Christmas in Canada, continued...

As promised, here is the second installment of Christmas in Canada. Get comfortable...
I got to see some great friends while at home (I didn't get pictures with all of them, in case you thought this post was all-inclusive.) But I did manage to catch up with Sara & John at Mongolian Grill. Brandon & I took "All-You-Can-Eat" as a challenge, but apparently Sara was perfectly content with the pickles, pungent as they were.

I think he took a forkful of my food, and evidently I didn't handle it well.

Sara & I go way back, working at Old Navy while I was in high school. She's so sweet to find time for me every time I come home, and I am hard pressed to think of times when I'm laughing harder. But sometimes I worry about her teaching at her "inner-city" school - don't wear the wrong colours, Mrs. Forbes! And the good news is that now they've met twice, Buddy & Sara can now officially be Facebook friends. Here's the celebration. They'd met once before, the summer we got married. Sara and her husband John bought all of the games we had registered for. When they were checking out, the cashier asked if they were going to a child's birthday party. "Nope, a wedding," said Sara, "they registered for Hungry, Hungry, Hippos." Indeed we did. And thank you again!What's better than lunch with Jen? Lunch with three of my favourite Jens! East Side Mario's didn't see us coming. It was so nice to catch up with these ladies, whose lives seem to be much more interesting than my own.

Another Old Navy survivor, Harmony was home from Ottawa and we went out to lunch. She gets cuter every time I see her!
And here begins the documentary of our trip into Toronto. Here we are waiting for the train to take us into one of the world's most diverse cities. Good thing Kristina was with us, or we would have gotten lost more than once. It took quite a while to fit the CN Tower into a picture. We had to climb onto a large cement block to get this one. Worth it? Jury's still out.

This was the easier way to do it.I wonder how many months of the year this lemonade stand is actually functioning.

Kristina and I at The Eaton's Centre, with the very large, very sparkly Christmas tree.

After having crossed the street diagonally (crazy, I know!), we thought this Christmas tree warranted a picture as well.

Onto Chinatown... We encountered this request posted on a storefront. I wonder how many times that had to happen before someone felt the need to address it with a sign?Is it just me, or could anyone else go for some street meat right about now?Almost brothers-in-law battling with bamboo.

Ever the conversationalist. In his defense, it was a long day. And my family has an amazing ability to stay up late. Buddy married in, so he doesn't have the gene.

I talked about tobogganing the moment we got home, and finally got to go a couple of days before we left. Daniel & Nicola were brave enough to come. Poor, unfortunate souls.

"I can't put my arms down!"

My high school is just down the street, and has a pretty sweet hill behind it. F.Y.I., I highly recommend going down the hill one at a time, as opposed to three at a time, like we did shortly after this was taken. Oh, the carnage.

Poor, broken Daniel after an unfortunate encounter with a hole in the snow.

Nicola got the rogue sled with a mind of its own. I'm pretty sure she crossed paths with all of us on the way down and did a 180 at the bottom.

The look on my face says it all.

Some of the aforementioned carnage. Daniel & Nicola collided about 1/2 way down the hill (again, with the rogue sled). That's Nicola in a pitiful heap on the ground, Daniel laughing at her and me taking a picture of it all.

In spite of his less-than-water-resistant ensemble, Buddy managed to have some fun. We may have to invest in a bigger sled for next time.

I believe this was the exact moment I realized that I am 25 and not 12, and that going off a jump at my age is less-than-advisable. This realization happened to coincide with a severely bruised tail bone.

Good times had by all.

This concludes Part II of Christmas in Canada. Whether a Part III is warranted remains to be seen, but be sure to check back just in case.