Cold Christmassy Calmness

The Christmas break has come and gone and I'm looking bleary-eyed at the end of the first day of school. I missed seeing everyone in Ontario and toasting the new year with old friends, but I managed to find other "homeless" people during the holidays so we kept each other entertained. There definitely is a calm that descends over Inuvik during the holidays with a lot of government workers and teachers taking holidays and people visiting family in general. A nice break from southern shopping mayhem. There was many a movie watched and I made it all the way through the complete Degrassi Senior High series (lots of Pape Ave cameos). The mega movie watching was necessitated by the frigid temperatures that swooped in; I finally got to experience -42. *#$!n' cold is all I've got to say. I found a family to hang out with on Christmas morning so at least I got to share in the kidness of playing with cars, trains and small Barbie accessories you're trying not to lose on the first day. Long ago a friend of mine was tricked into thinking Mexicans actually celebrate Christmas a day late (I don't think she researched it much), thus for her, Boxing Day has become a celebration of all things Mexican. We celebrated in style like the best Mexicans we know how to be, with fajitas, sangria, chilis relenos and tequila jello shots. I rang in the New Year with playing a lot of Rock Band, a pretty fun way to live out your wildest rock n roll fantasies. All round not a bad holiday in the least.

I received the news today that my great aunt Lois passed away on the weekend after a long battle with Alzheimer's. My thoughts go out to all my family, but especially the Barrie cousins and my grandmother. She had been ill for a long time, so in a lot of ways it will be better, but it's always hard to lose someone you love. At least I have fun memories of visiting Barrie and will remember her as a kind and generous woman.

Asides from that sadness I hope everyone had the merriest of Christmases even without my bearded face. So far my new year's resolutions are to place a mega book order for the school library, kick start a breakfast smoothie program at the school and to think of more new year's resolutions.

Resolutely yours...