Due to unexpectedly being recognized as being in my fifth year at McKesson (yes, as of early September I had worked for ALI/McKesson for five years total, just not consecutively) I was given some unexpected holiday time. Since the girls are out of daycare for two weeks for the end of the year, I decided to use my newfound holidays and to take two weeks straight for Christmas. The first week we could use for some skiing, and the second would be the standard Christmas to New Years week.

Since Susan had Friday off as well leading into the two weeks due to a flex-day, she was able to whip the house into shape which was a great benefit since we had a well attended Christmas brunch on the Saturday morning. In attendance was Andrea, Jennifer and Zac (and family), Bonnie and Dominic (and family), Shirley, Richard and Grace (and family), and us. We had some wonderful brunch food that both Susan and guests supplied.

On Sunday we went to Andrea's (close to) annual Christmas Carolling party. This year she had it at her parents house since she was spending some time house sitting while they were away. We had a great time singing the majority of the Christmas Carols available in Andrea's repertoire (if not in existence). Some we knew well, others not so much.

Monday came the opportunity to go on a ski trip. Unlike last year when we travelled to Whistler in November with Eddy and Pauline, this year we decided to make a similar trip in December from the 19th to the 22nd.

Partially dictating the dates chosen was that this summer Eddy and Pauline (and family) had moved to Korea for Eddy's work, and were coming to Canada for a few weeks over the Christmas Holidays and so to fit the ski trip in it had to be after they were back on Dec 17th.

Last year we had to park out in the general parking lot because our SUV with ski box on top didn't find in the hotel parkade. To avoid that problem this year we decided we would put our car ski rack on and take the car instead. With difficulty we crammed everything into the car and drove up on the Monday. I (Glen) skied Tuesday and Thursday, while Susan skied Wednesday. Kayla spent a few hours skiing each day.

Besides Eddy and Pauline, also in Whistler at the same time and spending some time with us was the Shanks, who I spent Tuesday morning skiing with, and Ada and Patrick who visited with Susan as well on Tuesday. Eddy and Pauline also had another family of friends along.

During the three days of skiing, Kayla went from being frustrated on the first few runs to being an expert on the third day. She spent the majority of the time on the carpet lift, but on day three was happily using the pizza stop and back and forth turns all the way down the Olympic run under the Olympic chairlift.

Below is a video I took of her on the first day of skiing.



Other than a few of us coming down with a cold (or possibly light flu in the case of Melissa), we had a wonderful time.

It's looking to be a great holiday season for us. We wish you a merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.



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