Home for Christmas

Well after a surprisingly easy plane trip home (with a changeover in Chicago) - I made the gradual decent into a very rainy Sacramento to be home for Christmas.  My plane from Chicago to Sac was mostly full of military persons flying home for the holidays - after we deplaned and took the escalators down to baggage claim there was huge gathering of family members forming a welcome aisle with flags raised and an actual bag pipe player...needless to say a very emotional moment for me.  With all do respect to Canada, that scene at the airport made me very proud to be an American and all the more glad to be home for the holidays with family.

With a few quick days in Sacramento to check on my house, collect & wrap my Christmas gifts (all ordered online - thank you Overstock.com and UPS) and see a few friends, I'm now down at the farm for the remainder of my break.  Mom, of course, has gone over and above to make Christmas extra special - the farmhouse has been completely transformed into something that is reminiscent of a scene in a Pottery Barn catalog.  Christmas Eve will be here at the farm with my mom's side of the family (Macedo's) and then a quiet Christmas Day with the immediate five of us and a visit to see Nana in the rest home.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dinner at Ernesto's with the Sacramento crew

Dixie in front of the Christmas tree at the farmhouse

Snow Driving

Alright, just sitting here at the Toronto airport getting ready to head back to California for Christmas and thought I would share some funny videos from snow driving mishaps - hit a patch of black ice myself the other day!  Remember, the brake is not your friend.

New Friends, Tractor Parades, Birthdays, Ice Skating in Toronto

I think it’s safe  to say that my social calendar is now more full in Canada than it’s been back in “The States” – one thing that the Canadians have over many Americans is a friendlier disposition to newcomers…or perhaps it’s just me?  (insert narcissistic eye roll – that one is for you Angela!)

Being new to the area and with the snow season upon us in greater Ontario (yes, yes, I know – this is nothing – I get it already), I’ve been poised to hold up indoors after work and gym hours but of course most of you know that’s just not my cup o’ tea.  I’ve been very fortunate to meet and establish friendships with a great group of young adults here in Guelph who are a branch of the new church that I’m attending.  Somewhat apprehensive at first about diving into the group, my hand injury actually ended up making for an incredibly useful icebreaker – I’ve even joked with a few people that I mangled it in a snowblower (more looks of horror than laughs on that one.)  Anyway, the young adults group has been instrumental in really making me feel at home – meeting up for Arabica-bean coffee (Jelena I hope you’re happy), evening events/socials, volunteer work, etc.  – I’m partially bummed that I’ll be missing some events while I’m back home for Christmas!  I’m looking forward to returning though and spending more time with this group.  Special thanks to Andrea Cizej (the best waitress this side of the Canadian border) for introducing me to the right peeps and getting me plugged in.

Thursday my colleague Alison West invited me to a local Christmas parade which I originally mistook for a stereotypical event – but oh so wrong.  Rockwood, a community 20 minutes from Guelph, hosts an annual “Tractor Christmas Parade” – with the surrounding community being primarily agriculturally based it’s only appropriate that several farm families get together and decorate their tractors and other farm equipment with a montage of lights, garland and Randy Travis Christmas music to then parade themselves down cold streets after hours.  The turnout for this event was incredible – so many in fact that most people from out of town actually park on the outskirts of Rockwood in harvested corn fields and wait by a huge bonfire until the parade reaches them.  Local firefighters walk along and lead the floats/tractors to raise money for various causes and farm families wave down from their decorated equipment…much of the evening reminded me of the annual Christmas parade from my younger days back home in Hanford.

Friday evening I ventured into Toronto for my cousin Melissa’s 26^th birthday (Happy B-Day Mel!) at her boyfriend Ian’s apartment…we all weren’t sure what the evening was going to bring in terms of entertainment but soon Mel opened her largest gift – a brand new, red Ninentendo Wii with several accompanying games and we were set for the evening!  After numerous competitive games of Donkey Kong, Golf, Bowling and Tennis we called it an evening (or morning rather) at 3:00 a.m. – I don’t think I’ve stayed up that late since I was in “University”.

A late Saturday morning finally caught up with us and we rode the subway to Yonge and Dundas square again for lunch and then walked over to Nathan Phillips Square http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Phillips_Square for – oh you guessed it – outdoor ice skating (a definite first for me)…though I’ve skated indoors before I now far prefer the ambience of an outdoor rink – albeit a very, very crowded rink!  I figured out that it’s been 8 years since I’ve last spent time on “the ice” and I must say I was very impressed with myself that I didn’t fall at all – of course having said that I’ve officially jinxed myself for future skating engagements.  Toronto, like most major cities, provides the perfect backdrop for getting a person into the Christmas spirit.  Decorated department store window displays, carolers, folks dressed up like Eskimos (thank you Nat King Cole) – I’m now definitely in the mood for the season.

Home to California on Saturday for Christmas!

Mel gets a red Wii

Seriously - I didn't know!

Removing Jesse's hidden BabyBel's from the balloons

Courtney and Jack join the party

2:00 a.m....the Wii marathon continues

Nathan Phillips Square - Ice Skating

Standing upright on skates long enough to pose

Zamboni cleans up the rink

First Snow, Housesitting, Sheepadoodles and Recovery

To answer everyone's first question:  Yes, it's cold.

Last Saturday brought the welcoming of snow - though I've been told that it was considered very light and most of it is in fact now gone...we're well on our way into winter in the Great White North.  Light jackets have now been traded in for pea coats, scarves adorn most everyone's neck and beanie hats aren't really a fashion statement so much as a necessity.  It's officially winter in Canada.  Many of my colleagues and friends just laugh at me when I make comments about how "brisk" the weather is becoming - their simple replies all mimic the same casual statement of "you ain't seen nothing yet."  In many ways though it's been a welcome change for me.

After Friday's little accident at the house I spent a weekend of R&R at Greg Mercer and Kate Robert's house here in Guelph..many of you know Kate (or have heard her mentioned) from my Ag Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) days at college (college by the way is referred to as University in Canada and the term College is used to reference our community college equivalent).  Greg and Kate are currently in the throws of wedding planning for their June 4, 2011 nuptials so big congrats to the engaged couple!  Needing to get away to visit Greg's grandmother for the weekend and not being able to take their Sheepadoodle (an Old English Sheepdog mixed with a Poodle to make a hypoallergenic and shed-less dog) they asked me to watch their house and Leroy and of course I couldn't resist.  The soon-to-be Mercer's bought a great place on the older side of Guelph and I thoroughly enjoyed raiding their cable television while introducing Leroy to his first snowfall.

The housesitting also gave me to the chance to take it easy on the hand and keep it elevated.  After several re-dressings I'm down to two fingers (index and middle) wrapped with recovery coming along well.  The nurses tell me that will continued care there shouldn't be any scarring so a little light at the end of the tunnel.  Though I will say that learning to drive in the snow one handed has been an....interesting....experience.

Snowfall In My Neighborhood

Leroy's checking out this new cold, white powder substance

Greg and Kate's House - like something out of a movie

Just a closing note - I will be back for 2 weeks during Christmas time.  Returning to California Dec. 18th and departing Dec. 30th to New York City to ring in the New Year.  I'll likely be spending the 18th - 23rd in Sacramento and the 23rd-29th in Hanford...hope to see many of you while I'm home visiting.