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And so the year ends
Jan. 5th, 2013 08:40 pmGentle Reader,
After seeing the Hobbit my holiday continued to be awesome. I tried to write about it the other day but managed to reload the page and so now I get to recreate that post. Silly me.
I managed to finish my (and Cortejo's) Hogswatch shopping Christmas eve morning. I wasn't able to find everything I wanted but I did manage to get what I needed. I've always enjoyed shopping on Christmas eve, ever since managing to find the perfect gift for my Grandmother one year on a last minute trip with my brother. I've never seen the shops crowded or anything like that. It probably didn't hurt that this year I was out of the house by 7am and was done by 9.
This gave me plenty of time to finish the baking we needed to do. I made the Pork pie the day before so all that was left on my plate was the Pudding. Really it should have been made a couple of months ago and then been soaked in rum or brandy but I never remember to plan these things. We ended up having at least 20 people drop in and eat. The unexpected ones were especially nice. Eventually everyone except the guests left and we negotiated with the children that we would let them open 2 gifts now instead of waiting until midnight and opening just 1 because we were all exhausted.
The next day we dug through our stockings and found the wonderful things not to mention the amazing gifts that Lucia and Lydia picked for me.
The next couple of days were pretty lovely, other than the massive amounts of snow. Actually, due to the snow, Lucia had to make her Syracuse run early. Then came that most wonderful day of the year. My birthday!
The first day of my birthday was actually on my birthday and I spent the day doing things that I love. I went to Costco with Cortejo and I had a bunch of friends and fellow sword fighting enthusiasts come by the Sword Hall and we had a great bash up. Everyone was a wonderful challenge and I surprised myself with how well I did against a number of opponents. Particularly interesting was the Kendoka. I did reasonably well against him although the shani left some lovely bruises on my arm. The most difficult part was our different ideas about victory conditions.
I got home to discover 2 more guests which was also great! (They were expected).
The next day was pretty good. We tidied and prepped for the party, our guests helping make short work of everything that needed to be done. There was even enough time for me to finally watch They Live all the way through. For some reason though, no one wanted to join me.
Anyway, the other half my commissioned alcohol arrived and the brewer was generous enough to bring some taps and then guests started arriving and I was having a lovely time hanging in the kitchen (nearer the food) and sampling the amazing brews that another friend brought back from his american Xmas.
Then Lydia fell off her top bunk onto the open drawer of her dresser. She earned a 10cm scratch and a sore shoulder and was so freaked out that she asked us to take her home a couple of times. We got her calmed down but eventually our Emergency Nurse friend suggested that she was looking like she had a dislocated shoulder and so I took her to the hospital. Well, actually I had been drinking so we had another friend drive in yet another friend's car.
We spent 3-4 hours (I'm not sure) in the hospital with a session of x-rays that I think Lydia enjoyed getting to see and thankfully discovered no visible damage.
We finally got home just before midnight to discover that while we were gone, the toilet tank had burst. I think that this piece of news drained the last of my will to party and I headed to bed, leaving my friends to celebrate my passing without me. This was clearly a sub-optimal party. I will have to do much better next time.
The broken toilet meant that we had to go toilet shopping the next day. Thankfully, my work gave me some Home Depot gift cards. Cortejo took one guest back to his homeland while the rest of us installed the new toilet. Lydia and I also traveled with them to our New Year's destination, Casa Rozakii where we would rendezvous with Cortejo. We were a little worried that she was going to beat us there, even with her cross border route due to our stop a the Kingston Denny's for Hobbit Food. Thanks to a long wait for her return to canada, we made it there first.
The New Year's party was small this year but filled with good friends and good food and Cards Against Humanity. Then on the 1st was the traditional watching of full extended version of the Lord of the Rings. Lydia was much more interested in it this time, perhaps owing to being a little older and also having the Hobbit to compare it to. It only took about 12 hours, but we did have a little break for the traditional Canadian-Chinese food.
Our trip back to Ottawa was pretty uneventful with a couple of of stops, the first to see more friends and the second to drop Lydia off in Kingston. Then it was home where Cortejo and I were alone in the house for the first time since I don't remember when.
Of course, we had to get up early the next day to give a friend a lift to the train station so I got an early trip to work and it was back to the grind. Well, until mid afternoon when I got a call from Lydia saying that she really wanted to come home. Making things easier, there were no students for at the Sword Hall so I was able to meet up with Cortejo when she finished work and off we went to get our homesick child.
We finally got back to Ottawa at midnight and thus ended the vacation.
After seeing the Hobbit my holiday continued to be awesome. I tried to write about it the other day but managed to reload the page and so now I get to recreate that post. Silly me.
I managed to finish my (and Cortejo's) Hogswatch shopping Christmas eve morning. I wasn't able to find everything I wanted but I did manage to get what I needed. I've always enjoyed shopping on Christmas eve, ever since managing to find the perfect gift for my Grandmother one year on a last minute trip with my brother. I've never seen the shops crowded or anything like that. It probably didn't hurt that this year I was out of the house by 7am and was done by 9.
This gave me plenty of time to finish the baking we needed to do. I made the Pork pie the day before so all that was left on my plate was the Pudding. Really it should have been made a couple of months ago and then been soaked in rum or brandy but I never remember to plan these things. We ended up having at least 20 people drop in and eat. The unexpected ones were especially nice. Eventually everyone except the guests left and we negotiated with the children that we would let them open 2 gifts now instead of waiting until midnight and opening just 1 because we were all exhausted.
The next day we dug through our stockings and found the wonderful things not to mention the amazing gifts that Lucia and Lydia picked for me.
The next couple of days were pretty lovely, other than the massive amounts of snow. Actually, due to the snow, Lucia had to make her Syracuse run early. Then came that most wonderful day of the year. My birthday!
The first day of my birthday was actually on my birthday and I spent the day doing things that I love. I went to Costco with Cortejo and I had a bunch of friends and fellow sword fighting enthusiasts come by the Sword Hall and we had a great bash up. Everyone was a wonderful challenge and I surprised myself with how well I did against a number of opponents. Particularly interesting was the Kendoka. I did reasonably well against him although the shani left some lovely bruises on my arm. The most difficult part was our different ideas about victory conditions.
I got home to discover 2 more guests which was also great! (They were expected).
The next day was pretty good. We tidied and prepped for the party, our guests helping make short work of everything that needed to be done. There was even enough time for me to finally watch They Live all the way through. For some reason though, no one wanted to join me.
Anyway, the other half my commissioned alcohol arrived and the brewer was generous enough to bring some taps and then guests started arriving and I was having a lovely time hanging in the kitchen (nearer the food) and sampling the amazing brews that another friend brought back from his american Xmas.
Then Lydia fell off her top bunk onto the open drawer of her dresser. She earned a 10cm scratch and a sore shoulder and was so freaked out that she asked us to take her home a couple of times. We got her calmed down but eventually our Emergency Nurse friend suggested that she was looking like she had a dislocated shoulder and so I took her to the hospital. Well, actually I had been drinking so we had another friend drive in yet another friend's car.
We spent 3-4 hours (I'm not sure) in the hospital with a session of x-rays that I think Lydia enjoyed getting to see and thankfully discovered no visible damage.
We finally got home just before midnight to discover that while we were gone, the toilet tank had burst. I think that this piece of news drained the last of my will to party and I headed to bed, leaving my friends to celebrate my passing without me. This was clearly a sub-optimal party. I will have to do much better next time.
The broken toilet meant that we had to go toilet shopping the next day. Thankfully, my work gave me some Home Depot gift cards. Cortejo took one guest back to his homeland while the rest of us installed the new toilet. Lydia and I also traveled with them to our New Year's destination, Casa Rozakii where we would rendezvous with Cortejo. We were a little worried that she was going to beat us there, even with her cross border route due to our stop a the Kingston Denny's for Hobbit Food. Thanks to a long wait for her return to canada, we made it there first.
The New Year's party was small this year but filled with good friends and good food and Cards Against Humanity. Then on the 1st was the traditional watching of full extended version of the Lord of the Rings. Lydia was much more interested in it this time, perhaps owing to being a little older and also having the Hobbit to compare it to. It only took about 12 hours, but we did have a little break for the traditional Canadian-Chinese food.
Our trip back to Ottawa was pretty uneventful with a couple of of stops, the first to see more friends and the second to drop Lydia off in Kingston. Then it was home where Cortejo and I were alone in the house for the first time since I don't remember when.
Of course, we had to get up early the next day to give a friend a lift to the train station so I got an early trip to work and it was back to the grind. Well, until mid afternoon when I got a call from Lydia saying that she really wanted to come home. Making things easier, there were no students for at the Sword Hall so I was able to meet up with Cortejo when she finished work and off we went to get our homesick child.
We finally got back to Ottawa at midnight and thus ended the vacation.
