Holiday whirlwind
The trip to Canada was fantastic (pictures pending) and I am so glad that B. and I made the journey. We didn't encounter any problems at the border, even though we had plenty of things in our trunk we should have declared. In a weak attempt to repay my Icelandic friends for their hospitality in 2010 - which was not only me but the fairly ungrateful ex - I offered to help them with the shipping costs from amazon.com. Well, a 'couple of things' turned into a mini mountain, which got B. a bit worried. I assured him it would be fine. And it was. We joked about it on the trip, the real potential of being denied entry to Canada.
It was great seeing my friends in Canada. B. and I spent the afternoon chatting with the Icelanders after hauling in their goods. We planned to meet the next day for an adventure at Granville Island. galactic met us for a delicious Indian dinner at Palki on Commercial Drive. (I'm so glad that we got to spend some time together at the holidays!) We headed home afterward, completely lethargic from eating too much rich, delicious food. Saturday, we had brunch with a couple of friends at The Templeton on Granville before heading to the market. Andrea and her youngest daughter met us at the market, as her eldest had not been feeling well. (It turns out that she had some complications from the long flight to Canada, which was originally diagnosed as a middle ear issue but may now in fact be clots. Andrea's English is good, but limited when it comes to medical terms. Sadly, they spent Christmas at BC Children's Hospital and I'm hoping that she was discharged today.) We had tasters at Granville Island brewery before walking the market - B. and I bought a loaf of stollen and a couple of tarts even though we were pretty full on free samples. We also got an ice wine truffle for me at Roger's as well as an Egg nog Cream and a coconut cream truffle for B. We had dinner with the entire Icelander family at Rocky Mountain Flatbread, not the best but it's what the eldest daughter wanted and we weren't going to tell an ailing child "No". At the time, we thought it was a stomach bug, so we were just glad that she wanted to get out of the house.
Sunday was short yet sweet. We met up with Hana, a friend of a friend that I have become very close to. We had our first De Dutch experience. So delicious! She recently was accepted for a master's at a university in the UK and she is just waiting for the scholarship details to be sorted out. I will miss her but I hope she enjoys her time in England. We left immediately after and encountered a short wait at the American border. There was a fair amount of traffic in Seattle, which was annoying, but we were overall pretty lucky. But still, 7 hours in the car. Yuck.
And the 48 hours of merriment:
We spent Christmas Eve at B.'s mother's. It was lovely! I get along with all of her side of the family very well. I helped make cookies at the last minute because she was so overwhelmed. Grandma made a big batch of lefse and pepparkakor. The dinner was all homemade and so delicious! We crammed a total of 14 people in her tiny house, but we had a good time. Better than I ever had with my family. His mom was so kind and got me a bunch of sewing supplies - she's a super coupon/sale shopper so I'm sure that she got a really good deal on all of it. We spent 12 hours there, which was a bit long but not bad.
On the way out, we encountered a deputy from the Sheriff's Department and he wanted to let us know that they were chasing down a felon who was hiding on the nearby railroad tracks. We had "no need to be worried" - we went back up to the house to tell his mom and pass along the greetings he relayed from Deputy Cameron. Apparently, his mother lets them park in her driveway all the time and so they know her. It makes me worried that she lives there, but I'm thankful that the deputies are so nice about it.
Christmas Day was the real shitshow. B.'s dad is the one that's still the manipulative parent out of the divorce. He wanted us to come over at 9am and his house is nearly an hour away. We protested and came at 10am instead. We opened presents with his father, stepmom, stepsister and her two children. The kids were sweet but the stepsister is a complete and total fuckup. She was literally a crackwhore. She is on probation for two felonies and recently received a DUI and faces jail time. And it's sad because her daughter, who is two now, is so sweet and smart. She deserves a better life than what her mother has to offer. The little boy is also very happy, smiling all the time and wanting to engage with the adults.
After that, we sort of waited around until the dinner was served. Nothing was homemade. Everything was pre-cooked from Safeway, which made me kind of sad. The stepmom's relatives came over - her mother, father, two sister's with their respective partners and their kids. All dysfunctional. All crazy in a not fun way. I followed B.'s lead and stayed in the upstairs part of the house with his siblings. That visit was 10 painful hours. We stayed that late because we were waiting for an opportunity to say "Bon voyage" to his sister and her husband - they had stepped out to see their friend in the neighborhood, so we had to wait. It was painful.
We got home and I opened my presents. I got some wonderfully thoughtful gifts this year, which always makes me feel good. I like getting gift cards from my parents, but they don't mean as much to me as the homemade cookies and Icelandic souvenirs that I received. My brother and SIL did really well this year and bought me a map that you scratch off as you travel to create your own personalized map. It's cool!
Christmas was amazing this year.