It's December!?

Daniel and I originate from opposite ends of the country.  Me from the East, he from the West.  The holidays over the past few years have been interesting.  There is the push and pull of old traditions and new plans. Which family do we visit? Do we venture out on our own? BC? Alberta? NS? What about New Year's Eve?


I treasure the familiarity of Christmas at home with comforting tastes and smells and visits with old friends.  I treasure it so much that last year I travelled from Ontario to Nova Scotia.  A simple and short flight turned into a 36 hours of wide-awake travel involving Porter Airlines, GO Transit and 3 Greyhound Buses. A 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' experience.  I channelled the good humour and offbeat attitude of John Candy during the entire trip.

Somewhere in Northern New Brunswick, 3 AM on Christmas Eve 2013

I also love the thrill of trying something new and joining in other people's traditions.  It's neat to throw your expectations out the window and get on a plane to snow-less New Zealand.  Then you can have fish and chips on the beach with your new extended family on Christmas Eve before spending 3 weeks caravan-ing all over the island. 

New Zealand, Christmas Eve 2012

 

Another notable Christmas was 2010, the last winter holiday we spent unmarried.   Dan's present to me that year was a couple days away on Storm Mountain (no better name for a mountain in my opinion) where we had a cozy cabin, delicious food, and so much snow to tromp around in. He asked me to marry him. I said yes.  I liked this Christmas a lot.

This year will be different yet again.  This year we head to Vancouver to spend it with another branch of our family. There will be quite a crew of us, and there are all sorts of fun festivities planned, but as long as there is good food (there will be), excellent company (no question!) and lots of time for knitting (I'm gifting a certain someone a sweater, and I'd like to finish it), it will still feel like Christmas to me.

Nearby Nature Reserve

Entrance of Mountain Lakes Nature Reserve.  November Rain.

One of the charming parts about where we are situated in Princeton is that we are really close to a beautiful park.  The Mountain Lakes Nature Reserve.  Especially in the first few weeks of living here, when the fall colours were at their finest, I took a lot of walks through the park.  Rain or shine.


It is not a large park, but it does seem significantly removed from the rest of the town.  You always encounter people on the paths, but not so many that it seems crowded. It is nice to share such a space with other, quiet admirers.

The man-made lake of Mountain Lakes Nature Reserve

As you round the corner on one of the many trails,  you come across this sight. A large man-made lake. Originally constructed for ice harvest until it was linked to typhoid outbreak.  Now this lake is home to many Canadian geese, fish, and turtles!  When it is warmer, the turtles can be seen sunning on the brick ledge surrounding the lake.

Annual Anniversary photo. 1 month late.  Next year we'll do it in October, when it is warmer.

My most recent visit to the park was with Daniel.  It was a cold evening, with the wind stinging our cheeks. and my fingers were numb as I fiddled with my camera.  With a few false starts, a tad of bickering and by precariously balancing the camera on my backpack and a bench, we managed to get our annual "Anniversary Picture" done.   You can't really tell, but  we're holding my blackberry tablet that has last year's picture on it (and in that picture we're holding the previous year's picture, and so on).  We got this shot just in time.  Some pretty nasty clouds were rolling in.

This amazing colour is one of the many reasons I love autumn.

 Today, we got our second smattering of snow.  Tomorrow, if it sticks around I am going to see how it looks sprinkled like icing over the trees and trails.