Merry Christmas

How are you going to do that, Minister?

With more snow to come, this Christmas promises to be full of high drama. We will be safely at home, full of food and merriment. Belle and I wish you all the best for the holiday(s) of your choice.

Christmas & it's time to watch movies

First snowfall on the canal

It's snowing. Again. It's all perfectly Christmas-y, all white like a dusting of icing sugar and looking like a greeting card. But it's snowed so much and the nation is pretty unprepared: roads and sidewalks aren't clear and it just takes so long to get anywhere. A middle of the night hospital trip with Calum (he's fine, just mild croup - all very exciting), turned into a hike across the Links, because we couldn't dig the car out and taxi service here in the ice and snow. 

With Peter sick (Calum's better. Thank G*d) all I want to do is curl up and watch movies. 

So when the Guardian posted this http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/dec/15/peter-bradshaw-favourite-christmas-movies on their website, I started making a list of my own Christmas movies. I'm not a huge Christmas person, the sentimentality and religious stuff drive me up the wall. As for the movies - well, the obvious ones like It's a Wonderful Life, don't really work for me. Sometimes it's not a Christmas movie per se but just something that I always seem to see over the holiday season. A friend used to associate 007 movies with Christmas because that's what her family used to watch. I feel the same about The Sound of Music. 

My Christmas Movie List, in no particular order: 

Christmas Crafts with Sarah and Calum

• Lethal Weapon - a pre-wage wad Mel Gibson is great in this action movie with fantastic Christmas music. Great to watch while writing Christmas cards.   
• Home for the Holidays - not really a Christmas movie (it's set at Thanksgiving) but it's about the holiday season. Just a great movie, directed by Jody Foster and starring a tweaky Robert Downey Jr. 
• Die Hard (both the first and second movies) - more great movies to watch while writing Xmas cards. The baddies are so over the top they completely make up for any family sentimentality at the end. 
• Trading Places - watched it ages ago and remember liking it. But the Guardian was so positive about it, I rewatched it and realized how great it is. I wanna watch it every Xmas.
• Love, Actually - over the top? Yes! As I described it to Peter: a little like eating too much creme brulee. Sweet and yummy leaving one with a sugar high but happy and satisfied. Not something you'd want everyday but once a year is great.

That's my list - anything you think I should add?

ya nae wanna slip him ...

The headline said "Snow Chaos". I threw on my parka (so glad our shipment finally arrived!), hiking boots and went outside with Belle. It was a bit like a winter wonderland, sort of what we in Canada would see in November - all white and new, the snow like a sprinkling of icing sugar. 

One thing that was very different was the population: no speeding, no slipping on sidewalks, no car accidents. Everything seemed very orderly, very British. In the park, they were even putting down sand on the paths proactively something I have never seen before. 

It's been snowing on and off all week and it's been lovely. A light dusting, all very pretty and not too cold with most of it melted by the afternoon. The Links & Meadows, where we walk most days, have all kinds of snow people: men, women, families. I counted five different groups making snowmen while we were there.

Belle loves this weather, even if it's very windy, she'll romp for as long as I can take it. As we were sliding home from the park, me tugging at the unwilling pup's leash, an older gentleman saw us, "careful now, ya nae wanna slip him..."