my big fat Manitoba vacation*

* apologies to Nia Vardalos

Tue, Dec 9

• I left Ottawa as the first centimetres of the eventual 30 were falling - thick, fluffy flakes. My flight was supposed to leave at 4:30pm; however, the airport appeared short-staffed and the plane had to undergo de-icing, so the flight only left at 5:30pm. The woman in the seat next to me was comfortably talkative, meaning we made small talk during takeoff and landing, but in-between she watched a movie and knitted while I took a nap and read a book.
• My parents were kind enough to drive in, pick me up, treat me to supper, and take me home. They stopped short of tucking me in.
  

Wed, Dec 10

• In the morning, I tagged along with my parents to Morris's Home Hardware and MCC Thrift Store. They were both more or less as I'd remembered them. MCC, Sally Ann, and Valu Village stores always have a distinctive smell to them, the sad, stuffy smell of rejection.
  
• In the afternoon, my parents humored me by taking me to Winnipeg to go Christmas shopping. (In contrast to the Morris MCC store, the mall smelled of blatant commercialism.)
  
• Serendipitously, my uncle & aunt and their daughter were at the mall, too, so we met them over dinner/supper (for my urban/rural readers, that's 5:30pm) in the food court. It's a good thing I got to see Nicole, because she's a nurse who works a lot of night shifts, especially during the holidays.
  
• After we got home, my mother decided it was time to deal with the cookie dough she'd made in the forenoon. Six dozen cookies later--she baked, I iced--we called it a night.

Thu, Dec 11

• Fortunately for us, Dad took holidays. Wonder if he knew he'd end up being our chauffeur? We raced off to Steinbach to meet Perry for a 9:30am breakfast at Smitty's.

• Back to Winnipeg in the afternoon, for cake & cookies with Gayle and Pauline at the Mauro Centre.

Pauline and Gayle
(When the bosses are away, it's time to par-tay)

• Then it was dinner at Applebee's with the Ladies of Lake Village minus one: Gina, Jacquie, and Jenn. (We missed you, Val!)

Fri, Dec 12

• I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to visit my cousin and finish shopping for Dad's present (had finished Perry's and Mom's). Shauna & Derek had baby Joshua on the 4th, so he was a week and a day old when I got to hold him. It's probably way past due that I dig out the free hand weights from my basement, because all 8 lbs. 2 oz. of that little guy were heavy, and I only had him for about 10 min.
• Made phone calls to Renée and Meryl to let them know about my Saturday plans.
  

Sat, Dec 13 - "morning at the mall"

• I dropped off my new, unwrapped toy (a Polly Pocket) for the Christmas Cheer Board's Miracle Toy Drive, bought a tazo chai at Starbucks, a Free Press at Chapters, and a box of timbits, and settled in. I got to fill out a ballot at the Toy Drive table, so Mom, if you get a call saying you won a package from Robinson Lighting, Merry Christmas! (Speaking of Polly Pocket, those of you with young daughters might find a bit of Polly fun at this link. If only real-life hairstyles and outfits were that easy to choose.)
  
• Meryl braved the Arctic temperatures, and was I ever glad to see her! I don't know if we've ever had a whole hour's conversation before, just the two of us. Saw pictures of her very photogenic kids; they are growing up fast. Her son and Sher's go to kindergarten together.
  
• Duane & Celina invited me over for lasagna & Caesar salad--truthfully, I invited myself over. Originally I'd asked if I could stop by at 3pm, so they were awfully kind to let me crash at 1pm. Saw their new waterfront property: very impressive. The majority of the furnishings from the last place looked at home in the new. They tried to persuade me to take a couch/sofa/chesterfield with me, but I suspected it might exceed my checked luggage limit. (Anybody need a gently used couch? I can put you in touch with them.)

• Meant to attend the evening service at Church of the Rock, for old times' sake and to say hi to a bunch of people, but CFAM 950 (the station my parents' vehicles are set to) was forecasting a blizzard for southern Manitoba, so I headed home. The blizzard never materialized; needless to say, I felt gypped. Mom & Dad went to a Christmas banquet, so Perry, who had driven home by then, watched TV, and I read the paper.
  

Sun, Dec 14 ~ Christmas Day

• What, you thought Christmas was Dec 25? No way, it's whenever you decide it will be. Besides, isn't it supposed to be Christmas in our hearts all year long? Went to church with Mom & Dad, saw a number of relatives and friends, including Martha. Lori S. must've still been battling bugs--"terrorist germs" she called them (WMD on imported Christmas oranges)--because I didn't see her.
• After a meal of tender turkey (I had a tiny piece), stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, and cookies for desssert, most of us took naps so that we were rested up for our gift exchange.
  

Mon, Dec 15

• It was so blinkin' cold that the furthest we ventured was the Co-op, and that was by car.
• Gwen dashed over from school at lunchtime. Too bad I couldn't stick around for the upcoming Friesen gathering.
  
• Since the weather outside was frightful, Carol D. and I caught up by telephone, instead of in-person as we'd originally planned. It seemed a bit fairer that way, too, since Susan had other commitments; the three of us worked together years ago, and still get together for dinner/supper whenever we can. Carol informed me that McNally Robinson moved from Portage Place to Polo Park, and that the Polo Park food court was renovated. It now includes Cultures. So Cultures is back. In the late '80s, early '90s, Portage Place and St. Vital both boasted a Cultures. When we moved to Ottawa the first time, in 2000, there was a Cultures at Bayshore, but somewhere along the way it disappeared, 'cause it wasn't there last time I checked. Wasn't Brian Orser behind the chain?
  
• Dad & Mom and I stayed up until midnight watching game show reruns: Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I chewed out the Millionaire contestant who didn't know what the F stood for in FAQ. I was only slightly less miffed at the one who guessed that cerulean was a shade of yellow. (That would be saffron, bozo!) (Oh the useless facts I know.)

Tue, Dec 16

• Renée called and we resumed the conversation(s) we'd started on Friday evening. One topic had to do with bawling over botched haircuts. I confessed that when my previous hair stylist left the shop without warning (to me, anyway), I stalked her on Facebook (without success), because she had known how to do my hair perfectly. Renée shared that recently, when she made the comment that something was perfect, her oldest child had corrected her (and I paraphrase): "No, Mom, nobody/nothing is perfect; only God is perfect. Things don't always have to be perfect." That's such wise advice coming from a young'un that I'm making it my mantra: "It doesn't have to be perfect."
  
• Mom convinced Dad that we needed to go to Winnipeg to get a replacement pipe for his workshop. We stopped at Wal-Mart on Kenaston, but the express lane extended all the way to the jewelry department, so we basically turned tail and ran.
• I spent a delightful hour at Ellen's. I felt quite honored that she could schedule me in between two parties and a newsletter; must be part of her "enjoying the moment" holiday philosophy. Neve was so cute: she yanked the door open before I could ring the bell! We covered many topics, but I forgot to ask her how she went about changing the background on her blog (darn!). I hadn't visited since before the infamous house renos, so I poked my head upstairs. Those kids have it good--their rooms have all been painted and decorated to suit their individual styles. Very cool. Knowing that I'd really wanted to bring chocolates for the kids, but was prevented from so doing by the intimidatingly long Wal-Mart line (which included Hutterites or Old Order Mennonites or schneppeldüch-wearing women of some sort), my parents came to the rescue when they picked me up.

• We then headed to Polo Park, where the sole thing I bought was a strawberry smoothie at the freshly-returned-to-Winnipeg Cultures. So much for my grand shopping expectations.
  

Wed, Dec 17

• Got up at quarter after 4am, packed up a duffel bag of farmer sausage, noodles (both of Winkler origins), and a 1.42 L refill of Ivory liquid hand soap (which the store shelves out here are boycotting).
  
• Stopped for breakfast at McDonald's.
  
• I panicked when we got to the airport, because the check-in line-up was the longest I've ever seen it. My heart was racing as fast as it used to in those nightmares about missing the school bus. The airport employee whose job it was to walk around asking everyone if they already had their boarding passes told me there was lots of time; it turned out he was right, much to my relief. It was a pleasant surprise to find out my seat was in row 19, the row of the emergency exit--more leg room!--and nobody had the seat next to mine. Conversely, it was not so pleasant to discover that the whiny little child I first heard in line for security was on the same flight. Fortunately for me, he and his entire family (I counted 5 kids) were several rows behind me. I take the whole emergency exit responsibility quite seriously: I familiarized myself with the evacuation procedures. I vigilantly peered through the window on the lookout for other aircraft spiralling out of control. I was attuned to every small air pocket and hint of turbulence. This went on for about 5 minutes, until I glanced over at the two young men on the other side of the aisle: one was sacked out against the window, using his parka as a pillow; the other was pillowing his cheek in his hand. If you can't beat'em, join'em, they say, so I napped. I think airlines should really run a simulation, though, for the people seated at the exits. How do I know if I'd remain calm and collected enough in the event of an emergency to follow through step-by-step? How do I know that those guys wouldn't have slept through a disaster? Maybe the airlines are thinking, "It doesn't have to be perfect."
  
• However, nothing out of the ordinary occurred (I'd like to point out here that the captain was a woman), and we arrived more or less on time: there was a 10-minute delay while the snow removal crew blazed a trail through the fresh white stuff. James observed that it snows whenever he has to take me to or pick me up from the airport. So it goes.
  
• It's great to go on vacation, but it's always great to get back from it, too!