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?

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.

As I mentioned yesterday, Drew’s big update on his first call home was that the Tim’s cards aren’t accepted in Kandahar.  This weekend I’ve been driving and calling all the Timmies in my area looking for the old style paper gift certificates since the Timmies in KAF is accepting them.  We don’t live anywhere near the base so I tend to only go up there when I have to write exams. Most days I forget there’s even a Timmies up there. Instead I drove around to the 10 closest Tim’s near where we live only to discover that none of them sell the old paper gift certiciates anymore.  They’ve all switched to the plastic gift cards. I’m sure using the gift cards makes sense locally, but since they’re useless in KAF I have no interest in buying any these days. After driving around like a loon for a day I decided to spend the rest of my time calling the other Tim’s in the area to determine if they sell the paper certs before driving to them.  Saving on gas and being all eco-friendly and all that.  Mostly just saving on gas and avoiding having to go back out in the freezing cold!

Finally I broke down and called the Timmies on base.  They do still carry the paper certs but they’re currently locked up in the manager’s office and she won’t be in until 6am tomorrow.  I’ve got to get up crazy early to drive across town and pick up bunch to send overseas. I figure it’s best to buy in bulk since many of my friends and co-workers with adopted soldiers also live quite a distance from the base.

My search for Timmies paper gift certificates got me to thinking.  Since the local Timmies are all switching to the gift cards and there aren’t very many bases across the country, how will our friends and family, or complete strangers find paper gift certificates to send to soldiers overseas?  Apparently, you can order them from Timmies’ Head Office customer service department.  According to their FAQ:

If you cannot find paper gift certificates at your local Tim Hortons store, you can purchase them by contacting our customer service department by email at customer_service@timhortons.com, or by phone at 1-888-601-1616. You can pay be either Visa or Mastercard and the gift certificates will be shipped directly to you.

If you’re interested in contacting them to order the paper gift certificates they’re open from 8-5:30 EST M-Th and 8-5 on Friday. Closed Weekends.

Mystery solved.