Christmas

Christmas started in late-November. Callie, Carter and I were out and stopped off at Home Depot and Carter and I found a 12 foot snowman. At $8 a foot it was cheaper than our Christmas Tree. We bought it and snuck it into the back of the car without letting Callie know. In early December when the family was all out at the mall I set it up so they saw it as they got home. Kerry was not impressed which was exactly the reaction Carter and I were going for. It's a blow up  one so I set it on 'Always On' electric wise as it's just as much fun to look at during the day as it is to look at in the evening. I noticed a 20 foot one was available after Christmas. Might have to check it out.

The rest of Christmas was pretty typical for us. Barb and Reg came down just before Christmas and we had our Christmas fondue on the 23rd. Ronnie brought his latest girlfriend and her daughter so with all family members attending we had 16 people and four dogs in attendance. It was a lot of dishes to clean up but was still fun. The tree was fully decorated with about 5 generations of Christmas lights and dozens of decorations collected over the years. There were lots of presents under the tree that I got to see opened, not knowing what they were. Even the kids knew what they got before I did. The day of Christmas was a bit odd this year. School got out on the 22nd and with the fondue on the 23rd, all major events were done three days into the holiday. I go back to work on January 2nd but the rest of the family is off until the 8th. Not sure what they're going to do with all that time post Christmas. Best that I go into work all next week.

German Christmas Market

Carter was upset that we didn't do enough Christmas last year. We had two big trips planned so we softened the spend in 2022. This year he wanted to make sure we hit all the important points for his Christmas traditions including the German Christmas Market. It's located downtown so it's a bit of a trek for us but still worth it. They keep it to a rather confined space which I guess adds to the ambiance but I would prefer if there was more room. It worked out well for us because we got there right when it opened so there was lots of room to move around. It was during the day but the weather was nice and there were no lineups for food.

We bought a few treats for family members for Christmas including 'Those Pretzels' which were definitely the best pretzels I've ever had. They are the ones in a bag and they were a bit software and had a distinct flavour to them. We discovered they are made in Surrey and sold at some local stores so we will have a source even after Christmas. For lunch I had a smoky and some Black Forest cake. I was very impressed by their ketchup and mustard dispenser. Easy to see when it needs to be filled, always ready to squeeze and at the perfect height. A few drips on the floor that people walk through was the only issue. Otherwise every place should have these. 

 

Christmas Tree Hunt

The first weekend for our Christmas Tree farm at Dogwood was November 25th/26th. We like to make sure we go the first weekend because they have a limited number of trees and will sometimes close after only the first few days. The weather was perfect for getting a tree as it was below zero meaning that the ground was frozen and not muddy. We tend to search the same area every year though I really feel we should just get one of the trees that are already cut. They were a bit small this year so we ended up cutting our own. I was mildly annoyed with the family as I have to crawl in the dirt to do the cutting and all they have to do is lean the tree in a way that the way doesn't bind. They failed this year.

We've been cutting our tree here for several years but I'm irritated at the inflation price. We were up to $20 a foot for our preferred tree type. Noble or Fraser Fir. We like these because they have lots of areas for hanging decorations. $20 is getting pretty steep especially since we have a vaulted ceiling and can handle a 9 foot tree. I was able to lean the tree a bit and Kerry knows the person doing the measuring so she was able to distract him. We ended up with an 8 1/2 foot tree. At $170, those $69 dollar trees at Rona are looking more appealing. I'm still in favour of a real tree but at these prices we could get one of those auto-raising trees from Costco.

This year we named our tree Katniss Evergreen in honour of the latest Hunger Games movie that was out just before Christmas. 

 

Halloween

We're not too many years away for skipping the pumpkin patch completely at Halloween. The last two years we've gone to the local patch in stead of Aldor Acres and this year it was only Kerry, Carter and I. Carter is very particular about his pumpkin so he likes to have a selection that's bigger than what you would get at Safeway or Superstore. Port Kell's is a good clean alternative to a full on pumpkin patch. I think they grow some of their own pumpkins but I think they buy some as well. The patch is just an overflow parking lot with lots of selection and there is no mud. There's also a covered indoor area for the kids to play.

I was considering not doing a Halloween decoration this year but I had a project in mind for the past few. years and decided at the last minute to see if I could pull it off. It starts with two 5x5 pieces of plywood cut into 30 inch squares. I then used the CNC to create four sections of each of Kang and Kodos. Once they are cut to shape and the lines are carved in 1/8 of an inch deep, it's a simple job to paint them. It has the appearance of taking talent to make with the reality of being veery precise due to the CNC. They turned out quite good. I had practiced with a Maggie. At least this year, I created things that store fairly easily in the shed.

I got lucky with the weather again. It was nice for a full week leading up to Halloween. This meant I could get everything out a few days in advance without having to worry about rain. The rain even held off until the day after so it was a clean job putting everything away. I don't plan on adding any more big items unless I win the lottery and can afford a storage unit. I may decide to continue to improve on certain things to make them look good during the day and allow them to get wet. Right now everything looks good in the dark but not great during the day and most of it can't get wet. The neighbourhood always has good things to say and some kids stick around for a while to take everything in. 

Weekend in Whistler

With all of our travel this year we ended up with a free hotel night through Hotels.com. It's a pretty good deal. For every 10 nights you get an additional night free based on the prices you paid. Coupled with free cancellations for most hotels, it's easy to become loyal to one company. We had a credit of about $400 and I think it expires so we decided to head to Whistler for a weekend. It was the in-between season with mountain biking ending and skiing not yet starting so we got a very good deal on a condo. It had two separate bedrooms plus another room with the couch bed and a full kitchen. The place had a hallway it was so big. You could probably sleep 20 during ski season.

We did typical Whistler things including a hike on the trails near the village and dinner. We were out early for a hike on the Sunday and almost ran into a bear. There was a couple walking ahead of us that were probably within 50 feet of it. We were a few hundred feet behind and were headed right to the trail where it ran down. We didn't really feel like being bear wary so we took a turn back towards the village. The weather was nice for the time of year and we avoided traffic in both directions so overall a great weekend. 
 

Raptors Game n Vancouver

In early October the Raptor's had an exhibition game against the Sacramento Kings. Vancouver once had its own team, The Grizzlies, but they only lasted a few years. I was listening to some people talk about them and they made a good point, that their timing for Vancouver wasn't very good. I think if a team was added today they would probably do okay with a lot of corporate sponsorship available and a different demographic. It would also help that the Seattle Sonics have since left so there is not team in the upper  west.

Funny story about getting the tickets. They went on sale at 10:00a and I was initially in the queue. After about 5 minutes I got let in and there were not very many blue dots left. I selected some tickets in the front row and purchased assuming they were available because someone else had dropped them. We arrived at the arena and it turns out the tickets were in the handicapped section. Nothing during the purchase indicated this was the case and we weren't the only people to make the mistake. The seats were very nice though. They had chairs for us and there was plenty of room with no one immediately behind us. 

The game itself was okay. 125 to 104 for the Kings so not the outcome we would have hoped for. I watched basketball more in the 90's where it wasn't typical to see such high scores. Lots of three pointers and not much defence. There were quite a few empty seats until about half time. Not sure why you would buy tickets to a game like this and not show up on time. The half time show was the cheerleaders and a giant blow up Raptor costume. Overall it was a good experience. Carter got another jersey and I think we would probably go regularly if the tickets were reasonable and we get a team again. 

Carter's Birthday

Looking back at the year's blogs I've noticed a trend that I seem to stop blogging for the year right around Carter's birthday which is September 17th. I then spend my Christmas break catching up on blogs from September through December. I don't usually do New Year's resolutions but perhaps this year I'll try to get blog posts out closer to when they actually happen. As an example, I couldn't figure out why I seemed to have two sets of dinner pictures for Carter's Birthday and then I remembered it was a birthday weekend. On the Saturday he had a party with his friends at our house with basketball and video games and then we went to D-Spot Dessert Cafe in Delta. It had a very large selection of tasty options.

After his friend festivities on the Saturday, his real birthday was on the Sunday. We started with Fly Over Canada which used to seem expensive but now that Disneyland has gone crazy with prices, the cost per ride is probably more than what we pay for this ride. It's in an old IMax theatre and takes you over top of the screen, suspended in your seat. They mix it up a bit each year so that it's worth going more than once. This year was Fly Over Iceland. Iceland isn't high on my places to travel to but it does look interesting. Lots of lava fields and volcanoes.

We finished the day off with a trip to the Cactus Club at Canada Place. It really is quite a spectacular location for a restaurant and Cactus Club is one of our favourites. I think Carter had been talking about this particular item for his birthday for several months. Food was excellent as usual and he got a piece of cake for free. The only issue was that the coke glass he got had.a crack in it. Not enough to not drink from it but enough that I let them know about it so they didn't send it through the wash again. I think we got comped the drink which was not really what we were trying to do but always welcome. 

One more year and it's time for Carter to learn to drive.