More unexpected sun

We have had a stretch of sunny days and it has been wonderful. I love cold and crisp and blue skies.

Hard to believe that this is it for the 2010-2011 Christmas Season. I have been off a whole bunch of days it seems, and some real extremes of experiences.

Christmas was good - but I think I will resolve to do things differently next year. I still haven't mailed out of my cards/photos, and we have made the decision to keep our lights up until at least February. Why not, I say. I will aim to shop earlier, and wrap when purchased and maybe just keep a list. Cram-wrapping one night for 3-4 hours sucks when you work full-time. Baking needs to be done earlier, in smaller batches... spread out the visiting, and just try to pace all of it out better. All in all things went well except we blew our budget and Brandon and Ken got hit with really nasty, awful flu bugs. Which really sucked since that coincided with our trip to Vancouver Island.

I really like Parksville - the family playground there rocks, and there is just a great vibe when you stay near the beach and just go out and walk. Nice to have a place to retreat to when visiting family too. Had a great visit with my aging gran.. we had a good laugh (since she has had one foot in the grave for the last 20 years) since we always say "good bye" when I told her "really, this isn't goodbye, with your karma you are going to make 100!"

Coming home was a bit off - ferry line ups, sick husband, really messy kitchen that didn't improve for a few days... ah, the joys of the season! I was really glad to have the day in between loved ones being sick to just chill, and walk the beach and go to the park... it was nice. The last few days have been good too - the plunge, the birds, the park today... damn if I don't have to go to work tomorrow again. Hard to believe it will be another 6 months before a good sized break...