Hey ho everyone and a happy new year! The holiday was very busy, lots of travelling and eating and cheer. I am calling this past Christmas holiday my year of fleece. We drove up to my folks on the 24th, visited a bit and went to see Caroline's folks. It was great to see them and we had a nice time sitting around the huge fireplace and yakking. Caroline called while we were there, so we got to chat a bit as well. After that, we drove over to my grandmother's house (over the river and through the woods) and had snacks and a bit of cheer and exchanged gifts. Steve and I got many good things: a Far Side calendar, a cookie jar, some towels, candy and fleece sheets. We got home late and woke up at a decent hour and then opened Christmas gifts at home. The folks loved their bread machine, they can't wait to get started making their own bread. Steve was very excited about the new game that I got him as well. I got a warm, snuggly fleece robe from Steve and the folks got us a lot of stuff: socks, fleece sweaters, a couple of blankets, tool boxes, booze, a really nice box that my mom painted and a few odd things. Steve got a remote controlled car and I got this bear on a stand that plays cheesy sax and moves. After that, we had a big turkey lunch and napped. The slide show started that evening. The folks filled the carousels that we picked up for them and the slides didn't seem to be in any order. There was a lot of "I don't remember this" and "where were we when that was taken?" going on. This was a bit time-consuming because then the folks would spend a whole heap of time trying to figure out the details. The next day we got up and lazed around and then packed up and left. Leaving is always hard. We got back to our place and the cats were happy to see us. We unpacked and then repacked for the journey to Windsor the next day. We got up very early and got to the train for the 11 hour trip. The usual sleeping and reading and me getting antsy because I hate sitting for long periods of time. Finally, we were in Windsor and we opened gifts (I got a fleece jacket, a sanding mouse, Myst III, nice coasters and many other goodies) and hung out. We went to see Lord of the Rings the next evening and went to the mall the next day for a quick tour. Soon it was time to leave there as well. I spent most of the trip back sleeping or reading. I whacked my knee on Scott's car just before we got on the train and by the time we got to Montreal I could barely bend the darn thing. We had two parties to go to and were so very tired. We decided not to go out and fell asleep at 7. At 10:30, two of Steve's friends showed up at the door because they thought that the party was at our place! We got up to see in the new year and then went back to bed, we're such party animals!