XXV XII MMXXI (Xmas)

The Christmas that almost wasn't - due to an ongoing global pandemic, a fourth surge powered by the relentless Omicron variant and constantly shifting restrictions for all travellers, even more for international ones. But we still managed to host a family gathering and have one of the best holidays ever.

My sister Tara and her husband Jerry had their flights from Houston cancelled or rescheduled more than 4 times, with the last one blessedly moving their departure from Christmas morning to Boxing Day. Parker and his wife Belinda managed to make it down despite her contracting Covid only two weeks prior.

We took the Churchillians to Candy Cane Lane their first evening in town, and all the ladies went to get a family tattoo the following day, an idea that had been brewing for quite some time. Some got it in colour, others in monochrome, some on their ankles, others on their arms, but I think the Celtic-inspired design they picked looks great in every iteration.

Tara and Jerry made it over midday on Christmas Eve, and we snacked and chatted through the afternoon, and Fenya's boyfriend Bobby arrived later in the afternoon. As is tradition in our household, had charcuterie for dinner. (We've done this ever since we were married, but called it "cold cuts" until recently.)

It just so happens that Belinda is a dab hand with a charcuterie board, so I was able to opt-out (based on the breakfasts and turkey I was responsible for). She took charge of delegating duties, slicing and arranging the frankly excessive amounts of meats and cheeses I had procured for the event, and by 6 pm, the table was filled with a grand variety of bite-sized treats, and a family eager to share them. 

And since we would have three fewer diners the next day, we decided to bust out the Christmas Crackers on Christmas Eve for the first time ever.

After dinner, we had a single-elimination crokinole tournament, complete with randomly assigned brackets. Glory and I played a qualifier for the 8th spot, and she ended up graciously officiating the event over the next few hours.

Those of us not playing or spectating chatted and drank, pulled up songs on the smart speaker and enjoyed the warmth of each other's company (as well as the fireplace we'd installed earlier this year). In the end I managed to nudge out Jerry for the victory, but a number of people hope this event will return for future gatherings. Has a new tradition been born? One can but hope...

It made for a late night, but Christmas morning saw us all reconvene far too early in order to open gifts together. There was much laughter and even more gratitude, and a gift of surprising sentimentality that left me uncharacteristically speechless (which I will probably blog about at a later date). 

All too soon, Jerry and Tara had to leave in order to get their pre-departure Covid test and for dinner with his family, and Fenya and Bobby left to have Christmas dinner with his family. Following a bit of much-needed downtime, we threw together a turkey dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet yams and Brussels sprouts, and Belinda made a delicious cranberry sauce with berries she had picked herself in Churchill. All five of us ate well, and of course, there were leftovers for days.

Boxing day saw the ladies head out to West Edmonton Mall so Belinda could experience an indoor amusement park, while Parker and I hit up some shops to find him a case for his snowmobile goggles and a replacement winter jacket (Columbia at Mark's, 55% off!). 

The ladies hadn't returned home before he and I left for the Canada-Czechia match of the World Juniors Hockey tournament. The tickets Parker had originally asked me to get had been cancelled due to a new 50% restriction cap applied only days before, but on a hunch I had checked online before turning in late on Christmas Eve. Miraculously, there were two open seats on an aisle in the corner, 11 rows from the ice!

It was a chilly walk to Rogers Place from our parkade four blocks away, and a strangely sterile environment inside, with no food or drink being served, but it was a great game that saw Canada pull back from a two-goal deficit to tie it up in the first period before going on to win 6-3.

We returned home to plates of cold cuts which we enjoyed with Imperial stouts while watching Slapshot, before joining the others downstairs and putting in yet another late night.

The day after Boxing Day saw the last of our guests leave us, as Parker and Belinda travelled to Winnipeg for Christmas observances with his mother and sisters (which sadly never happened due to a Covid outbreak in his sister's home). But before leaving, he insisted on addressing a fault in our home which has aggravated Audrey since we moved in a decade and a half ago: the basement light, which can only be turned on by a switch at the top of the stairs.

Parker, a retired hydro man and experienced wirer, determined very quickly that a three-way switch would take little effort to install (by him, anyways), so with three hours to go before leaving for his flight, we hit up first Home Depot and then Lowes for the requisite equipment.

It took him less time to get that wiring installed than it did for us to argue with the two staff at Home Depot about whether or not they sold 14/3 wire by the metre, and my sole contribution was unlimbering my jigsaw and cutting 10 feet of PVC conduit to house that same cabling. But there is a switch now where there once was none and it works!

Now the house is quiet and everyone has returned home. Audrey and Fenya are working at Education Station and Glory is helping her bestie get some groceries since the cold has perished her car. It is still bitterly cold outside (it took Glory and I 25 minutes to get into the house last night after returning from Leduc because the deadbolt had frozen solid), so Canéla and I are content to stay indoors after a busy week (and she misses Parker and Belinda worse than any of us, and ran downstairs this morning to greet them only to come back up looking a bit crestfallen.).

Looking back at our celebrations, I hope no one reading this thinks I am bragging, and I know this plague we are dealing with has scuttled many, many holiday plans. We were very lucky and blessed to have a Christmas for the books, aided in no small part by Audrey's efforts to make our humble abode look as Christmassy as possible.

The fact that we were able to get together at all this year feels miraculous to me, especially after having no one else around last year at this time. This recollection is only meant to reflect my deep and sincere gratitude for the family and friends I am fortunate to have in my life. 

And the fact that so many of our family are friends as well is the best Christmas gift of all.

(Updated Jan 5, 2021 to fix broken pic links.)