Holiday fire and ice

Greetings to friends and family, near and afar. I'm writing from the kitchen table here on the Taxis River, staring out the window through the fog, watching the trees bend under their coating of ice.

It's holiday time in NB, and I've spent the last week here with my family. Brian and I flew to Toronto on the 16th and spend a week with his family in Kingston. Highlights included a Frontenacs game (I won tickets to a world junior game) and tobogganing at Fort Henry. I also got to see Chad, Stacey, and Eliana, and have a good visit with Marilyn.

The drive through to the Maritimes was largely uneventful. We managed to make the trip between two of the successive snowstorms that have been blanketing the country since we arrived. I've eaten enough food to make my arteries complain and my new jeans tight. Eyeing the plate of sweets on the counter, I'm thinking I'll have to leave soon or Brian will have to roll me out the door. He's been entertained by constantly monitoring the woodstove.

Santa was very good to me. I received a very cool new ukulele and a diamond necklace made from one of my grandmother's rings. Brian was floored when he got the Japanese kitchen knife he's been babbling about for weeks, but he has to take chopping lessons before he has permission to use it in the kitchen. My first aid kit might not stand the strain.

My father had a seizure on Christmas Eve, so we've scaled back the festivities somewhat and tried to reduce the amount of visitor traffic to a reasonable level. That means rotating visitation for all those grandkids. He goes to the oncologist tomorrow. A CAT scan after the seizure showed cancer in his brain, but we're waiting to hear the details from his doctors.

Understandably Brian and I are trying to stay here as long as possible, eyeing the weather forecasts and looking for a window that allows for a reasonably safe trip back through Quebec. We fly back to London on January fourth and arrive early on the fifth. Just enough time to drop off the suitcases and head off to work!

To all of you I haven't managed to speak with yet, I hope the past year was wonderful but that the next one is even better. Every new day has the potential to be better than the previous one, after all. I miss all of my Revelstoke family very much, and send virtual hugs your way.

Happy New Year.

Abby