The West Commences: Christmas 2012

‘Tis the night before Christmas and mom’s in the shower, dad’s taking the recycle down to the basement with his walker and I’m sitting in the diminishing light of what was a beautiful cool day in Victoria. Life always falls into a pleasant pattern when I’m here: a slow morning; coffee and a chat with Barbara and Terry around 9; arrive at mom and dad’s around 10; do something and have lunch out; home for a rest for them and a walk somewhere along the ocean for me between about 2 and 4:30; a drink and snack with the news from 5 to 6; dinner, usually including a long discussion of matters we have talked of many times before and will never resolve; a look at one of my slide shows and then the drive back to Barbara and Terry’s in Vic. West for the night. Today we are deviating a bit. We stayed home this morning and did some preparations for tomorrow’s dinner. We were going to go to B and T’s but B got a bad cold which she doesn’t want to share with the aged Ps, generous though she usually is, so we will have muted celebrations separately. I went for a walk today and discovered what everyone knows; once you decide to collect something, you can’t stop. Yesterday I had started a drift wood collection and today I couldn’t leave the beach without more wood. I staggered back to the apartment, dripping in sweat and weighed down with unique bits of twisted flotsam. It was almost 3:00. I was supposed to Skype with the Pollocks and all the gang at their Christmas Eve dinner at 3:00pm my time, 6:00 theirs. As mom and dad were still resting, I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and went out on the balcony. The celebrations were hectic in Ottawa, so we just had a quick peek at each other and conveyed a few garbled wishes. Mom woke up in time to see everyone on Skype and was amazed again. Caroline’s hair looked really good, but she was wearing an apron. Ella was wearing a dress her mother had bought her that I thought looked beautiful but she didn’t. Next year she’ll choose her own dress. I only saw part of Sadie. Don looked great in his ‘iconic’ joker’s hat. Thomas was handsome beside him. Mela looked festive and beautiful, as did Mara. Albert as always kept the show on the road setting up the Skype. I missed Gabe, but was happy to see the rest.

Now it’s 8:30 on Christmas night. I slept last night on mom and dad’s couch. Our day started at 8:00am with oranges and the opening of some gifts; then baked eggs and mini cinnamon buns and the opening of the big box from Jay. That took ages as I read words out loud in Korean, much to mom and dad’s delight, but I didn’t understand any of them, so we had to open things and taste them to find out what they were. There were some surprises, for mom and me. Dad wouldn’t try those things on a bet. Then we had small glasses of Korean/French instant, sweet and creamy coffee and talked about our gifts. This was followed by a long phone call with Bill, Patrick and Marley. Then we went for a drive by the water. It was a warm but wild and windy day in Victoria. I went out again for a walk while mom and dad had a rest. It was invigorating walking along the beach in the blow. I returned around 4 with another treasure of driftwood under my arm, my glasses so clouded with dried sea spray I could hardly see and my hair blown around in outrageous angles. We were all starving, having eaten nothing since breakfast, so mom made a snack, for the second day in a row, of our favorite smoked oysters on soda crackers. Dad and I opened a cold bottle of Okanagan white wine and mom had a Presbyterian beer. This was followed by a left over Christmas dinner, Christmas cake and Stilton cheese and the usual chatter. I am back in Vic. West where I am looking forward to having a read and an early night.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.