Christmas Celebration in Canada

This is the first year we have not had extended family at our house for the Christmas Holiday. We also did not have a Ward Dinner to help out at, so we went to Saint John the Baptist Church this morning to help with the Holiday Meal for men that are far from home and did not have any other place to go for the day. We, along with about 30 other volunteers from across the community, showed up early to start preparing the hall and the meal.

First order of business? Peel, wash and cut 300 pounds of potatoes for later. These ladies were sharing stories about "home", which for each of them was no where near Fort Mac. We talked to people form Vancouver, Toronto, Indonesia, Africa, the Philippines, Prince Edward Island, New Found Land,and the US. It almost felt like Girl's Camp, except that it was -30 degrees C outside.

Dawson, Jacob and I peeled and cut potatoes and talked about work, school, the holiday, and hockey.

Samuel made a total of 10 gallons of juice for the volunteers. His favorite thing was the commercial faucet. He later admitted to having to fight the temptation to squirt Jacob and I with the hand held sprayer. We let him ride home in the cab of the truck because he resisted so well.

Compton and Ashley helped with the decorations. He is from Kenya and really gets a kick out of the snow.

Joseph knows Shelby from school. They have a couple of classes together.

Michelle making bows for tree decorations and table decorations. There were about 25 people setting up and decorating the trees, including Joseph and Michelle.

Alex and Gord are two of the chefs at one of our favorite restaurants here in town, The Fish Place. Believe it or not, it is a Mexican Place. Just kidding. And wishing too.

One finished project.

We enlisted Ashley to stand in for both girls because we could not find another Amy for our "family" photo. She is a Peace Officer here in town (by the way, you need to realize that Alberta is about the same size as the state of Texas, and Fort McMurray is part of the regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which is about the same size as the State of West Virginia) I kept trying to get her to run a check on Joseph or Jacob, but she wouldn't play along.

As we were leaving, Bob showed up to be part of the entertainment for the day, and was struggling to carry all his equipment. Joseph jumped right in to help, buying himself some much needed points for the day.

After our service in the morning, we returned home for the traditional family activities, starting with Stockings. Ashley sent things, which we thought was way cool of her. This is a great way to start off the gifts. I guess we were all good and bad this year since we all got some Callebaut chocolates and some "Coal" from Santa too.

Sam scored big time in his stocking. He loves his newest monkey.

Santa brought Jacob a piece of the official Canadian national luggage, the hockey bag. He loves it.

He also got his own personal Big Ben. This is the ultimate watch for him. I think he might be loosing his eyesight and does not want to have to strain to see the time. The watch, from his Aunt Tante Nina Yvette (being translated as Aunt Aunt Aunt Yvette) and includes important information for a young man going to school in Idaho, like High and Low Tide times.

She also bought Samuel and Joseph snow shoes. they however do not come with built in Tide info. So sad.

And this year's winner is...Joseph!! That is right, he won the Yellow Calzones this year. He almost screamed when he opened the box. Hooting and Hollering, and dancing around, he could not get them on his booty fast enough. Bad luck for him though, the movie theater in town was closed today, so he could not wear them to a show.

Hoo ray!!

Sam, or old-whats-his-name from Star Wars Cloud City scenes (the dude with the head band that followed Billy Dee Williams around all the time), posing for the camera. This is his "can you see me now?" shirt, and he thinks is really makes the outfit with his flannels PJ britches.

Looking like Mr. Incredible, Jacob strikes a pose for the ladies, and fear in the hearts of the family. He strutted around for about 20 minutes showing off his new long handles. Note the California socks. He whined about being cold all day, but refused to put on real socks.

After the trial run in the snow shoes, the boys pose one more time for the camera. We shot video of them. Samuel says it is fun, but is "quite the workout" trying to catch his breath. Joseph looked like a cat with tape on his paws,walking very tentatively in the snow at the local neighborhood park. At -24 degrees, they did not want to stay out too long, and the batteries in the camera did not want to either.