Going home...thank you Port Alberni

Last night Mike and I had our Christmas date. We went ice skating at the Butchart Gardens, and then walked through the garden to see the lights and the 12 days of Christmas display. We drank peppermint hot chocolate, and then had hot soup and listened to the Christmas carollers and the festive brass band playing bluesy Christmas carols. It was perfect. I love the Butchart gardens, and so when you add the lights it was just magical. My favourite was the 9 ladies dancing. They included little bo peep, little red riding hood, snow white, the witch with her apple, cinderella, little miss muffet, and a few others. Hey, why is it that all the nursery rhyme ladies are named "little..."?

The funny thing about this Christmas is that there was a long list of Christmas things I wanted to do in Victoria, but I wasn't sure if Mike would be able to do them all with me. The Butchart gardens was my main one, so since we got to do that I wasn't going to worry about the other things. One of which was going to see "The Nativity Story" before Christmas. Well, mike called me from work just now and said "I think we should go see the Nativity story tonight" since it's our last night in Vic before Christmas. I was so excited because he just asked out of the blue without me even hinting. So, I went to check the theaters, and a few minutes and many websites later, discovered that THE NATIVITY STORY, the true Christmas story, is not playing at a single theatre the weekend before Christmas! I was very upset, but immediately started to brain storm other ideas. I wondered if it might be playing while we are in Port Alberni, since the thing we always complained about in town as teenagers was how the movies always arrived three weeks after they came out everywhere else. But I thought, with all the movies out, what are the chances of that?

But I checked anyways, and whaddayaknow, good old small town movie theater came through. It is playing all week at the matinee and the 7. So, that's my Port Alberni story. We may get the movies late, but sometimes they are just on time.

So, now I'm happy again. This Christmas has been amazing so far compared to the rush of last year and the short time at home. This year, I got to see all my friends in Victoria, have a Christmas party, I actually have a tree and my house is very festive (all the ornaments I've been purchasing the past few years have finally added up into an entire apartment's worth). All we need now is some snow to keep us in Port a little longer! I wouldn't mind getting snowed in this year. Might be fun to be stuck somewhere. As long as we don't lose power. I was thinking about that earlier, how all the people without power on the island might not be able to cook their turkeys. What will they do? I guess you could always barbeque them outside? Hmm...let's all hope the power comes back soon enough.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!