Canadian Christmas

My first Canadian Winter

It is cold.... very cold! But it's also soooo beautiful :) So I think I can deal with the cold in exchange for these amazing memories. It's all a matter of the right clothing... or, better yet, layers! :D So I'm all bundled up and ready to face the -22° we have outside (Celcius that is). Lots of snow around :D

Cuddle time!

My Canadian family picked me up at the Airport in Edmonton on the 20th and we went straight to Swiss Chalet, which fit me just fine, because let's face it, their meat combo is to die for! *yuuum* I'm so happy to be back here, it's crazy :) We have a couple of new dogs on the ranch and naturally I can't stay far away from them for very long. Luckily they seemingly like me too, or maybe they just like lying around in my bed.... :D The black one is Radical and the gorgeous Border Collie in the front is Luca.

Dirt Road Dog Race

She might very well be the most adorable dog I've ever laid eyes on *I'm in love* The only "problem" with those two is that they are only 8 months old... and they have a lot of energy :) So I try to take them for a little walk and fun in the snow every now and then... Give them a good dirt road workout :D They seem to enjoy it...

In Canada, christmas is mostly celebrated on the 25th, but naturally, my family back home celebrated on the 24th. Luckily, Carolyn has 1000 free minutes for international phone calls, so I was able to call my parents in the morning while they were having their traditional family dinner. Thanks to technology, my brother then sent me a picture from back home. This might very well be the cutest picture my family ever sent me :)

Aren't they just absolutely adorable?

Can't deny that I've shed some tears upon seeing this... but luckily, I've got a family over here too who were quick to offer me comforting hugs :) Still don't know what I did to deserve not one but two loving families... *so grateful* And no they don't usually write in English... that kinda makes it even cuter :)

Carolyn and Carolin :)

For christmas, Barbara and Tim got everybody christmas PJs :) Mine have reindeer on them *yay* what can I say, they know me too well :) So we all wore our christmas PJs for our christmas breakfast on the 25th which Brian cooked for us *yum* lots of cranberries and lots of ham :)

Lavern as Santa :)

And then we dove right into our presents. The entire living room was full of them :) It took us quite a while till all the boxes were opened and presents were exchanged. My family showered me with gifts *thank you* the best one was probably the BAZINGA shirt Barbara and Tim got for me :) perfect timing! *hihihi* And then we had christmas dinner... oh my... it was SOOOO GOOOOOD The turkey alone would have me convinced, but the rest was just sooo delicious too! Brian made a sweet potatoe casserole with marshmellows *yummy* and I helped with the mashed potatoes, putting in mum's secret ingredient after Brian's idea of adding mint failed. Oh it was just absolutely delicious! Of course, everybody was pretty stuffed afterwards... but there's always room for pie! (Which is a good thing since Tim made like four different pies for christmas...) We ended up lying on the couches in the living room in varying stages of fatigue and watching DVDs :) It's good to be back!

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening...

Today (Boxing day) we went for a sleigh ride! *yay* Complete with Jingle Bells and everything! It's still freakin' cold, but who cares if you can have so much fun! The horses really dug into the snow and pulled the little sleigh through the pasture - it was beautiful :) very christmassy indeed! Afterwards, we were invited in the beautiful log home for a hot chocolate with baileys and some snacks - what a nice way of spending the afternoon! Back home I was just in time to take my first snow sunset picture! I love this place....