Odd that I managed to blog Christmas day but missed blogging on Boxing day. Then again I did spend a good chunk of yesterday cleaning up after the cookie stealing puppies and the sweet and innocent kitties. Add to that the time I spent converting videos from our camcorder to a format that can be viewed on a computer and the personal video messages I recorded for Drew and I’m surprised we still found time to go to Karaoke.

Despite the bar being almost empty Loxley and I had fun. When the place is empty it provides a great opportunity to try out new songs and practice ones you haven’t sung in a long time. K, the host, had brought Christmas presents to hold draws for but since so few people were there to sing everyone ended the night with something fun to take home.

After karaoke we braved Wally World after midnight. I needed to pick up some more things to include in Drew’s package and there was no way I was going to head out during daylight hours to go shopping on one of the busiest shopping days in Canada.

Shopping at Wally World after midnight is a bit like grocery shopping at 3 am. Freaks come out in their pajamas and there are boxes of “stuff” all over the aisles. Drunks have been known to stumble around disturbing the peace – or maybe their voices just seem overtly loud because there are so few shoppers in the store.

Me thinks I’ll spend the rest of the weekend pretending to clean, recording more video messages, working on another letter to Drew, finding books to add to the package, and wrapping up the box in shipping paper. If there is time left to breathe I’ll likely get some more pre-reading done for next semester’s Military Psych class.

What will you be doing this weekend?

Attended a fun-filled Christmas Eve party at the neighbours last night. A bit too much red wine to drink and lots of laughter. J spent the day cooking up a traditional Christmas meal and, from my perspective, spent her time well. Since it had been about 8 years since she’d cooked a turkey there was a bit of panic in the cooking stage. Luckily S (not me) was around to offer up her expertise.

I brought our video camera and some blank disks over to L & J’s and we recorded messages and snippets of the evening for Drew. C brought out his guitar and performed some impromptu songs. Hopefully Drew will be able to hear the words over our crazed giggling.

We did a secret Santa stocking exchange and had fun opening and showing off our gifts. C was a good sport – having been the victim of our sense of humour in gift purchases – and modeled the silly tree hat we gave him while strumming his guitar and singing.

I was loaded up with left over turkey and gifts before I left. I sucessfully avoided peeking at them until the morning.

Drew stood in line for hours in order to make his phone call home and we had a great talk. I opened my gifts while Drew was on the phone and learned that Drew had conspired with J in the purchase of my present. I wanted a new fancy scmantzy blender. We’d loaned our old one to J over the summer and while it was gone I’d decided that we should let J keep our blender because I wanted one of the new ones that crushes ice and pours the drinks from a tap on the container. Drew traditionally does his Christmas shopping Christmas eve. No shopping for Drew equaled no presents for me and thus no blender…

I actually whined about how disappointed I was that I wasn’t getting a blender from Drew because of his deployment while we were in the kitchen at J’s.

I don’t know how J kept a straight face while I whined.

Apparently J had picked up a blender for me when she was out shopping with Drew and I. Drew’s job was to keep me distracted while helping her pick it out. He did a fabulous job because I’d had no clue what J had bought – or that it was for me – when we spent the afternoon together. I bought her line about picking up a food processor for her kitchen hook, line and sinker.

True to my word I ignored all incoming phone calls while waiting for Drew’s call. I did manage to talk to my sister before she headed to our adopted family in Winnipeg for her Christmas dinner. I missed a call from Drew’s grandma and my mom. By the time I could call it seemed too late in the evening. I’ll have to return their calls tomorrow.

‘Twas a good Christmas all things considered. Tomorrow I’m going to go back to working on collecting more items for Drew’s next care package. I’ll need to transfer the videos we took to CD or DVD and I need to write a letter to go with it.

Hope you had a merry Christmas and were able to spend the day with your loved ones.

It’s the middle of the night in Afghanistan and Christmas has officially landed in KAF. Merry Christmas baby. Stay safe.

DO NOT CALL ON CHRISTMAS.

It’s Christmas Eve in Kandahar and Drew called for a short period to let me know he’s calling Christmas morning. I have caller ID and fully intend to use it. If you’re not calling from a military switchboard I’m not picking up the phone until after I’ve spoken to Drew.

I feel as giddy as a school girl. We’ll get 40 minutes to catch up on all the news and I’m looking forward to every second.

It’s like my Christmas in Manila when my parents (and Drew) called the hotel to wish me Merry Christmas. Of course my parents got through the hotel switchboard on their first attempt while Drew was told to call back later since the hotel claimed I was sleeping and hadn’t even attempted to put his call through. I guess dad’s Scottish accent was unique or impressive enough to get his call put through immediately. It was neat getting calls from back home at Christmas since I did most of the calling home when I was traveling. It was a lot cheaper for me to call from my locally sourced cell phone than for anyone at home to call my hotel.

While you’re at it, don’t call Christmas Eve either. I won’t be home.

So how is Drew spending his Christmas Eve? Why he’s heading to Timmies for a coffee of course. I’m sure he’ll enjoy every sip.

For any Broomers visiting I shout have updates (and photos) relating to Mr. Orange Toque’s activities soon. Drew has access to the Internet (finally) and will be forwarding details soon. He’ll catch up on blog reading soon and will be able to read any messages passed on in the comments.

Today is the last day of work for a few weeks. There are some upsides to working at a college.  The main one being the annual closing of the institution and Christmas vacation. After spending years working every day over the holidays it’s really nice to have nearly two weeks where I can sit back and relax.

I finished registering for all next semester’s classes and am officially poor again. I can’t believe how much textbooks cost these days. For some classes the texts cost more than the course registration fees! At least I’ll have something to do on my days off.  There’s lots of pre-reading to do before my courses officially start on January 5th.

In a few minutes I’ll be heading off to the Post Office to send out Drew’s first package. Hope he enjoys the contents since they’re pretty dull.  All our friends and family seem to be sending him the interesting stuff.  In this first box from me he’s just getting the basics.  Letters.  Foot powder. Snacks, snacks, and more snacks.  Some reading materials. Timmies gift certificates.  I figure I deserve a medal for finally finding the gift certificates he wanted.

Of course, I taped the box shut before I remembered that I wanted to send him stamps. Guess I’ll be sending them in box number two.  I’ve already started putting that box together since I want to take advantage of the free shipping Canada Post is offering for military packages before it runs out at the beginning of January.  Finding more interesting things to put in the box will also give me something to do next week.