Holiday update

Well, the past week wasn't as crazy a Christmas tour as usual. Now that we're living much closer to many friends and family, there wasn't that self-imposed obligation to see as many people as possible over a short period of time.

Last weekend the holiday visiting was kicked off with a visit from my mom. Yeah... let's just say I was a little concerned. That birthday chat we had a couple weeks ago brought quite a few things to light such as my concern over her upcoming visit. I'm not exactly sure what I was concerned about, but it obviously has something to do with "the tension". Ugh. Too much effort.

Anyhow, the visit went pretty well. We walked around town, ordered pizza and chatted. The following day we went to IKEA. My mom likes IKEA, but she doesn't make it there often. BUT, I very quickly remembered that I don't really like visiting IKEA with my mom. Why? One reason... she takes FOREVER!! She looks at absolutely everything. It's understandable, but jeeze!

Anyhow, we then made a trip into the heart of Toronto to pick up some gift cards, etc. Then we dropped my mom off at my grandmas and joined everyone (my aunt and her husband were there as well) for some yummy cabbage rolls. YUM!

Then to my stepmom's place. J went to bed pretty early while I hung out with my sister for a bit. Did I mention the big panic over her being evicted from the house she's living in? Yeah, apparently the landlord isn't too pleased about 12-15 people living in his 5 bedroom house. Strange, huh? My guess is that she will remain living at home until the BIG MOVE to Winnipeg. She constantly talks about Winnipeg and all the stuff she has to do before moving to Winnipeg and how she has to sell stuff so that she can afford the bus ticket to Winnipeg, etc, etc. I just get all quiet because I don't agree with any of it. Then she asks me why I don't talk about it, and she gets all pissed. Hmmm, shut up about moving to Winnipeg, OK? It bothers me and I don't support it!!!

Moving on.

Regardless of the aforementioned conversation topic, I had a nice visit with my sister. We chatted a bit. She showed me pics from one of her favorite photographers. It just so happens that this photographer likes to jump onto freight trains as well. We also chatted about the guy in Winnipeg. He's sounds pretty decent, but I still get the willies over his interest in a 17 year old girl. Ick.

Christmas eve day was pretty tame. Wrapped presents, hung out with my dad and stepmom, picked up stuff for the big gathering my mom's family has every year. Stuff like that.

Had a great time visiting with my mom's family. I really get along well with some of my cousins. The younger ones, not so much, but the ones who are at similar points in their lives as us, we really get along well with.

Christmas morning we did the present thing with my dad, stepmom and E. It was a very low key Christmas this year. Usually my stepmom goes a little insane in the present purchasing, but this year we agreed to keep it cheap. Of course she still broke the dollar figure rule, but what's new. We bought her a kettle, so... c'est la vie.

We dropped by to visit my dad's mom who is in a home. Had a nice visit with her and her roommate (who is awesome!). I was pretty pissed that my dad didn't make the trip to see her on Christmas day, but whatever. We made the effort and that's what counts.

Christmas dinner was spent with J's family. It was actually a great time. Usually I just want to leave by 8:30pm, but this time around... Guitar Hero saved the day. It proved to be a lot more fun than I expected. I think I really got into it because the music is actually good... I thought it would be like karaoke music or something, but it was pretty rockin'! I did really well (on easy of course!) with Barracuda and Paranoid. J didn't end up spending as much time with his dad as he would have liked, but when is Christmas actually quality visiting time?

Boxing Day (the 26th) morning we just chilled with J's sisters and babies. We actually had a decent visit with J's younger sister's guy. I've spoken of him before. Usually he just sits in a corner and doesn't engage any of us, but this time around he was actually conversational!

Boxing Day evening we got together with my dad and stepmom, dad's sister, her jackass alcoholic husband, his sister, my dad's brother and his friend. It was a nice time, but it's always tough. My aunt's husband is such an asshole. It really drags down the evening. Fortunately he went to bed fairly early.

On the 27th we had every intention of visiting with one of J's good friends, but he had other plans. So, we went and visited my cousin's family. This is the cousin who lent us his little ones for our wedding. LOVELY! They're the most amazing kids. Why? Because although we haven't seen them in about a year, they totally remember us and totally don't play strange. They were all over us to play with them. It was great. We had a really nice visit with them. Although they're totally in the kid part of life, we totally get along.

Oh yeah, and we played Rock Band with my cousin. Apparently it is the year of the video game for us! It was pretty funny.

Instead of making it into Toronto as planned, we ended up back at J's sister's place and got some Indian take out. YUM! We just hung out with her and the little one and played with the dog. Sounds pretty funny to write it like that, but that's what we did!

Friday brought us to downtown Toronto to pick up some stuff at MEC and William Ashley. We had a wonderful lunch at the Peter Pan Bistro at the corner of Queen and Peter Streets. I've wanted to check it out for a few years now, and we finally did. J had a HUGE quesadilla (which he didn't finish... that never happens!) and I had a yummy beet and pear salad with a parsnip and pear puree soup. We didn't get drinks, but our lunch came to under $25 and we were totally full. We'll totally be back.

Got back to J's sister's place where we had a wonderful pork roast dinner with them and a family friend who seldom makes it to Canada. It was great. I had wanted to drive home that night, but spending that kind of quality time is so rare.

Managed to get back home fairly early on Saturday. Did the whole laundry/grocery thing, which always makes me happy. Weird, huh? I just like starting with a clean slate.

Bought ourselves a new DVD player as ours crapped out on us a week ago. I can't believe how reasonable they are! Looking forward to watching movies that don't try to die at the 51 minute mark.

Today we were going to go for a ski, but I really feel the need to just chill. I think it'll be more beneficial for me. J's off to play road hockey with some people, so that'll give us both a little time to ourselves. I think tonight we might rent some movies (maybe the ones that the video store willingly gave us a credit for the night the DVD player died), but we will definitely be watching the Amazing Race. Just one of those chill out evenings.

Tomorrow we're making the trek to a friend's place for New Years. We tend to spend New Years with them. An evening of prime rib, board games, sparkling wine and bed by 12:15am. It's always a nice evening.

Then a day of recuperation and back to work. The next month is going to be downright nutty at work and I just hope I don't go too insane. We just lost three pretty major team members, another is on long term vac and yet another will be on vacation next week. We have a fairly major deadline for the end of the month and most of it will be coming down on me. I don't mind the overtime, I just don't want to burn out.

Looking forward to 2008. I think it will bring good things. In particular, I really hope we find a house in the next few months. The walls in our apartment are thin enough that not only do we hear the verbal domestics next door, but our bedroom closet is permeated with cigarette smoke from the neighbours as well. Ick.