Christmas Memories 2012

While Christmas traditions tend to keep on throughout the years, somethings do change from year to year.

For instance, we didn't have any cookies to set out for Santa, so we decided to leave out some of the snack sized candy bars I won at the traditional Christmas Eve Rumoli game.

I also helped Rini write out the letter to Santa explaining the circumstance regarding his snack. Most of the letter she wrote herself, but close to the end, she got tired and asked me to finish. I think she just wanted to go to bed, and not because she was excited for Christmas. Turns out, you can get tired enough to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Today, we also did something that would be called folly by some. We walked from Grandma's house to ours and back again. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, but it's not normally -25C in the middle of the day! It wasn't very windy though, and we put on extra pants when we arrived at home.

I have to say that I was surprised with Rini's reaction to getting a Wii. She was more enamored with her Royal Wedding castle than the video game machine. That being said, Grandma and Grandpa have had one for over a year now. More than two years actually.

Guess we finally caught up with the times.

Intermission #2 - Coldest Move To Date

I can't say today was the worst move I've ever done - that would be when I moved during a rainstorm, and the rain cleared up after we were done - today was actually quite nice after I noticed a few things. First, we had no stairs to deal with. We're on the third floor, but there was an elevator. There were some issues with the elevator making the most annoying sound in the world when the Open Door button was held for longer than 15 seconds, but at least we were able to unload the pod in two hours, and everything was in the apartment about 45 minutes later.

Second, it was cold and slippery, but we had some tobogganing sleds that we were able to use to bring stuff from the pod to the building door! Made it much easier and fun!

Third, I was ever so happy that I got Caitlin some new boots yesterday, because she was working harder and moving faster than I've seen in some time. Maybe since we went snowshoeing, but that wasn't very fast. The new boots were Merrells similar to the pair I've been wearing for the past five years. They are very warm, very comfortable, and the most important part for my wife, they have very good ankle support. While I paid $150 for mine, I also got the pair at Sportchek West Edmonton Mall. Caitlin's I got significantly cheaper for $18.99 at Value Village. It looked like someone wore them for a couple of days then donated them. I couldn't believe my luck when I found them! Not sure if I'll ever find something like that again, but that's Value Village for you.

My guess is we'll have our first overnight stay in the new apartment will be about this time next week. Depending on how quickly we can unpack everything, or at the very least get the beds set up.

It was rather frightening to see just how many boxes we had, but it was kind of fun at the same time. I imagined that the apartment was a Christmas Tree, and the boxes were presents to which we don't know what's inside, but are pretty sure we're going to like.

May sound trite, but it prevented me from doing something drastic to silence that elevator alarm.

I wonder if Ubisoft has thought of licensing the Rabbid scream to replace klaxon alerts. Just a thought.