Eeesh, not another Christmas Hangover!

Christmas, we prepare for it for months. Taking care to make sure we don't forget anyone while still holding on to our own sanity; and in a few short hours the day disappears into the next and we are left holding our breath for another year.

Christmas in Kugaaruk 2008 was a success; minus one little incident in the morning. I would be royally disgusted by it if I didn't know it could happen eventually. We went to bed late on Christmas Eve, 3am or so. I woke up the following morning to Hughie rolling out of bed at approximately 8:30am; which I didn't think much of until he asked me "Where are the candles". Okay, at this point I was thinking he fell off his christmas tree stand...until I stood up and walked into the hall and was confronted by the worse STENCH ever. Here in Kugaaruk we don't have a typical sewage system like you Southern folks. We have our system sucked out twice a week on Tuesday & Thursday; and we have been warned that sometimes they do it TOO good causing everything to be sucked out, including the water in our toilet. When this happens the smell has no where to go but up! (Figure out what the stench was). They did the worlds best suck on Christmas Day! We had 5 candles going and spraying AXE all over the house to try to kill the smell; it took hours! I can't help but snicker over it now, leave it to us to have a story behind our first christmas.

Back to the success portion; Christmas Eve was spent with friends in the community, Lindsay (The Corporal's woman), also my backyard neighbor, and Corey had a little gathering/supper at their place. There was a few "interesting" moments but every great dinner party has them. (Side tidbit: They had KFC for Christmas Dinner!! How awesome is that, not something I could justify but then again I haven't had a piece of KFC grace these lips in about 5+ years)
Hughie and I spent the rest of our Christmas Eve by our fireplace (Channel 279) enjoying each others company while laughing along with ELF (our yearly tradition) and drinking peppermint coffee (perked strong coffee, whipcream, cinnamon & peppermint candycane. [You can also add Peppermint extract or Peppermint Liquor]).

Beyond our little incident in the morning our Christmas Day was a day of relaxation and curling up watching our Turkey Roast in the oven. I had fun passing along directions to Hughie while he made the Stuffing for our Turkey! Gifts didn't come until early in the afternoon, and after almost 2 hours (we open one at a time) our gifts were completely open. (Tammy: Fall & Spring Northface Jackets, Prince Caspian, Candles, Northface Hoodie, COFFEE, LaSenza PJs; Hughie: BluRay Movies: Discovery (NASA), The Incredible Hulk, Books, Roots PJ Set, MacPherson Blanket; Together: Brunswick Bedsheets, Planet Earth DVD game, Husky Puzzle, Gift Cards...etc, to name a few things we received)

However, the best thing this Christmas was having Hughie home for the whole weekend, not having him run off to work was awesome! Just being able to relax for 4 days just him and I would have been a sufficient christmas present! We are not busy bee people, we are more than happy just curling up on our couch watching our movies and spending time with our dogs. That is not saying we are anti-social, we are not. We are just happy spending time together; even when we drive each other crazy!

With 2009 approaching, I can't help but wonder what the New Year will bring; more cold weather is a 100%. I am looking forward to having our first vacation out; and we are starting to plan for it. We are hoping to spend a few days in Winnipeg! I'm going to try to get out to the big metropolis of Gimli for a coffee and some chatting. Although, the top of my list is WAXING and FOILING!! My hair and my eyebrows OMG! I may wear a hat & mask around Winnipeg until I can get myself put back together..haha.

Keep warm and enjoy the shovelling; I will be in contact soon.

Christmas Eve Eve EVE

Fresh baked cookies, Nova Scotia Christmas Tree and a nice light smell of Candy cane billowing thru the house, this house has truly turned into a Santa workshop of smells.

This is why I love this season, not because of all the gifts and giving but for the family time and the homey feeling you get when you see a christmas tree all decorated with bright color boxes hinding beneath it's branches.

A big part of my celebration is curling up on the couch with a nice warm beverage and watching my christmas shows. I pitty the person that comes between me and my Rudolph!

Here are a list of just a few of what I have watched this year!

*The Christmas Shoes
*The Polar Express
*Shrek The Halls
*The Grinch
*Here comes Santa Claus
*Franklin and the Magic Christmas
*Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
*Santa Baby
*How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Movie)
*Rugrats Christmas
*Legends of Frosty The Snowman
*Charlie Browns Christmas
*He-Man & She-Ra Christmas
*Yogi's First Christmas
*Smurfs Magic Christmas
*Garfields Christmas
*Flinstones Family Christmas
*ALF Special Christmas
*Flinstones Christmas
*Bah Humduck!
*All Grown Up christmas (Rugrats)
*Mickey's Christmas Carol
*Christmas Vacations
*Futurama, Simpson's & American Dad Christmas Episodes
*The Santa Clause
*The Santa Clause II
*Millenium Christmas Episode

and the best part is that I still have 3 more days of Christmas shows!

Merry Christmas!

Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus

"Right down Santa Claus Lane"

I am such a big kid, I have gifts sitting on my bed in the spare room and I'm so tempted to go have a peak - it is hard for me to not know what I have! I can hardly wait on Christmas Eve to go to bed, so I am able to wake up all the earlier the next morning to open my presents.

Christmas will be slightly different this year, from what I've been hearing Christmas is a huge event here in Kugaaruk. We are already starting to see it, tonight is Mens night at the local co-op and Women's night tomorrow night. Not sure what that includes but I may have to make an appearance - I think I saw there was some discounts on Toys; and Sekaya needs a new stuffed one for her christmas present. I will keep you all uptodate on my first Christmas in Kugaaruk; one thing that will be different is that Hughie will be on call for our first christmas here, not sure how busy the community will be; as long as no one got Smirnoff or the Captain in their stocking I'm sure things will be okay!

Speaking of which, our community is going to be continuing to be a DRY community. They had the vote over the weekend; along with that vote they had one to consider to bring a Northern Store to Kugaaruk and that as well was passed. I am very glad that the community will stay Dry, not just for Hughie but for the community as well. From what I see and hear drinking in this community never has a positive outcome. Although I will admit, I would have loved to have a bottle of wine with Christmas Supper.

I have officially started working out again, I did a 40+ minute Cardio/Strengthening and stretching workout today; and while I looked and felt like a dishrag I feel so much more like my old self - sitting around napping all day and sleeping in was messing with my head. So I'm going to attempt to do my workout at least 5/7 days per week and then hit the ellipitcal as much as possible to round out. Now if I can just get back into drinking my 8 glasses of water a day - I'm on about glass # 2 now and it is 3:00 in the afternoon.

I should get started on wrapping some presents; I will update you soon and keep you up to date on my first Christmas in Kugaaruk!

"Mr Sun Sun, Mr Golden Sun"

"Please shine down on me"

It is official, according to The Weather Network, Kugaaruk Nunavut no longer has a sunrise and sunset listed on our weather page.

"Tis the Season to be Jolly"

"Fa la la la la la la la la"

I will admit there are days where I believe I have to be the oldest believer of the spirt of Christmas. I have started my official "Christmas Shows I have watched list" there is something about curling up on the couch with a blanket and watching Sam the Snowman come on the screen to tell you the story (Burt Ives) about Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer that makes you smile and forget about, if anything, that could be making your day crappy.

I'm almost done Christmas shopping, I'm passing on the duty of my family shopping onto my Mom. She is basically done, if not completely done so I'm going to corral her in and she can complete mine. Christmas shopping for my family being so far away and without proper instructions is harder than I thought - Christmas Gift Cards has been my main idea for gifts over the last two Christmases but unfortunately I don't have that option here in Kugaaruk. I have one more purchase left for Hughie but he knows what it is, and the site is on a 13 days of Christmas sale, each day a different sale option - so I'm holding on ordering it until I see if I can get a bit of a savings.

The only downfall to this Christmas, is that we don't have a Christmas Tree! If you look at my pictures on facebook you will see we don't have an abundance of christmas trees, or any o ther trees for that matter in the area! Although a tree doesn't make Christmas it just helps with the spirt of things, I do however apparently have a Christmas Stocking on the way up from the parents so that can take the place of a tree, and I won't have to worry about finding tree needles in July!

So, I finally have a Home in Kugaaruk! Well I've been living in a house since we moved here but we finally have all our personal belongings, the house is organized and it smells like us! I know that sounds weird but walking into a house that is bare bones made me feel lonely; however now walking into the house and smelling my candles and bounce sheets from the dryer makes me smile! It took three loads for all our stuff to arrive, and of course they left our TV right to the end - but either United in Winnipeg or Matco in Yellowknife boxed it up nice and tight! So everything made it in one piece....well almost everything, there was a couple of broken PLATES..I cheered...yes I cheered...I've wanted some new plates for a while, so this is giving me the opportunity to purchase new SQUARE plates from Costco in the near future!

That is all for now, the Canucks only have about 2 minutes left in the third period against Detroit (we are not winning) and I best get the house clean for Greys tonight, and get the dogs organized - nothing worse than a dog staring you down right in the middle of a Meredith speech.