Hang on.  That looks suspiciously like a party!

Last Saturday, we dropped the dog off at the doggie dude ranch, set our light timers and boarded a plane for our civilized neighbors to the north.  Oh Canada!  Can I gush a bit about our Christmas?

It was the first time my immediate family celebrated together in 14 years!  My parents and sister drove up from Philadelphia, my brother flew in from England and we all descended on the home of the best hosts ever;)  That would be my mother's cousin and her husband and their daughter, who share an adorable old townhouse in downtown Toronto.  Adorable makes it sound like it wouldn't sleep twelve as comfortably as it did!  I loved our cozy little bedroom tucked under the eaves of the house!  In addition to my family, my second cousin and his girlfriend were visiting.  Another son lived very nearby and so he and his family came and spent much time with us as well;)

The weather up there was, predictably, cold and overcast and wintry.  In other word, exactly what we residents of Southern California were looking for;)  We spent much time lounging in front of the fire, nursing our favorite beverages (hot and cold), catching up and getting to know each other better;)   We also got to indulge in some urban rambling.   Queen Street has some great little shops (and tasty falafels) and I bought the ingredients for my contribution to Christmas dinner along a street of little independent grocers and spice shops.  Christmas Day, we all drove to another area for a walkabout and then Mr. Pear and I decided we'd give walking home a go;)  What an excellent idea!  We ended up in Toronto's vibrant Chinatown and stopped for a bite to eat at a little dumpling shop.  Delicious;)

I thought I did alright pacing myself, until the very last evening when I suppose I must have indulged in one (or three) too many.  I woke up the morning of our departure feeling like a crusty old sock.  Mr. Pear had to run out for crackers and ginger ale;(

The flight was no fun at all.  Just for the record, I'm never flying American Airlines ever again.  The plane was dirty, the flight attendants apparently frustrated comedians.  As were were taxiing out to the runway, it was suddenly discovered that there was a tottering old woman who couldn't speak English in the exit row, so there were people in the aisles swapping seat and moving their baggage around, all of which I'm sure would have the FAA issuing massive fines.  Our flight left at 6:35, so I assumed we would have dinner on the plane.  What kind of airline stocks one kind of sandwich (chicken) and not enough of them at that?  We had to make do with a $3 can of potato chips.  The inflight movie?  Ratatouille (yawn).  We bought headphones for mini-pear, and then sat through what felt like hours of CBS news (repeatedly introduced by a haggard looking Jennifer Love Hewitt - her career must be in the toilet).  Ratatouille broke or something about 15 minutes into it, so we were then treated to an endless loop of Seventh Heaven reruns (shoot me now).  Very, very, very bumpy ride down into LAX.  The kind of turbulence that has the entire plane shrieking in unison.  Mini-pear was completely fearless, hooting and hollering like she was on the world's biggest roller coaster.   I was too busy concentrating on not vomiting (like everyone else) to have words with her, so Mr. Pear had to have some words with her about putting a lid on Whee!

Alright, must get back to post-holiday laundry and grocery shopping and getting ourselves in order. 

Comments

[water]

American Airlines: 5-hour flight NO food and a flight attendant who looked like a gargoyle. Scary!

Gimme QANTAS, anyday.

[Mandy]

Sorry about your crappy flight, but nice that you got to spend time with all your family. Sounds like fun. We celebrate with Christmas crackers as well. So, we're not the only goofy family that wears those paper crowns! : ) Have a Happy New Year! Hope to see you again soon.