Luke 2:11 NIV
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
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Merry Christmas everyone!
Luke 2:11 NIV Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
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On boxing day, there will begin a hockey tournament that has come to be synonymous with the holiday season in Canada. The nation loves it so much, that despite there being 16 nations taking part, it is hosted in Canada every other year - we love this tournament that much, and we can sell that many tickets. And yes, I am one of those Canadians who love to tune in on Boxing Day to see the World Junior Hockey Championship kick off. I love to look forward to the inevitable match-up between Team Canada and Team USA that is the pinnacle of the tournament for some.
This year, the tournament is being held in Malmö, Sweden, just a short 1 hour 45 minute flight from London. When I realized this, I was extremely excited. For years I had watched the games on the TV and wondered how it was that Canadian fans could afford to travel halfway around the world, at Christmastime, to support their team. Well, now I know; those mad Canadians waving flags in foreign countries are not all rich people who can afford to follow their team around the globe. They are sometimes people like you and me who find themselves in the right place at the right time. I was super excited to have the chance to go, and thought, "This is one of the reasons travel in Europe is phenomenal when you're already here!" This is basically a dream come true for me. Alas, it was not meant to me. Life has conspired to keep me in London over the duration of this year's tournament. I am, once again, the definition of gutted. However there is now another thing that must well and truly live up to this page's name - a rant! Last year when the tournament was on (hosted in Canada) I was either in Wales or England. I was really keen to watch, so I subscribed to TSNs online version of the broadcast, and got all the games online. It was great, and while I was quite a few time zones away (preventing me from watching many games live), I did get to take them all in, in their entirety. This year, TSN has decided not to offer such a service. What?! 👿 I cannot believe this. Last year one of the "interactive" bits of the online subscription was that you could put a pin on a virtual map, showing where you were watching from. There we pins from all over Europe, into Asia, and even some as far away as Africa! This year TSN plans to disappoint all of those fans of the greatest game on earth. What an absolute tragedy. The games won't even be available for replay after they've played. Well, here's a big giant boourns on you TSN! You can expect a strongly worded letter from the Imrie house! (And if anyone knows how to get the games online, please let me know!) This weekend the Imrie family went out to once more take in Christmas around London. We love the lights and spirit that invade the city this time of year, and we love to see the spectacle that is put on around all the different areas of the city. We started our tour by exiting the tube at Oxford Circus and taking a stroll down Regent Street. It was crowded as ever! You could barely walk faster than one step every three seconds or so; the sidewalk was so crowded that the famous Hamley's toy store had security guards out, and they had even cordoned off a section of the road so that customers could queue without being on the sidewalk itself! How nuts is that! We saw the display of lights hanging over the street and singing the song of the Twelve Days of Christmas. We then took a slight detour and arrived at Trafalgar Square by way of Haymarket Street. At Trafalgar Square was the Christmas tree from the Norwegians, decorated as beautifully as ever and swaying in the wind. This year we arrived early enough in the evening to see and hear the Christmas carollers that are there each night, and we enjoyed some of their wonderfully genuine, festive, off-key and joyous singing.
From Trafalgar Square we headed out via Piccadilly Circus; we stopped to take in the wonderful scene that Westminster Council had created - the statue of Anteros was encircled as if in a giant snow globe! It was a great site to behold, and we were caught off guard! From there is was down the Strand and then up to Covent Garden. When we arrived we enjoyed the chance to slow down some, and we took our time revelling in the spirit of another giant tree, and another huge snow globe, this time filled with a Lego scene of London! Head to the pictures page to get an idea of Christmas in London! Well, that's it. I am officially old. Canada Post ceasing delivery to the front door of millions of Canadians is a monumental decision and one that will literally mark the period in time that my sons believe I will consider the "Good ol' Days."
I remember having a conversation with my Grandpa Imrie one afternoon when we were visiting his farm, back when I was in grade 4 or so; I think you're probably around nine or ten years old in grade four, and I thought it would be interesting to hear what life was like for him when he was nine or ten. So I just went up to him after dinner one night and asked what it was like when he was a kid growing up in rural Ontario and we started talking. He hit me full-force with answers straight away: when he was a kid, the house was cold when he woke up in the morning - no central heating like I knew it. No, his "furnace" was a wood stove downstairs and fireplaces in the bedrooms. If you wanted it warm in the morning you had to get out from under the covers, get some wood, and then get the fire from last night going all over again. By the time the fire was going, you were warm from all the exercise and work of gathering the wood and carrying it around ... When he was a kid there weren't TVs, he said. Whoa. Stop right there, I replied. You didn't even have a black & white set? No, he said; his entertainment (entertainment only being an option when he'd finished his chores around the farm, which was often late in the day), was a weekly radio programme that that family gathered around to listen to. That right there - hearing that one story - was when I considered my Grandpa old. The fact that he remembered a time when there wasn't a TV, and the radio was the only form of broadcasted in-home entertainment, was incredible to me. (The irony being that I don't own a TV now!) While I still haven't figured out if this makes my Dad old - I haven't found that one comparable thing missing from his youth - I definitely know that when I'm older I will be telling my kids, "When I was your age, Canada Post used to deliver letters right to our door! Honestly! No, I'm not kidding! Yes, a man used to walk around each neighbourhood and take the letters to each and every door." And they'll be thinking, "How old are you?!" Whether or not you think this is good for the taxpayer's pockets or bad for Canadians' welfare, one thing is certain: this is a defining moment in Canadian history! I was utterly shocked to hear the news, and it will take some time to get used to!! Well this post will definitely not win me any fans with the ladies reading, but I aim to keep everyone updated on life, no matter the heat I might take from our friends. While Sarah has been the most amazing wife, at home and raising our wonderful, but sick, child, I was out a number of times last week at Christmas parties and dos. I spent Tuesday of last week with my good friend Bennett, who now works at IBM down south. I have not seen him more than once this year, so it was a good time to catch up, and he regaled me with stories of life at a tech company (a pretty cool video of him flying a remote controlled helicopter using different fruit to control the pitch, lift, yaw ... amazing!). It was a good night, but nothing out of the ordinary. Wednesday was the Team BOS Christmas do. We stayed at Canary Wharf and went ice skating there.
This was the first party to have something out of the ordinary. I walked into the marquee they had set up for people to get out of shoes and into skates; I walked up to the counter and asked the man for a pair of skates in exchange for my shoes. When he brought them over, I just left them on the counter and stared blankly at him for about 20 seconds, before sputtering ... "Um, could I have some hockey skates?" To which he replied, "I'm sorry sir, we only do hockey skates once you get up to size 12." I couldn't believe it. I was going to be forced to figure skate. Um, seriously not cool. I had spent the entire portion of my hockey playing career making fun of, and hating, figure skaters. The way their silly toe picks would ruin the pristine, flat ice before the hockey players would get onto it; the way they seems to just skate in circles without actually doing anything; the way they could all go the entire length of the rink with just a single push ... (well that last one made me jealous, but I always figured - they didn't have to carry the weight of all my equipment, so of course I wasn't going to glide as far as them!). I was incredulous that they didn't offer me hockey skates, and now I was suddenly nervous that all my UK colleagues, expecting a show on ice from their Canadian compatriot that could only be compared to the Ice Capades, would instead see something starring Goofy from the Wonderful World of Disney! Well it turns out that while the toe pick is probably the silliest invention ever, I did get used to it and the extra length of blade out the back and we all had a great time on the rink. English people are hilarious at a public skate - they work it up as though it's the biggest thing in life to go skating, and about 3/4 of the people on there hug the walls and walk around instead of skate. It's massively entertaining, but in a "Why is this such a big deal to you?" kind of way. We finished off our evening dining on some Mexican frijoles, empenadas, and mojitos, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Friday was the full company Christmas party. We went to Stanbrook Abbey again this year and I had a great time, but missed Sarah. What was a bit strange this year was the amount of people that I didn't know! Last year there was about 100 of us, including partners. This year there was 250 people there, and it was amazing to see how much the company has grown. I was treated to visits from people I haven't seen in quite some time, and had a merry old time dancing the night away. It was a good send off for our friend Suze who is leaving the Shell project for greener pastures but will still be working at REPL, so we're not really losing her. Our next Christmas party is just Christmas day! We're looking forward to our lunch/dinner at Anna & Perry's, with Anna's parents and baby Leola! I decided that Monday would be the "day of dough". It's always nice to make something from start to finish so that you have a sense of satisfaction when all the dishes are done and you have a yummy treat to enjoy. However, with the list of treats that I am making this year I realized that there was a lot of dough that needed to be chilled for at least an hour. It was better I decided, to make all the dough and save the baking and decorating for another day especially with Chris still not feeling 100%. With my molasses (with it's own story - please see previous post) at the ready, I was able to make my gingerbread dough in the morning. I chose that dough first as I have never had to make a heavy dough like this with just a hand mixer (still the only electric cooking aid I have over here) and I was worried that it might make it a bit tricky. As it turns out my little mixer took on the task like a champ! Next was making the pastry dough for tart shells. I know what you're thinking, butter tarts or mincemeat tarts right? Nope, the tart shells are for a favourite Christmas treat of Bryan's from his mum/auntie Jacky. They are kind of a cross between a jam tart and a small iced cake, you make about a dozen in small tart shells. I will include pictures when they are done. I've never made them before so that is always intimidating, especially when they are a special treat for Bryan - the pressure is on! And the last item to chill for the day is the sugar cookie dough. I saved it until last because I have made this dough several times before now and thought it would be easy enough after dinner and something that has a low possibility of complications - always good to end the day on a high note! Next up, stage five: the hot kitchen for a day of baking tray, after baking tray, after baking tray... =) The first weekend in December (for me at least) was mostly taken up with completing my winter issue of Special Delivery (the NCT magazine that I edit for the Clapham district) and getting it off to the printer in enough time to have it ready for our meeting this week. So the much anticipated Christmas crafting and baking was put on hold. Now don't get me wrong, the magazine wasn't my whole weekend; we did make time to decorate the tree and the flat after church on Sunday - it was the 1st of December after all.
The first stage of Christmas baking was to decide what treats were going to make the list this year. Bryan and I (and Perry) put a few things on a list that included traditional Christmas treats, either traditional in the "global" sense or traditional to our respective families. With the list done I was able to move onto stage two; the big (£££) shopping list. When you are getting ready for mass baking you want to make sure that you have all the ingredients you need on hand. Stage three took place Saturday morning when the lovely men from Ocado arrived in the "apple" van to deliver (almost) all of our baking needs, and most of our food for the week. There were a few things I wasn't able to get (or I admit I forgot) but that's the great thing about living off Northcote Road and minutes from lots of shops; both generic and specialty. As it turns out I needed them...the selection of stores that is. Hurdle number one, Chris caught a cold. Let's face it, sick two year old at home trumps pretty much anything else getting done. We took medicine, watched Cars 2 more times that I want to count (or admit to) while curled up on the couch with a blanket and basically did what we could to keep everyone (Chris) happy. Saturday was a write-off but we got through it and despite the very runny nose I did enjoy the cuddles. Hurdle number two came on Sunday; finding molasses for my gingerbread cookies. The difficulty was one I had not anticipated. I've been seeing gingerbread-house kits and biscuits in lovely tins for sale in all the shops since Guy Fox night was over; so I knew that gingerbread was just as synonymous with Christmas here in the UK as it is back home in Canada. We decided that Chris and I would skip Church on Sunday to avoid the spread of germs to everyone (he loves to share the Peace and shake hands with everyone) but we did bundle up to go and pick up some molasses (that I forgot to add to my shopping list) at the shop. I figured that we would be gone for maybe 20 minutes and a little fresh air wouldn't hurt either of us. Waitrose just up at the end of the street was my go to for what I thought was going to be our "quick" shop. They are pretty good at stocking basics but also a few more "specialty" items despite being one of their smaller locations. No luck. They had some kind of molasses but it had some sort of pomegranate flavour added to it?? I don't even know what you would use that for. The nice lady in the shop suggested the Recipease (Jaime Oliver's) shop a few doors down or the Whole Foods; both carry some really good baking and specialty items. I thought it might be a bit more pricy at the Recipease but at least it would be good quality and again, I thought it was a safe bet that I would find it. Wrong again. Next stop, crossing the street to the M&S, I didn't have very high hopes but it's right across the street and so was worth a shot. As it turns out, I was once again unsuccessful in obtaining my needed ingredient but once again was advised that Whole Foods might have what I needed - so guess where I went next. Finally success! Whole Foods had what I needed and surprisingly the pomegranate flavoured stuff too?? Happy to finally have what I needed and very happy (and surprised) that I also still had a happy shopper with me. So much for my 20 minute run to the shop, oh well. Hurdle number three is a bit of an on-going challenge. Converting my existing favourite recipes or finding new recipes that are gluten and wheat free. I am fortunate to not suffer from celiac disease but I certainly have a sensitivity to both and it is better to avoid it especially when I want to splurge on all my yummy Christmas treats. I have had varying degrees of success over the last two years or so that I have been avoiding gluten and wheat when it comes to baking but so far my modifications have gone well. Most of the time it just takes a bit more preparation time and it helps that I have a favourite flour blend now and all the usual baking extras that are gluten and wheat free. Now on to the baking... and eating of course! Happy Christmas baking to you. |
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