Home, Home on the Range...

Okay so a friend of mine ..clearing throat JEN.. is telling me I'm neglecting my blogging obligations.. so let me go back in history -- jingle bells, jingle bells.. okay I'm in the spirit of the past.

I boarded a plane to the prairies for the holiday. I may as well have made the trek to bethlehem itself. I left at 5:30pm Atlantic time and arrived in Calgary at 2:30am Atlantic time. I had a stop in Montreal - now when we landed the ground crew were wearing face masks, it was cold. However somebody forgot to inform the people trying to be subtle about the fact they're on the way home from a cruise in the sun.. because when I boarded the plane to Calgary - a woman, probably in her early 40s, but dressed like her lookalike 14 year old daughter - complete with mini tank top, too short of jeans and an anke bracelet was complaining about it being "too cold in here, why does it have to be so cold in here?" -- Lady, you're in Canada now, it's December and everyone else is wearing wool - shut up. I swear, I would have rather had a crying baby next to me than this woman, her daughter and of course, her sugar daddy. Luckily Ricky Bobby made me laugh for an hour and half - of the 4 and a half hour flight, then it was nothing but little miss sunshine.

Okay, it had been over 2 years since I drove from Calgary to Swift Current. I was feeling nostalgic - rented a car, ready to do some overdue thinking on life.. the only thinking I did, was "MY GOD THIS IS A BORING DRIVE!" I can't believe people are able to do the speed limit - I couldn't help but drive 130 just to get it over with, and thank god the ol' mitsubishi didn't have cruise or I would have caught up on sleep too.

By the time I was home, I was happy to just sit down and prepare myself for a "relaxing holiday" . The term relaxing and Christmas just don't mesh. I drove to town to see some friends, and allowed myself about 3 hours to do it. Well, you can't walk anywhere in my town without someone looking at you like you're from out of space, i mean out of town - when really my last name goes back wayyyyy further than theirs.. or someone who I haven't seen in 15 years sees me in the wrong isle at the Co-Op - and says, you leave for 10 years and you don't know your way around eh! Ahh I'm home.

Christmas day means Christmas traditions - this year a new one. Sis decides to have the fam damily for turkey - the WHOLE fam - mom, dad, the steps and the inlaws, merry christmas! Can you pass me a gin and tonic, hold the tonic!

After the excitement ended and it was time to roll on back to Alberta - I was reminded again of how crappy the drive is - this time with dry, blowing snow across the highway. Luckily, after driving through maritime storms filled with no visibility, wet snow and a curve every kilometer, a straight line was easy to handle - but the SUV warriors in the ditch didn't quite read their manual correctly -where it states, just because you drive a truck the size of a mobile home, your tires are still made of rubber, and rubber slides on ice, asshole.

So what have I learned after being home for Christmas, the first time in 2 years?

Next year, it's straight to Banff.