078 PERFECT CHRISTMAS

Here we are, it’s Christmas Day of 2016.  It has been an amazing journey these last nine months or so.  Going from my tiny 600 square foot basement suite to this beautiful new townhouse.  From cooking on a 2-burner hot plate and an electric wok, to using this huge 5 burner gas stove and a gas convection oven.  I am thankful every day for the change.

As I have documented in the past months I have made good use of that stove as well.  Mastering new baking skills and learning to cook and bake new things.  I still managed to cook some good dinners in my old place, but it’s so much easier now.  I did a turkey dinner for 8 on Thanksgiving and will be doing another tomorrow on Boxing Day.

FILLING THE TARTS
TEACAKES IN OVEN

Renee will be leaving shortly to go home where she and her friend Carol will walk the seawall in Stanley Park as they do every Christmas.  Toby and I will spend the day here doing our usual routine and will join them later for dinner at Carol’s.  My task each year is to bring the desert, which is usually me bringing a pumpkin pie and spray whip cream from the store.

ADDING STARS

Not this year though.  Last night I baked 24 mince tarts, which as I am told are Carol’s favourites.  I also baked 31 Russian Tea Cakes.  Only a portion of those will go to Carol’s place while the rest will be shared with my kids at dinner tomorrow.  Renee can hardly wait and I must keep them hidden until she heads off.

We have some great new neighbours and have even exchanged cards with a few that we have become closer to.  I had one great neighbour at the old place, Yoko, but here everyone is so friendly.  I think it has something to do with the fact that we are all in similar situations, moving into new places in a new location.  Some are new to the area like the girls behind us who came from Montreal.  Others have lived in Maple Ridge for years and are downsizing.

I have decorated the house with lights outside and a Christmas Tree inside.  Next year I will add to it by doing some inside decorations and maybe add to the outside display.  But what could possibly make this any better?  Well it is something that very rarely happened in Vancouver.  That is a White Christmas.  Maple Ridge tends to get more snow than Vancouver, although this year when we have had the few big snowfalls, the accumulations in Vancouver were greater.

From what I understand, a lot of the snow in Vancouver has melted with the rain over the past week.  It was raining here too and the snow we had was quickly disappearing.  I joked that if there was still a little bit left, could we call it an Off-White Christmas?  We shall see what happens.

Friday morning, the dawn of a special day.  Ten years ago, we drove all the way to Yakima, Washington and got Toby.  We were both sick, which made for a miserable drive.  But, 5 hours isn’t bad.  Except we got jammed up in Snoqualmie Pass with avalanche control and the 5-hour drive turned into 9.  It all worked out and we got home the same night at 11:30 PM.  This day would also have marked my Mom’s 99^th Birthday.

KID AND A SNOWMAN

INFLATABLE

 My Mom loved snow.  Maybe that’s where I get it from.  She was born and raised in the Prairies and you would have thought she would have had enough of the white stuff, but no, whenever it snowed, Mom was like a little kid again.  She loved sitting and knitting and watching the snow fall.  I’m the same way, minus the knitting of course.

SALT TRUCK WORKING

DECORATED

I don’t like to shovel it, but I don’t have to worry about that here.  That is all done for us.  It was a little disappointing when I got up at 5:00 AM and looking out the window to see it was pissing rain.  When I looked out again at 7:00 AM it had switched to glorious snow.  It snowed all day from 7:00 AM to almost 7:00 PM.  Even despite that, we didn’t get a lot of buildup.  Two inches would be a very generous estimate.

However, on Saturday, the temperature dropped and everything froze solid.  It was treacherous walking Toby yesterday morning.  He was sliding on the ice, Renee was sliding and I was doing my very best to avoid it.  I wore my runners and did sort of modified penguin walk, but we got through it.

WHITE CHRISTMAS

So here we are on Christmas morning and waiting for the one thing that will make Christmas perfect.  Not knowing what happened with the weather overnight, but hoping for the best.  I peeked through the blinds and sure enough, the snow is still here.  We have a White Christmas.  A great welcome to the new house and our first Christmas here.  My first White Christmas in many years. Hmm, I wonder if my Mom had something to do with it?