December 2011

Of course, it's time for the December recap!

December whizzed by at lightning speed. I went to Christmas parties and set up the decorations and knit (furiously). The pictures of most of December are on a memory card which is currently hiding on me, but I can tell you they were generally memorable. I knit a lovely "Sharf" for my aunt (it's not quite a shawl, and not quite a scarf), complete with a shawl pin I picked up a Granville island, and knit a pair of red woolen socks from Michael on the sly.

Dec 18th was the Great White North Christmas Party at our home. We had a fair turnout, and I believe that everyone had a pretty good time! I was especially proud of my gingerbread house, nanaimo bars, and intricately decorated Gingerbread cookies (Grandma's recipe, of course)

On my last day of work, I brought my alter ego "Bangles" wor work. Without sounding like a mental patient myself, I'll explain that bangles is the character I played while volunteering for the Kamloops Heritage Railway, and while I worked at Santaland at the Mall for a few years. She doesn't get to come out often, so I thought the kids at work might find her a treat! I (as bangles) visited the Mental Health units where I work, but it turned out to be a bad day to forget my ID tag because the rest of the units stonewalled my from visiting any other children (it's hard to recover when the nurse you first meet on the medical floor doesn't know you called ahead to ask if you can visit, and looks at you as though you're insane when you introduce yourself as an elf.... but that's another story - a Scooge-like story at a Children's hospital, if you ask me. Though I'm quite sure I made one little boy's day in passing!). So, after visiting with the kids, Bangles decided to mess around with the nursing staff....

Bangles in her glory! There's also a string of battery powered Christmas lights around her neck!

Bangles tries her hand at signing into the Pyxis machine in the nursing station - it's the machine that dispenses the narcotics...

Success! Drawer opens!

Sneaky Bangles! Putting candy canes into the Pyxis!

Caught, peppermint-handed. Doc's weren't happy, so she got pinked (involuntarily committed to the hospital)!

 oops!

I worked right up until the skin of Christmas, and Michael and I drove to Kamloops on the 23rd to spend some time with our fams. While it was great to see them all, I'll admit that it felt a bit rushed spitting our time between two very welcoming families. But, here are a few of the best photos (of the ones I have - I'll find that other memory card soon...):

family coffee/brunch on day of return to vancouver

Mitten project for the drive to/from Kamloops

nighttime skating on Python Lake behind the McBurnie homestead

We returned the next day to play on the ice in the daytime!

We returned to Kamloops in time for me to head back to work for a few days, but as you will read soon, I got off in time for New Year's Eve Adventures!