Christmas with family

We arrived in Calgary to warm hugs and warm coats from Donna. It was a bit of climate shock to go from
warm desert to freakin’ cold Canadian winter, but at least it looks like christmas. We spent the next few days preparing for the holidays, and trying to be helpful to Sam and Donna. OK, mostly I tried to stay out of the way, but it was great to be back with family.

In addition to babysitting Ann and I, and welcoming their youngest daughter back home for the holidays from Vancouver, Donna & Sam were also charged with looking after their grandchild: Walden, or Wally for short. Wally is a Nova Scotian tolling retriever, a rather high-strung, cute, fun and incredibly intelligent breed of dog. Wally’s mom (Monique) and dad (Chris) went off to BC to spend x-mas with Chris’ parents, so the gramps were asked to babysit. We all got to share in Wally’s exuberance and enthusiasm over the following week.

The big day came, and despite the clear message: NO PRESENTS, Jolly old St. Nick still visited us with a stocking full of goodies. In addition, Momma O’Reilly and sis Kathy surprised everyone with a mail-order basket of goodies. Very yummy. Thanks guys!

Peggy and her gang of wee little ones 😉 all came over for the big dinner, with everyone pitching in. OK, I didn’t really do much, but I was happy to help with the eating part. It was really wonderful to be with family, and to re-connect with everyone.

The next days were spent relaxing, getting some work done (I had a magazine article to write), exercising on the tread mill and stepper (OK, only Ann did that), and just hanging out with everyone. Ann also found a fun way to stay in shape by hiding under the kitchen table while wearing her funky and shiny exercise shorts.

The holiday season is special here, not just for a deity’s birth, but more importantly b/c both Natasha and Sam AND my sister Kathy were all born on Dec. 27th. And just this year there was an additional birthday added to this illustrious date: Phil’s new grandson, Theodore was born. So Ann and I got to celebrate two birthdays during our visit. This meant going out to some pretty fancy and yummy restaurants in town. We were forced to eat amazing food and great wine with fun people — it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it 😉

The holidays are also a time to feel the pull of the Light Side, and sometimes the Dark … OK, cheesey way of saying we went to see the new Star Wars movie. It was a great romp. Lots of fun. And the 3D was pretty amazing. The next day we ended up at a pub to sample more good beer, good food, and good times.

New years’s eve we drove down to our cabin on Beauvais Lake … OK, technically it’s Donna & Sam’s cabin, but after spending much of September living there, arriving there felt like coming home. We were joined by Peggy and Phil, and later in the evening by cousins Kevin and Barb. The drive down was a bit snowy and blustery, but we all arrived safe and sound.

We rang in the new year with a cut-throat game of crokinole. After a round-robin and Page playoff the teams of Ann-Mike & Peggy-Phil brought up the rear while the teams of Barb-Kevin & Donna/Knuckles-Sam played for top honours. The results speak for themselves:

New Year’s Day was spent staying warm and writing (Mike), ice fishing (Sam) and skiing (Donna & Ann). Ann, who hasn’t been on skis for over a year, so naturally she decided to try downhilling with her cross-country skis. A visit to the Emergency was avoided … just barely.

We spent the last few days relaxing (Mike), recovering (Ann), and enjoying our time in Calgary. Ann’s going to miss the morning crosswords with Donna and Sam, and I’m already feeling the withdrawal from my constant discussions with Donna. We are ever so lucky to have such generous family. Donna and Sam once again opened their home, and their hearts, to us two wayward vagabonds. I am deeply appreciative.

We spent over two weeks in Calgary, then hopped a flight back to Phoenix. The flight was a a bit bumpy, but uneventful. We actually flew over Waterton Park . We arrived back in Arizona, and were generously greeted by Cheryl and Pat, who once again welcomed us back to their home in the desert. We arrived to cloudy skies and rainy conditions. True to the screwy weather we’ve had during our whole trip, Black Canyon City was doused with unseasonably heavy rain. Roads were flooded and closed, and “washes”, which are usually dry gullies, lived up to their name.

We’ve decided to head to Tucson to get our bikes serviced early next week, and to visit with my childhood friend. Until then we’ll hang out here in BCC.