Merry Christmas To All!

Season’s Greetings!

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Our top 10 favorite Christmas moments of 2009:

  1. Corporate Christmas party, dining at the foot of the mondo kelp forest in the Monterey Bay Aquarium (outside the glass, not in)
  2. Running through the entire length of the Vancouver Airport in clogs at the insistence of a timetelling-challenged ticket agent: the flight didn’t board for another half hour after our sweaty arrival at the gate. The good news? This gave us a chance to practice self-restraint (we didn’t yell at anybody), thereby adding a last-minute check mark on the “good” side of Santa’s ledger
  3. Impromptu gifting over dinner of my maternal great-Granny Lane’s fountain pen to Rick and my dad’s lifetime fountain pen to me, the same one he used to make entries in his meticulously maintained flight logs
  4. Lunch at Sandi’s: fabulous squash and carrot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, the best on Vancouver Island, and I don’t even like squash
  5. Walking down the quaint 5th Street of Courtenay: a Dickens village meets circa 1960s Main Street in all its holiday splendor, including live Shih Tzus in the shoe store window, up-and-coming Joni Mitchells in the local coffee shop, and a cheery “Merry Christmas!” from complete strangers as we passed by
  6. Christmas carolling with the rellies, complete with Rick’s magical guitar and an ensemble of old white dudes with decent rhythmn on wood percussion frogs, shaker eggs, a dolphin clacker, and a set of silver serving spoons. Who knew Mom could moon walk?
  7. Christmas Eve stroll of the neighborhood lights after the clan left with Dad and Rick (do Chevy Chase AND Tim Allen both live here?)
  8. Delightful Christmas gifts, including matching “Go Canada” Olympic touques and an incredible queen-sized quilt, hand made by a team of loved ones, including one of the top quilters in Canada, Aunt Joan
  9. Chatting with loved ones far away in the afternoon sun on the front deck, and hearing all were calm, all were bright. (Well, most of them are reasonablybright, except for that unfortunate  drainpipe-climbing incident, but we’re just not talking about that. It’s Christmas.
  10. Blessings too abundant to count, too rich to expect, and too sweet to bake with

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good flight (wherever your holiday travels may take you).

4 thoughts on “Merry Christmas To All!

  1. Colleen

    Hey it was an extra Christmas treat to talk to you while you were at your parents’. I was a little jealous that I couldn’t be there with all of you on Christmas Eve, although if I’d been there for the sing song caroling, I may have caused an early night for everyone!
    I told Rick ( a wanna be singer ) about your invitation, and he’s all in….timing is yet to be decided, but its always good to have something to strive for.
    Best to you both
    Love, Colleen

  2. Sandi Fentiman

    Nice to have shared it with you Kathy and Rick. It sure was a wonderful time. I hope we can do it again soon. Maybe another occasion when it’s not so cold. I looked forward to seeing you two.

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