Christmas Day with Family

      The roads have been cleared so the family was able to get here for our annual Christmas feast. And what a feast it was - as usual I cooked way too much food so I will be eating leftovers for the rest of the week. Judy took home some of the bird, half the plum pudding and custard and the mincemeat pies I had made - they just did not have room for them, even oldest grandson who has a hollow leg!

   So now I am sprawled on the couch, covered with my new thermal throw (a gift from the grands) but I won't be eating anything more until tomorrow. Well, maybe a small chicken and cranberry sandwich before bed!

   Youngest grandson wore his Blue Jays hat through the whole meal (usually no hats allowed but it was his favourite Christmas gift so he got a special dispensation) and can you tell what granddaughter's favourite gift was? (hint: it's also on her head).

   We played some games before they left for home but we were all a bit sleepy by then so that didn't last long. Finally we Face Timed with the family in Victoria for a bit before they went to have their feast. They are four hours behind us. Now to tackle the clean up. Thank goodness for a dishwasher!

   Hope all my readers had a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Wild Weather

 It's blowing a hooley out there - minus 13C and winds of 40 kph - so I am huddled indoors and plan to stay here until at least tomorrow afternoon. I did go out and shovel snow for a while this afternoon (it was at least 10cm. deep at that point) but by the time I stopped tha path I had dug was already filling in again. My weather app says it feels like minus 24C so I am definitely in for the night!

High Excitement!

     Tuesday afternoon is my Bridge game. Around 12:45 we had just played one hand when the fire siren in the building went off. There were about 24 of us in the room (less than our usual 40) and we all studiously ignored it until the building manager arrived to tell us to vacate the building. No one rushed to grab their coats but gradually we did realize that there was a distinctly smoky odour in the air. Yes, the building was on fire!

    We gathered outside and a few minutes later a fire truck could be heard in the distance. Still no flames or obvious smoke which is lucky as the fire truck went to the adjacent building! Eventually it rolled up and the firefighters donned their gear and set off to investigate. Then another fire truck arrived, then another and another - all told 8 trucks arrived, plus their supervisor and a police car. A little bit of overkill in my opinion.

   Eventually it transpired that some guys working on the roof had been using a blow torch for some reason and had ignited something. However, we weren't allowed back in the building except to gather our possessions so that was the end of Bridge for this week. We will be back on January 2 providing there is no lasting damage and we will have lots of tales to tell those who weren't there today!

Digging Out

    We only got about 5 cms. of snow but this was followed by rain so it was very soggy and weighed a ton. Most of my neighbours were out shoveling before the rain started but I left it until today. Ooh, my aching back!

  This was my morning's work. I got it done later in the afternoon. You can just see my neighbour (she's 88) tidying up her driveway. She has a guy with a plough clear her driveway but it still needs a finishing touch. Most of my other neighbours used snow blowers but my little one wasn't up to the job with the snow being so wet.

Well Stocked Up

     The weather outside is frightful so, before the storm arrived, I made a quick dash up to the library to stock up on books in case we were snowed in. As I came home the freezing rain started. Then it rained for a while but has been snowing since early afternoon. A nasty mix!

This should keep me going for a while. I also hit the pharmacy post office and got the last of my Christmas cards in the mail.

   I also picked up a couple of DVDs in case the TV is rubbish. Now I have the fire on and a blanket over my knees so it's cozy inside. Photos of the results of the storm tomorrow once it has all blown over. The wind was wild today!

The Mandarin

     Forgot to put the memory card back in my camera so no photos that I am able to transfer but I did have an enjoyable outing last week, the first of many over the Christmas season.

   The seniors at the community centre where I attend fitness classes and volunteer in the kitchen had a special event planned for them last week, a lunch with entertainment at our local Chinese buffet restaurant. It was subsidized by the Executive so we had an all-you-can eat meal for just $15!

   I have learned over the years to be very careful at this type of eatery as my eyes are inevitably bigger than my stomach! So, I started carefully with a plate of sushi (very tasty and probably worth almost the whole $15) followed, after quite a lengthy pause with some typical Chinese dishes (no rice or anything else too filling) and a small salad plate. I almost blew it with the dessert as the choices were so yummy, but managed to limit my selections to cheesecake, creme caramel, fruit and just one piece of Nanaimo bar. There was unlimited green tea to wash it all down and I didn't feel too inordinately stuffed.

   The music teacher from the centre provided the entertainment on his guitar and we lustily joined in as he played Christmas songs. Finally there were lucky draws but our table was the only one not to have any of our numbers drawn (we suspect the fix was in). However, that didn't affect our enjoyment of the treat and we all went home happy.

   Needless to say, I needed a nap when I got home and, much later just a very light dinner. There are still three more eating events before the big one on Christmas Day but I will continue to consume lightly until then. And that's not even counting today when the ladies in the Art class at the centre invited me to share in the treats (more sushi!) they had brought to celebrate their last day of classes. Dare I weigh myself tomorrow?

Time for a Catch Up

     Sorry, haven't felt like blogging but have been keeping up with others' blogs, lots of Christmassy stuff which I haven't got into yet.

    Monday was Knitters and Crafters and we had some extra Christmas treats with our coffee. I didn't go out for lunch after as I was a bit queezy, too much chocolate probably. I felt better by the evening and managed a small dinner before heading out to dancing. The church where we dance has finally opened the kitchen for us to use so we had tea and muffins at the break.

   Today I slept in and have been behind the eight ball ever since. Had a small breakfast when I got up then worked out for nearly an hour. Had the rest of my breakfast, washed up the dishes from the night before (!) and then had to rush to get to Bridge on time. I had dreadful cards (and played badly) but the fates were with me as I not only got my $1 back for having the lowest score but also won the Lucky Draw! So, came home $6 to the good. Can't remember ever having that much good luck! Maybe I'd better buy a lottery ticket (NOT).