This is Xmas eve.
We have had a great holiday season this year. Friday night we went out to dinner with dear friends, Teresa and Jim Poppino. Teresa and I were very close friends in high school. We have recently reconnected through Classmates.com. It has been wonderful to rekindle our 30+ year old friendship. Teresa's birthday was yesterday. We had a great time celebrating with dinner at Bahama Breeze and cigars and drinks at Del Frisco's.







Jim and Teresa have promised to come and visit us in Canada. We spent a great part of the evening laughing, reliving our youth and visualizing our futures.



Last night Diane and I watched 'The Secret'. It is a great message. It has worked for me my entire life. It is wonderful to see it in a life-manual format.


Tonight, Diane and I will keep alive our family tradition. We load all the kids in the car and ride around looking at Xmas lights. We drink champagne, eat chocolates and talk about all the things we have to be grateful for. There are so many this year.


We will never forget last year when we lost our dear friend Jim Sinagulia on December 22nd. Every year at this time, from now on, it will be bittersweet. Tonight we will raise a glass of champagne and toast, "Here's to you, Jimothy!" We will always love and remember you.

The carpet was installed on Saturday at our house in Victoria. Thanks to our friends Heather and Darren, who shuttled the carpet and workers up and down the snow packed driveway. Here is the picture Heather sent.

Darren & Heather shuttle service.

The holidays are fast approaching. We have packed/stored all of our Yule items. I think I can easily access the menorah. I've already put in for early leave on the 15th to get home before sundown. That is also the night of Diane's work Holiday party. This year they are having it at the Hilton. I have no idea what that will be like. We are going to take a cab to and from. No drinking and driving.

We actually agreed to skip Xmas this year. This discussion happened a month or 2 ago. Now, Diane informs me she has purchased a few little gifts. I am pissed about this. I don't do the last minute gift thing. I usually search way in advance and have my gifts well thought out. Now, less than 20 days out, she tells me this. I came home from work last night and she had decorated the house with garland, rosemary tree and table centerpiece. What am I going to do? Celebrate Xmas.

We scored a personal invitation to Bally's Sterling Steakhouse champagne brunch on New Years Eve. This invitation-only event should be spectacular. It will probably be our last trip to Bally's (that's what we said last time we were there in August). B,S & O caviar and Perrier Jouët, here I come. We have had great times over the years with friends at this brunch. I remember Clara and I going to the restroom (which is quite a little trek) saying "We think we can, we think we can, we think we can". This time it will be Nerrisa and Michael. We will remember to take the camera and take photo's.

I had a dream I gave my 2 week notice at work. Ahhhh.

MPs voted 175-123 against the controversial motion to open the Gay marriage debate is tabled by the ruling Conservatives ! How about that!!

I'm not Catholic, not even Christian. On the advice of friends, movers and real estate agents, I have done it. Those of you who know us well, don't be shocked. It is just that we want to move so badly. See below

We are set to do our ritual planting of the St. Joseph statue upside-down. There is a prayer that you are supposed to say, we say affirmations anyway. It is worth a shot. Then we will watch "The secret" on DVD. We are working it!

Our realtor says things should pick up around the 15th of January. I will still give credit to St. Joseph, if the house sells by then. I will dig him up and he can live in Canada next to all our other ritualistic icons.

In the meanwhile, if you know anyone that wants to buy a house . . .

Mary

So much has happened . . . Most importantly, we have received our immigration papers!! We received them on November 18th. We were officially in the system on June 8th 2005. The entire grueling process took us 1 year, 5 months and 10 days. The worst part was the health exams. Not the exams themselves, but dealing with the horribly inadequate clinic. It was a real test for Diane to not . . . well. . . be Diane and chew them a new one. We were totally at their mercy. If they wanted to, they could have just 'misplaced' the paperwork and we would have been behind for many more months.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends/family. Diane cooked a turkey the traditional way and John Notabartolo did the Cajun fried turkey. Aside from Diane and me, John, wife Leeanne and son Jack were present. Chris Sinagulia and daughter Brenda came over. We were so glad they did. They lost Pete, son and brother respectively a couple of weeks ago. It would not have been much of a holiday for them. A good time was had by all who attended. The food was fabulous. We did our part for the economy on Black Friday.

I'm home from work because I had a colonoscopy today. Diane and I decided to get all medical screening tests done before we go to the Great White North. All is fine with both of us. The abdominal mass scare was nothing more than that, a scare. So we have reason to be thankful.

Speaking of the Great White North, a friend of ours in Victoria took this picture for us of the entrance to our quarter mile driveway. Oh, my gosh!! And our Canadian friends swear, "It doesn't snow in Victoria".

Yes folks, that's our driveway. 18 inches of snow. No electricity until Thursday. New carpet being installed on Saturday? I doubt it.

Now what we really need is to sell the house here in Las Vegas. We had people look at it this past weekend. Any majik you all can work up to help us sell the house would be greatly appreciated. Diane and I are saying affirmations daily. We have honored the Native American tradition by placing whisky (actually single malt 18 year old scotch) in the four corners of the property. We have the color red placed on the front door. We don't pray but will gladly accept the prayers of the believers out there. We just want to get to our home in Canada. Now.

Quebec its own nation within Canada? They have already seceded philosophically generations ago. I don't know what this all means at this point. I will have to ask our Canadian friends for further enlightenment.

Fun quiz to take - How Canadian Are You? I scored 80%. I guess I need to study.

http://www.gotoquiz.com/how_canadian_are_you_1