Merry Christmas

Today is, of course, Ukrainian Christmas. Have had a really good day, but Christmas Eve was great too.

Picked up Adam (cousin from Thunder Bay, currently in London England) at the Guildwood GO, and drove home in gobs of snow to pick up Gabi and Chloe. Adam had a beer, but I sadly couldn't join him because the thought of driving in snow after drinking even one...not a good idea. We then picked up Maya, and headed north. 95 minutes later (normally 35-40), we arrived and had a grand feast. I'd been saving my extra points, my activity points and had been doing nothing but nibbling all day. I had 105 points available to eat, but managed to give out after just 86. There was just no more room at the inn, so to speak.

It then took another 90 minutes to drive home, once again in gobs of snow, with a few cars in the ditch for good measure. Driving in snow doesn't bother me at all, but driving around OTHER people driving in snow does. I just find that it requires an absolute 100% of my attention - no music, not much conversation, and please turn off the Wiggles in the back seat....please. I try to maintain a pocket of space - means I either go a bit faster or a bit slower than everyone else - and it seemed to work well. I think I'm going to have Goodyear TripleTreds on my cars as long as they manufacture them - the van never slipped or slid once.

It was great to see Adam, who seemed very happy and enjoying his life. He brought some really cool gifts for the kids, which was very thoughtful and I know they all enjoyed them. We normally go out for dinner or lunch on our own when he's in town, but we couldn't squeeze it in this time - it's been kinda nuts. He's flying out today, so there won't be another opportunity until his next return to Toronto.

On the way home, I got some gas and checked my Lotto Max tickets while I was in paying. Would you believe in last Friday's draw I got 5 of the seven numbers in the $50 million prize????????? Two more numbers....almost heartbreaking. I won $123.20, which paid for our gas, another lotto max ticket and lunch today. Much better than nothing, true, but kind of cruel fate at the same time.

So the family took the day off, with the exception of Chloe, who went to school. Of course, since we didn't get home until after 10, and then Gabi and I tried to watch a movie after the kids were asleep, no one really stirred until 8:30. I went to the doctor, a new one who I think I liked better than the one I've been seeing, to talk about my stupid left elbow. I'm going to start physiotherapy next week - it's just not gonna get stronger on it's own. Sure, it only hurts when I carry extremely heavy things, but c'mon - everybody has to carry extremely heavy things now and then, don't they? I'm actually afraid of what will happen if I swing a bat again...and I do want to keep playing ball.

We then met up for our Ukrainian Christmas tradition, all-you-can-eat sushi. Makes sense, right? Following this, we split again to get as many errands as we could done, Maya and I heading to Costco to return a really cool shirt that unfortunately resembled sausage casing when I wore it, and to buy her a new helmet. I then drove her to Vera's house, where we picked up Conrad and Vera and headed to the ROM. They're having a "Night at the Museum" sleepover - but not with the dinosaurs or in the exhibits or anything like that. It took me 15 minutes to get to DVP and Eg, and 45 to get home from there. Traffic really sucks in this city.

The rest of the weekend is gonna be pretty busy - looking forward to squash tomorrow, and a Maya-friend birthday party, and we're going to see someone we haven't seen in quite some time on Sunday afternoon. It will be very nice to get together again.

Oh, and marking. I'm gonna try to get some of that done too. Rapidly approaching a serious crisis if I don't get moving and spread it out a bit.