I didn’t manage to get around to writing my annual Christmas letter this year, mainly because all I was likely to do was go back through drift and regurgitate bits of it and the audience for the letter would have been the same distribution. So if you want a review of our year of 2008, feel free to browse the archive and read it yourself!
The year ended in a rush as it always seems to and with the added bonus for us of the Rowlands arriving late in December. They were supposed to get here on the 19th but thanks to the wonders of modern air travel, ended up getting here on the 20th instead after being advised time and again that their flight from Calgary to Fort Mac was delayed. I was swapping text messages and phone calls with Jason and finally at about 2am was sent off to bed to await their arrival on the following day. Talk about a horror start.
The first order of business for us was of course to get them to the ski hill at Vista Ridge so that they could try and get some snow legs before we would head off to Kimberley. We met with varying degrees of success, with all of them developing some level of proficiency and only Jason managing to walk away with any significant pain and bruising; something about trying to snowboard upside down? Well, when I looked back up the hill, his feet were in the air and he wasn’t exactly ripping it.
We went to hunt for a Christmas tree so that we could all share the experience of freezing our arses off as we massacred the forest. The trip was ‘somewhat successful’. I found a nice place for us, we managed to make a bonfire in the snow and we cooked up hot dogs for lunch. We even found a tree and cut it down. However, on returning it to the truck, we took a closer look and decided that given it was more dead than alive, we’d leave it behind to become one with the environment again at a later date. So we had the full experience and left the mess behind!
Christmas was of course the next big event. Santa managed to re-route some goodies for the Rowlands and with a total of ten of us in the house, there was certainly a ridiculous number of gifts under the tree. Holding the kids back long enough to get a photo was something of an effort, but here’s evidence that we did actually manage to do so.
Christmas lunch went off well, with the only real drama being that the 20 pound turkey that we had bought occupied the entire oven and didn’t really leave any room for cooking vegetables! So there was a late notice call out to get the weber fired up. Now if you’ve ever used one of these babies, you’ll be familiar with the fact that they aren’t a simply light and go operation (unless you cheated and got the gas conversion). So there was some pressure to get it up and running in time to actually cook. At this point, it’s probably worth mentioning that Christmas day was about -20C here and so starting a bbq was a bit of a challenge.
I did win though. Ignition gel, metho and a little dose of caution served me well and we did eventually sit down to a delicious turkey dinner, WITH vegetables!
Boxing day was the scheduled departure for us to drive to Calgary and I have to say that I was nervous about what sort of road conditions we were likely to encounter along the way. Those concerns were soon joined by another variety though, when Michael decided to vomit about 20 minutes before we left. A schedule is a schedule though and we needed to make sure that we’d be in Calgary, because my gift to everyone for Christmas was to take them dog sledding in Canmore on the 27th!
Now I wasn’t in the car with Michael (I’m sure Bel would be more than happy to expound on just how wonderful a ride it was) but he tells me that he threw up 20 times during that trip, most of them in the first half. We didn’t quite stop that many times, but it wasn’t far off. We managed to get to Calgary without further event though and stayed at the McColl’s (thanks Annie and Jim – don’t worry, no one threw up at your house!).
The following day we made our way to Lake Louise to take a quick look around and then back to Banff ‘briefly’ for lunch (don’t ask about the food court). Time pressure was then applied as we scooted back to Canmore to try and make it in time for us to get to the dog sledding before they left without us. We made it by the skin of our teeth (and yes, I was just ever so slightly stressed about the thought of missing it but having to pay anyway!).
The dog sledding was a hit. The dogs were adorable, 5 different breeds of huskies, they don’t really look like the huskies that you see in the movies (those tend to have been bred for looks rather than work). I’ve never seen a group of dogs so ready to go as this lot (though Emily was a close second). They sit there relatively quiet in the harnesses whilst the guide explains everything to you, but as soon as they get a sniff that they might be about to be allowed to run, they bark and yap and get ready to run.
I shared a sled with Emily and Thomas, driving on the way out, wondering how I was going to manage to give them both a go (because they both wanted to drive too) on the way back.
As the dogs run along, they occasionally run their tongues through the snow on the side of the trail and as soon as you stop, at least one of the dogs seems to immediately rollover into the snow drift on the side of the trail. Too cute for words.
We made it to the half way point and Emily happily jumped out all ready to drive a dog sled team, checking the commands with me (Hike to go, Woah to stop) but Thomas decided that he wasn’t feeling great and so he would just sit in the sled. He climbed out just to stretch his legs for a bit, looking very pale and then, yes, you guessed it, he painted the snow orange. Then he had to sit back in the sled for the rest of the ride, whilst Emily had the time of her life, standing on the runners with me, driving the dog team. Fortunately for Thomas (and much to Michael’s disgust) that was the only time that he vomited.
On the 28th we drove to Kimberley for our ski holiday. It was a bit of a hairy start, with poor driving conditions (it’s always great to see the snow plough stuck in the ditch – he hadn’t judged his turning point quite right) slowing us down and breeding plenty of caution. We made it through Banff and up to the pass that would take us through the mountains and into British Columbia and were very pleased to see that the roads had been ploughed and that it wasn’t snowing very heavily at all. By the time that we made it through to the other side, there were hints of sun and the temperature was rising steadily to a balmy -2 degrees.
Our accommodation was great, with the only minor hitch being the fact that the downstairs hot tub was out of action, which we thought could put a dent in the planned spa-to snow angel action, but at least the upstairs one was in order.
Our first day of snow was greeted by Sam with a chuck. It was his turn. And he wasn’t about to go skiing, even when by lunch time he hadn’t thrown up again. He sat quite happily in the Chalet holding onto one of the radios, watching TV and reading books with me checking up on him every chance that I could. Fortunately, that was the end of the vomit brother’s tour of Canada!
Snow conditions weren’t quite perfect for day one with some very icy patches, but everyone went into lessons to work on their skills. Caroline and I took advantage of the absence of children to hire a private instructor and get both some tips on our skiing and something of a tour of the mountain. Well worth the expense, as was putting the kids into school from 11:30 until 3:30 everyday. It meant that they all got to do something at an appropriate level (which in Michael and Thomas’ case meant stuff that I simply wasn’t prepared to ski) and Caroline and I got to go where we wanted (even if there was some discussion about what was fun versus what was pushing my boundaries too far – yes, I am the wimp of the family apparently).
The second day saw a dump of snow and so we went and skied in the powder all over the mountain, which was great … falling in powder is much better than falling on ice!
And of course, there was New Year’s Eve. As we had driven into BC, we stopped for gas and just by the door were the boxes of fireworks. Now these are freely available in Alberta, but there’s permit issues that can apparently be very hard to get and meet the requirements of. When we enquired as to the requirements in BC, the response was esentially… ‘um, make sure that there’s no one near you and it’s safe’. So I walked out with a bomb box.
Having pulled the kids out of the hot tub, Jason and I prepared a launch pad, along with escape routes (there’s no point in trying to run through 2 foot deep snow if you can shovel a path) and set up our own little pyrotechnics show. We had everyone else inside on the other end of the radio and would go out and prep each rocket, light it, run like buggery and then await the oo’s and aahs. It was great fun. Then we put the kids to bed and waited out the turning of the year in the hot tub. Around 12:30 am we decided that it was snow angel time. Jason and I went downstairs, over the railing and into the snow. And at this point I have to confess that Jason went into the snow and the associated howling and hollering made me think twice and I wimped out.
However, another couple of drinks and a bit more time thinking about it and I decided that there was no way that I was going to walk away with the story behind me how I had wimped out. So we went back down again, this time joined by Belinda and the three of us all made snow angels before running very quickly back up stairs to the warmth of the tub!
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