Let It Snow

As I type, there is a heavy snowstorm falling all around us, adding to the already towering banks of snow around the city. Hunkering down for the night, I find it the perfect opportunity to update the blog. Since the last post, Christmas has come and gone and winter has truly set in. Firstly though, to keep it chronological, I’m going to take a quick leap back to Halloween. Remarkably, neither of us had carved our own pumpkins before, so we set out to remedy that situation.

Making the first incisions

Starting to take shape

Jaunty Jack O'Lantern

Just before Christmas, we took a weekend away in Halifax. We went partly because Ben had an appointment with a laser eye surgeon (because he’ll need to get his eyes fixed to train for the police force), and partly because we wanted a relaxing weekend away. We rented a lovely house on the lake.

Relaxing house on the lake

Feeling festive

Ever since we booked the weekend away, I had planned to take Home Alone on DVD with us to watch while we were there. I’ve watched that film every Christmas since it has been made. I even took some popcorn with us to eat while we watched it. However, after getting everything ready and feeling as excited as I did when I first watched it (yes, I really am still a kid!), I put the DVD in the player, only to find that it was the wrong region. I forgot that I had bought the DVD while we were still back in the UK! After a period of great disappointment, we decided to look in the cabinets to see if there were any other DVDs we could watch. Well, we struck gold, and found a Wii! That helped to ease the pain a little bit.

Playing Wii

Me beating Ben at Wii

As I mentioned, the house was right on a lake, so we made sure we took advantage of it despite the winter temperatures.

View to the lake from the house

Deck and a sad-looking kayak

View over the lake

Soon after we spent the weekend in Halifax, it was Christmas! It was a quiet Christmas again, but it was very nice and relaxing. The house looked festive soon enough, and the kitties seemed to like all the tinsel and sparkly lights.

Miley now thinks that snuggling with us on the sofa is OK

On Christmas morning, the kitties enjoyed opening the presents almost as much as we did.

Rosie helping us unwrap our presents

As always, we got some lovely presents!

Presents!

Presents!

We also managed to cook a lovely dinner between the two of us. Well, Ben did most of it, but I helped. A little.

Christmas dinner

Ben’s parents generously gave us enough money for Christmas to buy a Playstation 3! We also got the ‘Move’ with it (a bit like the Wii), so we had a lot of fun over the Christmas period playing games.

Playing PS3

Since Christmas, Ben has done all his training for the auxiliary police force and has really enjoyed it. He has also now gone out on his first shift and is looking forward to more. He looks very smart in his uniform!

Auxiliary Police Constable Griffin

Yesterday was my birthday, and although I was working I still had a nice day. We went out for a meal in the evening, and have plans to meet some friends on Saturday night for laser tag and bowling! It sounds a little like a party for a 9 year old, not a 29 year old, but I’m looking forward to it!

Well, that’s all the main news we have for now. It looks like the snow has set in for the night, so I guess we’ll have some good shoveling to look forward to in the morning. Until next time, take care!

Helen & Ben

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