We're getting ready for a quiet Christmas celebration at home. It's not terribly Christmassy-feeling weather; it's beautiful today, sunny and +10 degrees, quite a contrast with what we understand is going on in Canada right now. Maggie is out having coffee with Kiana at the cafe down the street, enjoying the sunshine and the girl time, and the boys are watching star trek (original series) on DVD for the first time... in the absence of broadcast tv, I realize I am raising them like it's 1978, although quite frankly the concept of a computer in every room, flip "communicators" and other technological advancements aren't quite as fantastic to them now as they were to me then. Still, I have to choose carefully which ones I show, and I have been watching most of the episodes with the kids; this morning it was the episode called "Amok Time" where Spock has to go back to Vulcan to meet his betrothed, goes nutzoid because it's the mating season, fights and (he thinks) kills Kirk. Actually McCoy has simulated Kirk's death with a neural tranquilizer to end the combat and save both their lives, but Duncan didn't know that and he sobbed for five minutes until the happy ending. Here's a 2'46" recap for those of you who need a refresher. While I do enjoy the Young Rascals' rendition of "Good Lovin'" this version does leave out the greatest fight music of all time.
We've found a nice big turkey for the 25th, and have reserved lobsters for the 24th; we're probably going to barbeque them. Not alive, of course; there are limits! We had raclette last night for dinner, improvising with our teflon frying pan to melt the cheese. I'm looking around for a raclette machine like the fantastic one our friends Phil and Sue have, that holds half a wheel of cheese, and heats the top layer, but so far I've had no luck yet. Malcolm went crazy for raclette but surprisingly Duncan was unimpressed; usually he's all for salty/savoury foods.
This morning Duncan made us laugh, while playing with the playmobil; the pirate meets the police officer and says "Hello, how are you?" and they exchange a quick bizou on the cheek. Nothing strange about that, that's how everybody says hello, right?
Earlier yesterday, Jonathan and the girls came over for a short play-date for the kids and coffee for the adults. Malcolm taught Lara how to play chess, and beat her; then they played checkers and she beat him. He made hot chocolate with steamed milk using our espresso/capuccino maker for the girls; baristo and bartending skills might turn out to be handy when he's older, and we are glad that both boys are eager to help out in the kitchen.
Sunday evening I went to the home of Malcolm's friend Simonas to give another guitar lesson to Simonas and his father Simonas, and the rest of our families met up afterwards for some delicious lithuanian Christmas sweets, plus Kidibul (a carbonated nonalcoholic apple juice) for the children, and a fantastic polish vodka with buffalo grass called Zubrowka for the grownups. I'm not much on vodka but this was delicious, with a mellow, delicate, almost cinnamon flavour. I remember that Bruce had a bottle back in Toronto, and we tried it then, so I know you can get it in Canada too. I might have to pick up a bottle for winter evening sipping.
We are missing our loved ones back in Canada, but will have Skype up and running over the next several days, so we have already scheduled some video conferences with my family for the 25th (what was that I was saying about Star Trek technology?!). If you haven't tried video conferencing with us yet, and have a computer with a camera, you might consider setting it up and giving it a try. Download the software for free and search for our Skype ID (mzadow).
Alternatively we are around most of the time, and are usually up until 11:00 our time (17:00 / 5:00 pm EST) and reachable at 416-406-2800.
Merry Christmas to all!
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