making the same quantity. I was reminded of Jim's mother and the massive amounts of food she used to cook and then send leftovers off with the guests. We were 4 on Christams day, 4 on boxing day (Mark & Melynda were back from Calgary), and now on day 3 there is barely enough turkey left for a sandwich after M&M took a platter away with them. The moral of the story being that there is no such thing as a turkey 'too big'. And it was good!

Me, Jamie, Jim. Kaye. Mark & Melynda

We have had a run of spectacular weather which is reason enough to celebrate. Christmas day was sunny and crisp, and when I came down at 7:00am to get the bird ready for the oven, the frost was heavy enough that it looked like snow on the roofs across the street. We had our meal at 1:00pm which makes for a lazy day and I highly recommend it. Jim and I had done most of the prep the day before so other than letting the oven do its job it was easy. And instead of a post dinner game, for which I am infamous, we studied the Boxing Day sale flyers!

Boxing Day was another perfect day so we braved the crazies and went shopping. We scored parking places at Mayfair Mall and at the downtown Bay, both absolute miracles of good fortune. And we also scored the last 32" Sony TV @ $399.99 at the Bay. Didn't need it but had been talking about a small one for the office so I have an alternative to golf when there is a tournament on. We have 2 other TVs in the house but they are big old clunkers and not 'convenient' for the princess. We had lunch at the Bard & Banker and decided yet again that while it is a gorgeous building it is overpriced and over-rated. We may be biased but for value and enjoyment it's hard to beat Mark's restaurant, the Swiftsure.

Which brings me to today, December 27. Jim is just off to play golf and I have the day to putter or do nothing. I may even broach my Spanish books, and there are always the painting commitments...