Well! Christmas is over! We made it down island after all. We left the decision until the very last minute and even though it was snowing , we decided to go for it. Our fridge was empty ( knowing that there was a full fridge and lots of food down at the folks! And using those days of grocery money on the gas to get down there was the plan) the house undecorated... all of us a little tense wondering if we should go and buy a turkey on the night of Christmas eve to make sure we at least had a nice meal!
The drive was CRAZY! We borrowed chains from the neighbours on the way out the door.I had a barf bucket on my lap for the entire last hour of the drive. There were rows and rows of cars on the side of the road through the mountain pass and the snowflakes were coming down the size of golfballs. I really shouldn't have had coffee before the ride! Our youngest son slept for most of the drive and my oldest watched a video ( the inlaws gave us a portable dvd player last year and I kind of sighed inside because it seemed like an impractical useless gift for us.... but let me tell you.... this instance made it all worth it!) Unfortunately the movie ended right at the top of the mountain pass and oldest son was really stressed out. He was saying things like." oh my god!!!! it looks like an avalanche is going to come right down on us!!!" and exclaiming looking terrified. We were going about 10 km an hour and slipping and tense ourselves. Thank goodness the video had distracted him for most of it! When we finally got there we kept on sighing involuntarily. We didn't realise what a toll it had taken on our bodies/ minds! We pulled out our brand new weighted blanket that was gifted to us by a MDC helper! The boys were so excited and joyfully describing how the blanket " pinned them down"! Perfect timing.
The Christmas dinner was so awesome. My mom made a stuffing out of cornflakes and chestnuts for us gluten free folks and it was delicious. My grandpa came and however grumpy he can be, it was so nice to see him.It was peaceful ( other than thier humping dog) and warm and so wonderful! My hubby and I even got a chance to go for a walk by ourselves. My mom accidentally fed oldest son gluten.... but it was worth it! ( I think!) My mom and dad slipped me enough money for the trip which was so nice since the weekends all line up in a way which the paycheques will be teeny and we really couldn't afford the trip in the first place. The boys got 20 dollars each from great grandpa.... which is huge. Youngest guy bought himself a playmobile forest set at the teachers store on the way home and oldest son bought himself a variety of test tubes/ beakers and safety goggles. He made home made bear spray today with it. Even found a recipe online. Living with a 7 year old science nut can be pretty interesting, especially when he has the skills to find accurate instructions/ experiments himself. His purchases were wise I think!
I had wanted to get one thing while we were down island but was planning to buy it the next trip. There are a few things that we wait until we go to the city to purchase... usually food items like special spices and goodies like that. There is not as much availability up here for certain things or if you can get them they are 4 times the price. I have been wanting a cast iron griddle for a while though. I happened to mention it when my aunt was around and she happened to have on in her garage. She had bought it when the cast iron store had a flood sale, for only a couple of bucks. So she gave it to us!! I was so super excited ( cause I get like that about kitchen stuff!) and seasoned it at my folks place. I literally put it on the stove and cooked with it while we were unpacking! We made pancakes for the boys and it makes 8 pancakes at a time!!! Almost triple what we were able to make before! Anyways... a griddle that covers two burners.... it is definitely as cool and as useful as I thought it would be!
So the rest of the weekend has been filled with catch up. Trying to get the house in order, the kids school reporting in order and sort of re-set for the new year. Hubby is back to work in the morning... things are back to business.
Or it captures us all too well... Zoning out with a headlamp on?( santa found these LED headlamps for $5 this Christmas... exactly what the boys asked for!)Pretty much captures us perfectly!
What I really want to say though... is that the blanket is fabulous!!! What a great addition to the household!,
I bought a turkey with the last of my Christmas grocery gift certificates the other day. The turkeys all go on sale after Christmas day and they sure are a great value for how much meat you get. We had our very own Christmas dinner ( with our favourites) mid week. Ready for leftovers today! We are one family that doesn't seem to get " turkey-ed out"! 
