Our first white Christmas & new year

Last Christmas I was with my whole family in a holiday house at Rainbow Beach. It was hot, loud and I had a great time. We had never all gone away together for the holidays and it's something I hope we do again in the future. This year Christmas was a different experience entirely. We went from being one room away from my family to an ocean and then some apart. It was so quiet and cold.... -20 celcius to be exact.

-20 celcius, unseasonably cold for the area apparently

Despite the fact we were in the throws of winter with snow, ice, lights, carols ie a 'real' Chrristmas, it didn't feel like Christmas at all. We managed to get a discount tree to out up which helped in creating some kind of spirit but it was hard to get excited with just the two of us. We didn't have enough money for presents so stuck the ice skates and hockey sticks we bought a week prior underneath to try and bulk it up a bit. My dad sent us a hamper which we also stuck under there for more fullness.

Our tree - stupid apartment block wouldn't allow real one due to fire hazard

I was determined to really experience what a white Christmas was all about though. We made goofy Christmas cards to send back to our family and friends in Australia, something we have never done before but it was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Our personalised Christmas cards

Funny Canadian stereotype sayings inside

After skyping our family back in Australia on Christmas eve (their Christmas day) we walked down to the Airdire Festival of Lights. This is an annual event held in one of the larger parks in town where they decorate with thousands of twinkle lights, have outdoor ice skating on the pond, hot chocolate, Santa and even the polar express. It was a really cold night so my eyelashes froze and I couldn't feel my forehead after a while but we had fun. It was so romantic being out in the cold night surrounded by snow, I went home feeling all warm and fuzzy.

This poece of wood belongs to Airdie

Enjoying the cold - notice frozen eyelashes

The polar express, D wouldn't let me ride it

Random bear that tapped me on the shoulder for a photo

Pretty scene all lit up

Real Christmas trees everywhere

We spent Christmas day eating, lazing about and watching all the seasonal movies we could. Itw as a beautiful sunny day outside but we both agreed at -20 it was too cold to go anywhere. We had roast chicken, ham, potato bake, sweet potato & marshmallow casserole for lunch followed by candy cane ice cream and rumballs for dessert. We drank sparkling apple juice out of mason jars and hot chocolate using our bear coasters. All in all we shared a good day together.

The ham D ate all to himself

Sweet potato & marshmallow casserole was soooo yum. Never heard of it before but apparently it's a favourite here

I make these rumballs every Christmas without fail. Family favourite. Ironically they contain no rum

The next day we got geared up nice and early to head out to the ritual of the Boxing Day sales at Crossiron Mills - the shopping centre containing Bass Pro. I have NEVER seen a shopping centre so crowded even at home. There were lineups around the corners for some of the stores and you literally could not move in some places. We got some fairly good bargains but it took almost all day and we were exhausted by the time we got home.

We had another day off before going back to wor so went ice skating on the pond, only a 10 min walk from our house. Love it so much, just wish i was better at it, fell over a couple of times.



The ice skates we bought from Canadian Tire

Enjoying the ice

For new years we went to dinner with our friends K&L at my new favourite restaurant Swiss Chalet. The hands down do the BEST chicken and gravy sandwich with chips... drool! I had already had a few drinks by that stage so dinner wa a bit of a blur but we then headed to the park for the fireworks show. For a small town they were actually really good and went for ages... there were no public toilets around and I needed to pee so despite my reluctance to, I went in the snow behind a tree. My bum froze but I peed in the snow before D hehehe.

After a few too many at New Years with K&L

To end the night we headed to the local pub where they had a glow party and we sang and danced and drank the night away. The last song they played for the year was by The Black Eyed Peas and actually one we used to sing to our dog, Charles at home. It made me sad for a moment but before long we were counting down to 2013... Happy New Year!