Christmas Review

Got back from Christmas at the farm on Monday. As always, it was a blast.

The highlights:

• Oneupmanship in MS Pinball. Uncle Rodney was a machine. No one could touch his score.
• Christmas Eve dinner – more food than you could shake a stick at, and enough beans and cabbage to make

  sitting around the fireplace dangerous.

• Baba Luhowey wondering who the new girl was (sorry Derek, but you need a haircut).
• Our Coulson-sized bonfire – a blaze that could be seen for miles (pictures to be added later when Kelsey gets back from her snowboarding trip).
• Uncle Uke’s fireworks show – including the African Lions and the Statue of Liberty stunt.
• A short, but lively broomball game on the lake at the Ponderosa.
• Getting schooled in Hola (a card game) by my 98 year-old great-grandmother – she hasn’t lost any of her

  wits.

I stuffed myself pretty good. With all the excellent meals prepared by Baba Coulson at the farm and my mom at the Ponderosa. Not to mention the constant snacking on Nuts and Bolts, cookies, and butter tarts. Luckily, I had a fair bit of exercise. My Christmas exercise routine: hauling dead trees from the bush, clearing the ice on the lake for our broomball rink, playing broomball, and chasing ping-pong balls up and down the stairs in big, clunky Sorel boots.

Christmas Injury Report:
Not to many accidents this year. Nothing like tobaggoning at Face-Smashed-In-Jump last year. This year’s casualties:

• Aunt Sheryl got some nice scratches on cheek while pushing over a tree for bonfire fuel
• Alexander got a snowball to the eye

The other great part of Christmas was giving and receiving presents. I got lots of new clothes – enough to last me until next Christmas. I also got an amazing Gore-Tex jacket from MEC that will keep me warm in dry in Seattle. I also got a really nice Leatherman tool, some puzzles, and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Thanks to everyone for the gifts.