I’ve got snow in my pocket

So Christmas has come & gone & 2011 is almost over. This was my second Christmas away from England & although I missed my family an awful lot it was still a happy, fun (& turkey) filled day. I had been at work Christmas Eve so I felt I deserved the couple of glasses of wine I had once I was home. Christmas morning soon arrived & before long we were opening gifts & talking with our families on Skype (Oh Skype, how I love you!). I had my Christmas day chocolate breakfast, (this year it was an entire chocolate orange) & before long we were tucking in to our roast dinner. In the evening we had a few glasses of wine & played some games. I went to bed as early as I possibly could to get a good nights sleep in preparation for what waited for me the following morning…

It was 4.30am when my alarm woke me up & it was 5.15am when I left the house to get to the mall. I would like to point out that I was off to the mall to work, not to shop! As tired as I was it was such a fun shift at work, from 9.30am onwards the customers arrived non-stop until I left at 2.30pm. Once I was home I only had to time to eat some lunch, pack an overnight bag & we were off up to Big White Ski Resort for the night. We had a great evening staying with friends in their condo, but I was so tired I ended up falling asleep on the floor in the middle of a dramatic (!) game of Trivial Pursuit.

James getting ready for the first run of the day

We were woken up on the morning of the 27th by Belle, who had come with us to the condo, barking at some skiers she could see out the window. After a delicious cooked breakfast we hit the slopes.

Me all ready to ski!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There had been 6cm of snow overnight & it was still falling, so there was a lot of fresh powder. This resulted in me continually doing the splits as my skis went either side of piles of powder & I eventually ended up doing the inevitable & crashing quite spectacularly, filling my coat pockets with snow as I did!

 

James boarding through the mist

We were heading back up the mountain on one of the chair lifts when the mist fell, this made the run down the slope much more interesting! By the time we made it back to the lift I realised my hair & hat had frozen!

My frozen hat & hair!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our day up the mountain I headed off to work for a couple of hours. Luckily I start late today so I finally managed to catch up on some much needed sleep!!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

One of our many Christmas trees!

You know it’s ‘that time of year’ when twinkly lights appear on houses & giant reindeer on wheels roll past you in the mall… At work we’ve had Christmassy music playing for at least 3 weeks but I was still unprepared for the craziness of Canada’s ‘Black Friday’. American Eagle offered 40% off your entire purchase so work was hectic! Add that the to the grand opening of Kelowna’s new Best Buy and the arrival of Father Christmas to the mall & you are asking for chaos! We had queues (or should I say line ups) right round the store, for the fitting rooms as well as the cash desk. I have to admit that although it was hard work I did have fun & really enjoyed how busy it was!

We spent Sunday putting up Christmas decorations around the house, it now looks beautifully Christmassy! There are lights everywhere, little ornaments and to top it all off we have four Christmas trees!

Sunday evening & Monday morning were spent writing my Christmas cards & wrapping presents to be posted home to my family then it was off to Post Office followed by a long shift at work.

Now I have to put Christmas to the back of my mind for a week as it’s James’s birthday but I’ve yet to think of anything for him as I’ve been so wrapped up in Christmas! Hopefully he has a few gift ideas I can use…

Sleepy head with a smile on her face

Goodness me it’s been a while since I’ve posted again! What can I say? Well, I’ve mostly been at work, so let me see how much of last week I can remember…

My job has been going well & I was trained to work at the cash desk on Saturday morning, which was great fun! I think it was good to be thrown in at the deep end & work on cash on a busy Saturday; I say this rather apprehensively as I know it will be nothing compared to the next few weeks. I also enjoyed this as it made me feel like I have much more of a responsibility (which is always good!) & I was so focussed on what I was doing that I blocked out the small selection of Christmas music we have playing in store! I love Christmas music, but I think the beginning of November is a tad too early!! Sunday was my day off but I spent most of the day in the mall with James & his family. We had a ‘Family & Friends’ event at work, offering 30% off to family & friends of associates (in case you didn’t guess!). I bought my Christmas presents for my Mum, Dad & sister which need to be posted by November 29th in order to be in England by Christmas (this is the only reason I’ve bought them already – I usually panic buy presents on Christmas Eve!).

Today I was up before the moon & stars had been replaced by the sun & was at work by 6am in order to bring out our new stock. I had tried to have an early night Sunday but had started watching Cars & got too into it to head off to bed. So it was after a few hours sleep that I dragged myself out of bed & headed in to Kelowna. I was at work until just after 3pm, when I recieved a text that made my day 100% better… My family had been looking at flights to come & visit over the Easter holidays & they told me that they have booked their tickets! After a cautious drive home (it had snowed on & off all day & could barely contain my excitement at the prospect of seeing my family) I checked the mail box & found something addressed to me that doubled my happiness… A letter from one of my closest friends who has been teaching music at a school in Kenya, as well as teaching piano & music theory at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music (Miss Georgina Hardiman – SO talented!) for almost 2 years. We are in touch most days over Facebook, but there is nothing better than a good old fashioned letter that someone has taken the time to handwrite & post.

Other than the happy news that has lifted my day, our life has carried on as usual. James & I are trying to decide whether to buy our own car & I am trying not to spend money every time I go in to work!!

I love pumpkin pie!

What can I say about my first Thanksgiving? Well, we managed to make a great roast dinner! As we couldn’t afford a turkey we made do with a couple of chickens (which tasted just as good!) & had the usual …