An Ontario Christmas!

I write to you today from my HOME.

ONTARIO!!!

I am so glad to be here. Though we didn't really have a white Christmas (we have about an inch of snow, which doesn't quite cover the Fields) it was absolutely lovely! I am getting used to how bright it seems to be here, compared to La Crete, as well as driving on our beautiful Ontarian HILLS which I miss so dearly in Alberta.

My Christmas holidays began Christmas eve. I went to Toronto to meet up with a friend for lunch, do a little walk down memory lane, and of course, gossip! We compared travel stories, although her stories of travelling to Ireland and England definitely outdid my icebridge-ferry stories of La Crete. She's off to the U.S. next, though, which doesn't make me at all jealous!

That evening I met up with my boyfriend, Christofer, for his family gathering in Toronto. In Spanish culture, they open gifts at midnight on Christmas eve. So I went for a feast, exchanged gifts and visited. It was strange to go from La Crete, where nobody hugs or touches, to his Spanish gathering where everyone greets with a hug and a kiss! We left Toronto around 2am and got to my parents' around 4am.

Of course, my older brother Bradley, who's autistic, was very wound up. Though he didn't get up until nearly 9am, I heard him up at 7am. So I think Chris and I slept from about 4am to 7am before our Christmas day began, at my parents' house.

We got up to find half our living room sprinkled with gifts. Bradley, Dylan and mom sat on the big couch, Chris and I took the love seat (I have always sat on the love seat since I was a child!) and Dad took a chair between the couches. I was "Santa" and delivered the gifts. It was a great Christmas and it took us a few hours to get through all the gifts. Chris got new luggage from my parents, I got Dylan a new pet rat and he got new boots from mom and dad, Bradley got some of the loudest most annoying toys ever (I sleep beside his room so loud toys keep me up ALL night!), mom got shopping and spa money, dad got tickets to a local show, and I got some shopping money (because I am QUITE deprived of this in La Crete) and a diamond necklace from Chris. He also got my mother and I diamond earrings :)

After gifts and breakfast, we played with out new gifts and Chris and I struggled to stay awake. My cousin Donnie, his girlfriend Jess and their son Jamie came over to visit for a little while, while the six of us were playing the board game Apples to Apples. After that visit, Uncle Matt, Aunt Debbie and my cousin James came to visit. It was so great to see them, especially James. I hadn't seen him in a long time! In the evening, we had a Christmas hot tub :)

Chris stayed the night again and I drove him to Toronto in the morning. I decided I should use the washroom before driving the two hours back home again so I went inside. Bad idea. I had to go in and kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss about 12 people or something. Go pee. Come back out and say goodbye, which means kissing everyone again. I was there for about 5 minutes and kissed about 40 times. Insane!

I came home and we had our Holmes gathering, and most people were here already. The kitchen, dinning room and living room were lined with tabled strewn together for our sit-down feast and the room smelled of delicious turkey and sweets. We had such a great feast, I am still full from it days later. And then the desserts started, and we had more desserts than could fit on the kitchen table!

After that we had our gift exchange and most people stayed to visit. We played games and all of us were too tired for a Christmas hot tub, so we all went to bed pretty early.

Officially, that's when the Christmas events were over, although my days are jam-packed with visiting and shopping, and of course, relaxing as well. It's so great here, I've already picked out some mansion houses for Chris and I to buy when we move back to Ontario :P