January second, 2011:
Another year over, and what have we done? Nothing productive, but a whole lot of fun. Happy New Year, everyone!
It was a great Christmas season for us. Since my last report, we had our annual Sunseekers Christmas Party, this time out at Natasha's on English Crescent. It was a blast, with every member present except for the two snowbird couples, plus some former members.
Christmas itself was very quiet for us; Sara and Shannon dropped over Christmas Eve for an hour or two, but other than that it was just Doreen and I. Lucille had gone to Calgary to spend Christmas with her son, his wife, and their daughters. We enjoyed the peace and quiet thoroughly.
Lucille came back right after Christmas; Sandy and Blaine arrived on the 28th, and my sister, Cathy on the 29th.
Since then it's been non-stop party. Of course, the girls managed to squeeze in some productive shopping.
None of this business of going to bed at ten on New Year's Eve, either. We watched a couple of old movies, did our rounds of kisses at midnight, and kept on partying (watching re-runs on TV) until about 1:30. At this stage of our lives, we get up about 8:30, too – hangovers are a thing of the past.
We watch more TV than usual – horrible weather along the east coast; floods in Australia; tornados in the mid-western States, Europe all tied up with snowstorms. We suffer through bright sunshine and cool temperatures, and congratulate ourselves on selecting the best possible place on earth to live and on not deciding to fly somewhere for Christmas.
Blaine and I didn't even leave the house today, though I suppose we could have gone to McDonald's for coffee. We were just lazy. Cathy left for home shortly after our late lunch; Doreen and Sandy went to pick up Lucille, and got in some shopping on the way home.
Today has been left-over day (which I love) and Doreen is threatening to send anything we don't eat to Sandy's and Blaine's for the dogs. Austerity sets in tomorrow. I think we each have about five pounds to lose, just to get back to our pre-Christmas shape.
It's been a year of contact with family; between Aaron's and Nicole's wedding and Doreen's birthday party, we got in lots of quality time with every member of our family. What a bunch! The older we get, the more important they all are to us.
We have been bombarded with e-mail messages urging us to take a stand against those who would destroy our way of life, primarily aimed at Muslims and Sikhs. Yet when we watch TV, we see a lot of people who are of Indian or of the Muslim religion, often obviously mixed with Caucasian blood, and they are mighty good looking people. They talk like us, they dress like us, and they are productive citizens. Are we over-looking the many and worrying too much about the few? I think I would be proud to have some of those people in our family circle. Maybe we just haven't given the many time enough to assimilate.
Those with a criminal bent – send 'em back to where they came from in the first cattle boat. |
