Happy New Year!!!

Wow... what an amazing Christmas holidays! I can't believe that we're already back in Romania (and that it's 2009), but we had such an awesome time in Bowmanville and Toronto and did SO much! So so much. I started blogs a few times but never had time to finish them, so here we start afresh. It's afresh out here - after telling most people at home that the weather was around 10 degrees, sometimes getting down to zero at night (and Steve; "I don't even wear a jacket"), we arrived home to Constanta with -2 degree weather and SNOW. It snowed all day and people are bundled to the max, driving super super slowly (nice change) and, with all of maybe 1cm of snow on the ground, we saw people sledding (kiddie being pulled around) and doing donuts in an emtpy, oversized parking lot. Anyways...

Younger generation of the Fab Four...

fresh baclava anyone?

Where do I start? I wrote my last blog on the 24th (oh so long ago), so I'll take it from there. We had a delicious Greek feast on Christmas Eve and were almost too full to eat the delish dessert we made... but not too full to open presents! We were completely spoiled this year, and the tree was flooded with gifts. What did we get? My big hits were a new electric toothbrush, a SUPER cute mat&nat purse from Erin and Fred, earrings and a Mamma-made scarf sent from home... and the rest is fabulous flotsam: gift cards aplenty, Nintendo DS games and accessories, chocolate, and more. Steve got his OWN DS, a curling game, fishing stuff, a handy knife contraption, and ... drum roll ... Leafs tickets! Erin and Fred sent him and his dad on a treasure hunt around the house which led to a pair of hard-to-get seats for the game on the 30th. We were moderate in our gift-giving, even though I really do (I swear) enjoy giving gifts as much as I enjoy getting them. So anyways, we found room for coffee and dessert, and may have played another game of Canasta, probably beating all of our runners-up opponents. (!!) It was snowy outside, and cozy inside.... and I know we went to sleep that night happy, warm and full - fabulous.

Playing (and setting a record - 104 points) - Dutch shuffleboard (Sjoelbak)

On the hunt for Leafs tickets

With some fab presents!! Cute!

Christmas Day at the Brinkmans was busy - busy with eating and socializing... yay! Before heading to a morning church service, we opened stockings from none other than Santa Claus himself (no?) ... who spoiled us with more fabulous flotsam: chocolate, bath stuff, gift cards and more. I'm pretty sure that Christmas morning will always have a special feel to it - and not because of the stockings, but because... hm... because you're with family? and it's meant to feel special? Whatever the reason, I love it. After church a whole clan of people came over and we ate more goodies (I hit up the nanaimo bars all week long... soooo good) while we waited in anticipation of GGG'08: Gift Grab Game 2008. Complete with a convenor (Bob) and a lush set of rules and regulations, presents from all were piled in the middle of the room (the one time that food wasn't the central focus at a family gathering) and the participants circled around. We eyeballed and judged, and some shook and inspected - and then it was off to the races. After an intense 30 or 45 minutes, the dust settled and we were all left with a grabbed gift. Steve ended up with a kitchen gizmo thing (he brought a bag of Romanian beer - most grabbed gift) and I found myself with a sushi kit (I brought two bottles of Romanian wine, also a hit) - not so bad!! My first grab was a set of drill bits.... which I was lucky enough to get rid of.

the Convenor

some of his rules...

enforcing some of those rules? or taking questions... I'm not sure!

our grabs (and Bob's!)

The rest of the day was full of more eating and lots of family time. We moved the party to the Tukkers where we played family feud and had the most perfect Christmas dinner. Highlights: the food (yummy turkey, croissant rolls and salad were my faves), Steve's impersonation of one of the three kings and Justin's keyboard concert. Steve and I were still fighting jet lag, so at that point (after dinner) I don't remember much - there was a fire and ??? - it was an amazing Christmas... yay.

Bon appetit!

Me and Pam
Is he a wise man or a priest? Or... ???

Justin's impromtu electro-keyboard performance was chart-topping

On the 26th we had another Christmas celebration with the Brinkman family out in Apsley - with more food and drink and goodies... and a hockey game! Despite the slippiness of the makeshift rink and even though I was roughed into the boards (snow banks) a few times it was awesome... so fun to be outside and moving around and exercising. When we headed home it was dark and snowing... and the Christmas gatherings had been fulfilled. Now, time for BUSYness.

Okay, we were busy but it was so fun... and one of the best nights of the entire trip happened on the 27th at Pam and Bob's... oooh man. We had a serious celebration, finishing the mini-keg by 9:00 and getting into the snow not too much later. We played Wii - and all of us (Pam, Bob, Erin, Fred, Steve and I) created little characters that eerily resembled us. (See pic below.) There was bowling and boxing and if there was anything else I don't remember... and then there was Cranium (always fun) and hot tubbing, snow angels and snowman, in that order. We partied until 5:00... and there's not too much else to tell - the pics speak for themselves... it was a super super fun night!!

Bob? Is that you?

Um, BRRRR!!!

SUPER FUN!

With Frosty the Beerman (after a carrot and some potatoes made him more lifelike, he was given a frosty beer)

Us with our Wii characters - some uncanny similarities

I haven't said anything yet about all that we accomplished in the wedding department. I FOUND A DRESS!! I am so so so SO excited about it... Erin and Marg and I went looking one day and I found a few that I liked... but wasn't crazy crazy about. Anyways, I'd had my eye on a ridiculously expensive dress and thought I'd just go and try it on to compare to what I'd picked out with the girls... to see if it even remotely measured up. Because we were going into the city to drop Erin and Fred off at the airport, I looked for (and found) an upscale bridal shop that not only sold but had THE dress I was looking for on sale - they were selling the sample at a drastically reduced price. I totally lucked out... while Steve napped in the car, I tried it on and ... it fit like a glove. After shopping with Erin and Marg for a dress a few days before, Steve's dad asked me where my parcel was, and all of us laughed at him: " Sheesh! You don't come out of a dress shop with a parcel!" But I did. I walked out of there with the dress that I wanted - and in my size... a miracle! So, that was definitely a highlight of the trip for me... The first thing I did the next morning was try it on - I love it!!!

I am definitely eyeing the Nanaimo bars!! Goodies galore on Friday morning - departure day

They taught him everything he knows: Hugh and Michelle Walters (with their son Riley) - Steve's club vball coaches from way back

Okay... other highlights - I'll do wedding related first. We finished our invites! It was a bit of work, but really nothing compared to the potential amount for do-it-yourself invites. Yay. Okay, that's the only other wedding related item on my last. (Ha!) Non wedding-related: WE WILL ROCK YOU! For Steve's upcoming birthday, his parents got him/us tickets to see the aforementioned show, and it was amazing. I mean, amazing. If this show is playing in your city, or playing in a city close to you... you must see it! It's a musical about ROCK... and about robot humans that, in the distant (I hope) future, are trying to keep instruments and creative music in the history books... With Queen-themed music and an incredible set, amazing solos, choreography and costumes, it was a hit - we loved it. Ummm... the Leafs game was a highlight for the guys... and we had a few nights out with friends that were also super fun. We met Steve's best man Dan and his fiancee Milka at The Spice Route for a fantashtic meal one night, and met up with them again on New Year's Eve. I have to say that I wasn't really in the New Year's party-party mood - I'd had my crazy party celebration a few nights before - but still had a good time. We went to a house party for the countdown and came home and ate pizza in the middle of the night - nothing wrong with that! So... this feels like the longest blog EVER. I'm sure I'm left things out but I know the most important stuff is here - DRESS! great Christmas with family... nanaimo bars! great food! And now, here we are back in Constanta... in the snow. We are so lucky to have such great family, in TO and in BC - and to have spent the holidays with the eastern arm in Bowmanville was awesome. So, on that note, I'm dragging my jet-lagged self off of this computer - Happy New Years and all the best in 2009!