Christmas in Thornhill

Good evening.

For those of you new to our blog, it is basically us chronicalling our journey to Batemans Bay, NSW. You may or may not find the posts interesting or even relevant. That's okay because we are not always interesting or relevant; we're just people.

We arrived safely at Susan's parents this afternoon and had a great visit with some of her family . In today's technology crazy world, have you had the chance to view real slides on an old-fashioned slide projector? It's great not having to wait for something to reboot or locate folders. We did just that and the fact that many of the slides were in sideways irrelevant, it was just good to go back in time; I guess that is why most people, when asked what they would grab first if there was a fire, would grab the photo albums (or cds or memory sticks).

Words to live by: Take half as much clothing and twice the money you think you will need. Tomorrow is packing day and we've got our work cut our for us as we decide what we really need to take. A friend of ours spent a couple of years teaching at a school near Brisbane where even the staff wore uniforms. What a great idea!

3 days to go. Have a great day.

Christmas with Family: Part I

Christmas with John's parents was very nice. We arrived on the 23rd (see previous post) had a quiet evening with mom, dad, and whoever else was here. Christmas Eve morning found a couple of us under the weather and happy to rest in bed. Susan picked up whatever Rachel had the night before but within 24 hours was back to normal. It was a blessing in disguise in that we found ourselves not running around all over the place and being too busy.

Having said all of those things about not being busy, I confess that I went out with my brother to do some shopping (first Home Hardware, then the Mall in Newmarket). Grace under Pressure. In the end we found everything we needed to.

That evening I went to Christmas Eve mass with mom and dad while Susan and the girls continued to recover. Mass was preceeded by a beautiful Nativity play (which I will park in my brain for future school plays). There was a 30-foot spruce Christmas tree, Father's homily was very good, and my brother played well in the choir. Father's Christmas Day bulletin was full of wonderful stories and reflections on Jesus, His birth, and how the Christmas Season has a wonderful way of briging the best out of all of us. Afterwards a couple of the musicians came back home for a drink and we all discussed the merits of various bands and bass players from the 70s.

Christmas morning was very nice. Everybody was up by 8AM and we sat around sharing and opening gifts. A funny moment was when Susan opened her gift from Rachel, a Josh Groban Christmas CD, and my brother asked who it was for. He thought we accidentally opened up his gift to mom; the identical CD. We then went to the 10AM Christmas morning mass (Susan wants a BMW after driving my brother's to mass) together.

Family was beginning to arrive back at the house and we started preparing Christmas dinner. By 5PM all was prepared and set up. This was the first Christmas in my parent's new house and we were able to set up a long series of tables in the dining room/living room, something we were never able to easily do at home. The food was delicious and there is enough left over to be enjoyed over the next couple of days as family continues to come in.

We said a number of good-byes to family and headed off to bed. Sleep came quickly and easily last night. We are fortunate.

Three more days as I write this.

We hope everyone had a peaceful and happy Christmas.

Good bye, Barry's Bay

Here we are with my family on the 23rd of December. We will be staying with them until Boxing Day, at which time we'll head down to spend time with Susan's parents until it is time for us to leave.

Our day went quite well. Going to Mass Saturday night gave us the whole morning to tidy things up. Dishes were washed and put away, linen was laundered, wood and kindling boxes were brought in, last minute instructions were written down for our exchange... At about noon I went with the girls to help decorate the church for Christmas while Susan gave the final once over; things looked so clean and clutter free that she just had to take pictures of them! I can't wait to see them.

The drive was grey but good. We had rain for the better part of two hours and that was finally replaced with clearing skies and cooler air. There was very little traffic and our total journey took about 4 hours, which included a few small stops. Although we topped up with wiper fluid this morning we never had to use it but we did manage to find cheap gas in a small town called Norland - it was 98 cents per litre for regular, where most other places were at least 102 cents per litre. We were very thankful that the rain never turned into snow or freezing rain.

Well, I've got to go. Have a great night.

Last Night in Barry's Bay

Hockey Night in Canada will soon be a thing of the past. It's not that I watch much hockey, but you can always count on the Senators or Leafs to be on TV. As this is our last Saturday night in Canada for a while, it is our last chance to catch any action (I doubt I'll watch in case you are interested).

Tomorrow we leave for a few days with our parents over Christmas before flying out of Toronto. It will be nice to be with them before we go. We hope to leave by noon and arrive no later than 4 in the afternoon but you never can tell what will pop up or cause one to be delayed. We usually help out at church with the decorating but we'll not be available this year to see it transformed one more time.

We received an email from our exchange partner who is spending a few days in LA with his family before proceeding to Barry's Bay. I guess it is all pretty real.

Have a great day.

Less than 4 weeks to go

Here we are with less than four weeks to go before we fly off to Australia for 2008. Time has truly gone quickly. It seems like only yesterday we received the news that there was a match for us in Australia, but it seems like we have been working on our house forever in that same amount of time.

Obviously, we are all looking forward to our trip. Last minute preparations and plans are being carried out both here and in Australia. We have been in steady contact with our exchange family in Batemans Bay, Australia; he and his family are also excited about their trip.

This brand new blog will be our journal of all things in 2008. Please check it regularly for updates, notes, and pictures.