My Christmas

Well, I went away for Christmas. More like Boxing Day really since I had to work the holiday. Sometimes I hate going back to my hometown. It's depressing to me really. My hometown is Orillia Ontario. I spent most of my childhood and part of my adult life there. I will probably talk about it some other time, with pictures and more memories about how I have seen things change. This is about the meeting of friends and family though.

I spent almost all of Boxing day with my mom. We had people over for dinner in the early part of the evening and had a good time just talking and enjoying the company of everyone. Gifts were exchanged and the usual stuff. Of course I had to take my pictures and "document" the whole experience.


Every family has a tradition of one form or another. Traditions may come and go, but some will remain. My mom has been slowly collecting small little buildings and figurines for years. Every Christmas season she sets up her little village on cotton batting and turns the lights on. It's gotten rather extensive over the years. It's a good thing that my mom's cat is well trained in avoiding the display, she could really wreak havoc on it if she wanted to.

My mom's cat, Aramathea(I think that's how it's spelt), has been part of the family for over 9 years now. Hard to believe it. Silly cat barely tolerates me at times, rarely looking to me for attention, often giving me swats as I walk by at my normally quick pace. When she's resting though, it's best to let her lie.



She does like getting involved in the action too when there's a lot of stuff going on.


After we opened presents the next big task was dinner. I had taken over most of the big tasks for my mom in the kitchen. Getting the roast chicken ready, carving the ham, mashing potatoes, the usual stuff. This gave her time to relax and get all the good china and dishes ready for the meal. We bring out the good stuff for Christmas and Thanksgiving when we get together.



Well food was served, people dug in and laid waste to the bounty before us. I would list everything we had, but I am getting hungry at the moment thinking about it. Besides people drooling over their keyboards isn't a good idea. After we were done, we sat back to let our digestive juices do their duty and just relaxed before the final flurry of putting stuff away and getting dishes ready to wash. One reason why I like using the good china is that my mom won't let me touch them in the sink. I had the dubious honour in the family of breaking an unbreakable Correlle plate back in my youth.



Well, I am tired all over again. Just getting my day started and I already feel like cat napping. I guess Aramathea will have to take over that task for me instead.


Less then a week till the New Year. Lot's of planning to do, and places to walk to. I hope everyone's Christmas and holidays were good ones.

Paladin Phil