Christmas 2009, Kugaaruk Nunavut.
(Above: Nativity Scene made by Emily Illuitok)
(Above: Christmas Tree sugar cookies)
(Above: Showing our love to Sekaya)
(Above: Chakotay’s favorite part of Christmas is the wrapping paper)
(Above: All done for another year)
Today marks a first; my first Kugaaruk blizzard. I’ve been living here for almost 14 months and have yet to see an “official” blizzard, bizarre I know – I have seen blustery days with the added bonus of snow and some pretty crazy winds but today marks my first “official” blizzard, and the Weather Network agrees. Not that it means much, I’m still going about my day in a normal manner; Hughie is playing Dead to Rights and the dogs are vegging in their rooms after eating a hardy supper of Iams.
Christmas was a resounding success and I’m actually a little sad that this will be our last Christmas in Kugaaruk, a milestone that I though would have taken a lot longer, it only seems like yesterday we were celebrating the beginning of 2009. We did not have a repeat of last years sewage drainage issue which we are very thankful for; and we even woke up early enough to make our way to Christmas Day Mass at church. While we did not understand what they were saying, the meaning of it was not lost on us. We made it home with time to put the Turkey into the oven (Hughie even helped make the stuffing) and curl up on the floor with our cups of coffee and then glasses of Egg Nog & Chocolate Milk. We had a awesome time opening all our presents (THANK YOU Everyone!) we were spoiled yet again, as well we spoiled each other purchasing more than we necessarily need. I’m now the proud owner of UGG slippers (Sekaya has been warned repeatedly if she touches them I’ll make slippers out of her fur…..) and Hughie can wear his Roadhog-The North Face pants with honour; anyone that knows Hughie can understand why I purchased him those pants. We received plenty of BluRay & DVD’s this year, and we have been making use of them from watching Star Trek on Christmas Day Night and then Transformers II on Boxing Day. We still have Angels & Demons to watch along with the DaVinci Code but that will keep until the weekend (New Years Eve/Day).
*I enjoyed both Star Trek & Transformers II – however I will say that Star Trek held my attention to the point where I did not finish my Diet-Coke – that is how much I loved that movie. Transformers II wasn’t as bad as I thought as long as you watched it as a “action” film and not a remake of the 80’s cartoon.
100th Post – I wanted to make an official “OMG I reached 100 post” post…but why draw attention to just one random number, sure I have wrote 100 posts – it is only I who makes a big deal out of it; so after a publish this post on my blog I will jump up and down, twirl around and kiss my husband. … ….
So here is to the beginning of 2010…will there be another 100 posts before our time is up in the north?
“First we'll make snow angels for two hours, then we'll go ice skating, then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookie-dough as fast as we can, and then we'll snuggle.” – Buddy The Elf
I’m prepared and ready to face the big day! My presents are wrapped, my turkey is defrosting and my tree lights are glistening against a backdrop of a winter wonderland. I would start the official “Here Comes Santa Countdown” but I wouldn’t want to warn the naysayers to his arrival down south – I mean, who wouldn’t want to try to catch Santa on Christmas Eve….
I can’t wait until later this evening when I can curl up on the couch with Hughie and our cups of steaming peppermint hot chocolate to watch Scrooge (1951) and our yearly tradition ELF. We may just have to add in Garfield’s Christmas; as we both seem to miss it this year when it aired on YTV. This is my favorite time of the year, not because of the gifts and all the commercialism but because of the family time that Hughie and I share together. We are hoping that next Christmas we will be able to share that time together with our extended & immediate families back home, however until then we will just enjoy our time together with our two little fur kids.
May all my readers have a SAFE and Happy Holiday Season.
“It's just like Santa's workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms... and everyone looks like they wanna hurt me...” - Buddy The Elf
My husband has excellent ideas, so this one was no surprise. As you see from my previous posts we are fanatics when it comes to “real” Christmas trees. So this year we decided to take it one step farther and purchase a tree for the community. Thanks is especially due to Hughie’s parents, since they made it possible.
The tree arrived on Friday and today it was passed over into our hands – we were stumped about where to ‘donate’ this tree. We were contemplating where it would get the most use without being picked on by little tiny fingers…lol cause you know it does happen, especially in a community that doesn’t have any real trees around. So after deep thinking on the subject we have decided to donate the tree to the local Catholic Church. We are heading over their momentarily with the tree!
I love Christmas!
Addendum: That has to be the most heart-warming thing I have done since moving here, We are thinking about making this an annual donation.
The excitement of a real tree isn’t only for us “adults”, our pups have found this Christmas tree enchanting and mesmerizing. I can only imagine how it will be when we put their gifts underneath this weekend.
Since we have decorated the tree it has lost its attraction, every now and again Sekaya will walk by to hit a bulb with her nose or to give the tree a sniff but that is all. They haven’t even tried to eat the candy-canes. I’m sure Chakotay is just counting the minutes until the tree is placed in his kennel outside after Christmas.
10 days until Christmas Eve
I made my first batch of “Hugh’s favorite Chilli” this evening and I have to admit it turned out pretty well. I always find it slightly scary when I make a dish for the first time, especially when we are having a guest over for supper. We have a relief member in our community for the month and I like to try and feed them at least a hot meal once a week. I can only imagine what they are feeding themselves. I’m already looking towards a big spaghetti supper next weekend and then of course we are looking at Christmas Dinner. He is also a big coffee drinker so lingering and chatting over a pot of coffee with the tree lights glistening relaxes us into a slight stupor – luckily cheering on hockey is waking us up…I suppose the caffeine buzz is kicking in as well.
I can’t believe Christmas Eve is in 12 days, I officially finished wrapping my Christmas gifts. I swear I only cursed a half dozen times, but Hughie wasn’t here so I didn’t have to add a dollar to the swear jar. I love Christmas but I truly hate..almost despise wrapping Christmas presents. However, Leo had a hard enough time finding me wrapping paper so I knew looking for Christmas bags was going to be almost impossible. I look forward to making my Christmas sugar cookies next weekend. I’ve decided to play Cookie-Santa and deliver my cookies around town on the 23rd during their coffee breaks – I plan on making about 60 Christmas Trees. (Red n Green). I’ll take photo’s of my mound of cookies next weekend.
Otherwise there really hasn’t been anything new to report – the weather is definitely warming up, but with that being said they are calling for some snow over the next couple of days (2-5cm). I, for one cheer snow, anything to cover up my yellow spots that are scattered around my back yard. I also enjoy shovelling!
*Smile List*
- The upcoming snow being forecasted so my yard will look all fresh and white.
- Having a typical Hockey filled Saturday night.
- Seeing Chakotay walk in the house last night after a run with Hughie, all smiles and walking with his tail held high.
- Howard winning over Stoughton. (Looking forward to tomorrows game verses Martin) Go Howard Go!
- Having my chilli turn out.
- My Christmas Tree
- Yule Log Channel w/ Christmas Carols.
This to me is relaxation. I don’t care if a single gift gets placed under my tree. I woke up this morning, at 7:20am (thanks Sekaya!). I poured myself a cup of coffee, turned on the television to the Yule Log and flicked on the tree lights and just took in the peace and quiet and seasonal bliss.
Well, Hughie just walked in with the LOST yoga mat, the one that was deemed “lost in transit” (sound familiar) … …. …. I really have nothing left to say about the whole thing.
Well apparently UPS’s manage was on vacation for the last 6 weeks in Yellowknife. I just got off the phone with them in Yellowknife where they are waiting for a $2.02 payment in order for me to receive my DISNEY store purchase. According to UPS that parcel has been there since November 3rd, 2009. When I spoke to UPS the end of November, looking for that parcel, they couldn’t tell me where it was and I was to speak to the shipper in order for them to divulge more information.
Disney’s customer service was awesome, they spoke to UPS and it was deemed lost in transit and they reshipped me the same products, but this time I was smart enough to have them sent to my house on PEI.
So…wow..I’m just speechless over the whole thing. Why they held the Yoga mat is beyond my knowledge. I can understand the extra duty on my Disney parcel it came from the States but why didn’t they call me on November 3rd when it came in verses sending me a letter stating I owned the money, which came from HALIFAX, NS. They called me today looking for their $2.02……
I’m not sure what has been going on at our Electrical plant here in town but we have had some small power-surges and power outages over the last couple of days. I won’t lie, the power outage we had on Saturday night was great – it flicked on and off for a good hour and a half with outages clocking 10-15 minutes in length. So Hughie and I lit my candles and turned the switch on our camping lantern and enjoyed each others company. Although I’m not sure he has the same opinion of the outage. I kicked his butt twice at Crib (I’m not sure he’ll ever play me again) and at Scrabble. Although, in his defence when we are down to the last of our letter chips and he is stuck with Z, Q, A, I, I what can you do. I on the other hand was forming 5-6 letter words throughout the game. I guess I take after my mother – she is the Scrabble Queen in our family.
The most recent outage was this morning, luckily my coffeemaker is programmed to go off at 8:30am, so we had hot coffee. I was in the bedroom making the bed at 8:59am (so I would have a spot to store my clean clothes before I put them away sometime this evening…I hate putting away clothes) and everything just went dark and all I heard over Chakotay whining (he doesn’t like the sound of the fire alarm beeping when the power first goes out) was OOPS! I thought Hughie did something at first, what I don’t know, but in retrospect his OOPS was just that he forgot to tell me, prepare me, that the outage was happening this morning. So I got him out the door and off to work and I curled up on the couch to read Twilight (again!) and eat my PB on Pita. It is a great way to start the day, even with the lack of sunlight. Nice and quiet (now if I didn’t have my coffee maker set I, and Hughie would have been bears)
With that being said, I was a little worried about the power being out this morning considering we are under a wind-chill warning in Kugaaruk:
***********************
Wind chill warning for Kugaaruk
Extreme wind chills developing this evening. This is a warning that extreme wind chill conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.
Brisk southwest winds will combine with temperatures near minus 40 to give extreme wind chill values below minus 55 this evening and overnight at Kugaaruk. The extreme wind chills will continue into Wednesday as little change in temperature or wind speed is likely.
At these extreme wind chill values frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 2 minutes.
*************************
I hope these conditions don’t last, I have a couple of steps that could use a good shovelling. I don’t mind the cold, but when it reaches –50/-60 I rather just keep it nice and toasty. Although the power outage was suppose to last an hour, after 42 minutes the power was up and running and I was still nice and warm under my blanket drinking my coffee and watching the snowmobiles fly by house (god they must be really really cold).
So last night, I finally said enough was enough – we have been stock piling gifts for our friends & family over the last couple of weeks with the last of them coming in just a couple of days ago. Hughie and I trekked to the office with all our boxes and proceeded to wrap them and address them. Unfortunately for us, Leo did not order in any wrapping paper this year, as he had a hard time selling it last year, so we had to make due with brown postal wrapping paper! lol, but we live in the North so it is to be expected. Thankfully my mother is a Christmas genius so she is sending up Christmas wrapping paper for me! My mom is awesome! We are hoping to send them out on today’s plane, as long as it arrives. I’m not so much worried about the adults receiving their gifts on time, as long as the kidlets get theirs before Christmas.
(Chakotay being a ham – he knows there is a Gingerbread house on top of the fridge!)
16 days until Christmas Eve!
I admit it, I’m slightly addicted to knowing the Weather. The first site I check in the morning is the same one I check at the end of the night. The weather network. I need to know which parts of Canada are getting a snowstorm/blizzard (Sorry Maritimes) and which part of Canada are getting warm toasty weather. I always need to be aware of the temperature outside my house on a hourly basis. For example today is: –26 with a wind-chill of –36. This is the normal as of late, however looking a head a few days I’m seeing temperatures of –40 to –50 (that is without wind-chill) which means this December is right in line with December 2009. I experienced some of the coldest weather of my life last December and it looks like it will be the same this year.
As of December 5th, we are now no longer having sunrises & sunsets although if you look outside you can see the lingering rays of sun trying to filter around our hills. However, they are not very strong and dissipate quite quickly. We will now be without the sun until mid-January.
We are still in the process of planning our vacation; we would go through a TA but we’ve heard so many ghost/horror stories about TA’s gone wrong. I know it would be easier especially if something goes wrong – that we would have an escape goat to throw things at but I think we decided to plan this vacation ourselves. I figure if we can plan and enjoy a vacation where we landed 19 times in a run of a month we can plan one that finds us sitting on a beach drinking Mimosas and Pina Coladas. We are slowly adding to our list of top 5 locations; and once we get it finalized I will post them for some general feedback.
Christmas season is finally here! I have done my major Christmas cleaning overhaul with the hope to do one more before our Christmas tree arrives (My FIL: [Family-in-law] sends us a Nova Scotia REAL Christmas Tree…Love it!) I’m definitely ready to have my tree up and decorated. I finally received my Gingerbread kit from London Drugs – so I got decked all out in my most comfy purple pj’s and set to putting my house together. I decorated one years ago while living in Nova Scotia and I loved it however when decorating a Gingerbread house in Kugaaruk you have to realize that the dryness works against you. (I still have a bit of structural damage to the roof but I think I covered it well)
(The finished product)
(That is a little-gingerbread man hiding behind the tree with his Keith’s red drinking them while his wife knows no better in the front of the house)
Christmas show list: [That I’ve watched up until December 6th]
Blizzard
Shred The Halls
The Grinch
Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer
All Dogs Christmas Carol
Merry Holidays!
First off I have to admit I did not think up this fab-tanstic idea. I was being nosy per usual and I happened upon this wonderful idea from a fellow blogger who finds herself far away from home.
I’m going to attempt to make this a weekly or bi-weekly event, it will help pass the time as well make me really think about what I’m truly thankful for.
So without further ado
I think I will go and decorate my house a little bit more, somehow I’m feeling festive after thinking about all the things that make me smile.
21 Days until Christmas Eve.
*NOTE: I write my blog on “Windows Live Writer” and it transfers to Blogspot. So the pretty little flowers are really numbers. I’m corny but I have limits.
(Above: Sekaya: This is what a quiet husky does when you are not paying enough attention to her and yes, the toilet paper was attached and she was pulling at it like a little gerbil)
.jpg)
