Another Canadian Christmas

Paul and I were kindly adopted by Adriana and Leo to join in their Christmas / New Year / birthday celebration for the 30th.

I was overjoyed.  Finally, my chance to join in a normal family's Christmas celebrations (i.e. one that wasn't a strange mash-up of Chinese and Western traditionals).  What I got wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was exactly what I asked for. 

Behold, their Christmas tree! 















Behold, their Christmas dinner!

(Clockwise from left: Paul, Matt, Debra, Curtis, Catherine, Karen, Leo, Adriana, Alexander)

"I just wanna hold your hand..."

The non-traditional (non-turkey) dinner (Mexican salads and tacos) was a special menu request from birthday-girl Catherine.  It was interesting and very tasty.  The vegetarian substitute for ground beef was so good I didn't even realise it wasn't meat.  But I think the highlight were the packaged cheese curds a.k.a. The Squeaky Cheese.  Delicious and squeaking with every bite, it inspired a discussion about annoying sounds.  It turns out, quite a number of someones at the table really don't like the sound of fingernails being rubbed together. 

 

"Have you seen this cat? He is awesome."

The pets made a rather small appearance on this visit.  Pax consistently followed Alexander, (finally parking herself under his chair during dinner), but the cats were out of sight.  That is... unless you looked to Leo's laptop.  Opened to provide the night's background music, it also proudly displayed as the desktop image, Darius.  The white cat was sitting upright on the sofa with television remote in paw, next to a beer bottle... Yes, he is awesome. 

(Right: Paul and Alexander in coordinated outfits.)

 

(Below: Alexander, fully flirting at 6 months.)

 

Happy Birthday!

Catherine blew out the candle on her birthday bucket of ice cream and dessert was served.  She smiled so much, I wondered if she really turned thirteen. 

Karen had made pies and pastries for the occassion. 

There was talk to play board games for the rest of the night.  But when someone mentioned they haven't yet seen Candy Cane Lane - none of us had - we set off that way.

Though in separate cars and it was very cold, it still felt pretty nice to be with Adriana and Leo's family to see the lights. 

When we headed out to our separate homes, despite not being like a greeting card or Martha Stewart magazine (o.k. I admit those were the base for my idea of a "normal Christmas"), I was happy.  The quirky traditions, the joy of the night, the good company, the inclusion... might not be normative, but it was special.  And I think I can see that in my family Christmases too. 

I'm pretty lucky. 

Happy Birthday, Beth

Dave hosted a special dinner in honour of Beth's birthday. 

(Right: Beth models her new headband fascinator.)

 

After a delicious chicken dinner it was time for dessert. 

 

There was a birthday cake with pretty pink (strawberry) icing and marshmallows toasted in front of the fire place. 

We end the night with an alternative way to make a wish:  

Dear Dumplings

Monica's dumpling party started late. Paul and I were on time, and as a result ended up learning new things about Monica.

First of all, she has a erhu and can play it! 

(Above: Monica teaches Paul.)

Second, she has a Wii and we could play it!  Paul uses his incredible moves to excel at the Dancing with the Stars game.  But the boys eventually decide to box instead of dance. 

Eventually, more of the actual cooks appeared for this traditional Northern China cooking party, and dumpling preparation truly began.. 

1. The dough was created with rice flour and water.

















2. The filling was prepared, starting with ground pork and minced shrimp. 

3. Cabbage and green onion was diced, and added to the filling mixture (after squeezing out all the extra moisture).  Then mixed well with other seasonings.

 

 

 

4. The dough was kneaded and rolled into a thin, long, cylindrical rope.   

5. The cylinder was cut into thin disk rounds.

6. Using a rolling pin, the dough disks were rolled flat and thin (maintaining the round shape).

7. Filling was added to the center of the disk.

8. The edges were then pinched and folded together.

9. Voila!  A dumpling! 

Monica and Julie taught us as well as they could, but their practiced hands still seemed wonderous rolling the rounds and making the dumplings perfectly every time. 

 

Eventually, plates and plates of dumplings were completed and we moved into the next stage.

10. Cooking the dumplings in boiling water.  (They are done when they float.) 













11. Next, create a personalised dipping sauce.  (From the many choices in Monica's cupboard). 












12. Eat! 

Along with all the appetizers and desserts people brought,  it was truly a feast.  But still, Julie insisted on drinking some of the water that was used to cook the dumplings.  She told a story of a monk to explain the tradition, with the moral if one didn't, one would have a stomach ache*. 

 

 

I think even if we had drunk the soup, we'd still have a stomach ach because we'd eaten so much! 

Afterwards, we played more Wii.  It's probably no surprise that despite so many Resort games to choose from we still graviated towards canoeing (most of us being Toasters). But it was also the one that provided the most entertainment value for how bad we were at it (missing buoys and check points and going in circles).  Julie almost wanted to throw her controller into the wall by the end of it :P

 

 

* The story sounded pretty improbable to me.  But after talking to Angela about it, (us, being southerners, didn't know about these traditions), she thought maybe it was related to how scarce food was in the north.  The cooking water would have some starch from the dumplings and would still be nutrious, and thus it would have been bad to waste.  Though in some ways it similar to our Winter Solstice traditions of to make yuan. in other ways this was almost opposite: Ours were a super rich soup and with dumplings that were completely plain.

Christmas

House Hippo and Coconut eventually fell asleep and Santa filled their stockings. 

Come morning, I arrived and we all opened presents. 

There were several surprises including a special delivery. 

Afterwards, we headed over to Rem and Steph's for a visit and some tea. 

The day's main event, which I worried about was dinner at home with most of my family.

Instead of a traditional / fusion Christmas dinner, Mom and Dad decided to do take-out.  Foil containers of various chow meins, rice, vegetables, and meats filled the table. 

A bottle of wine appeared at some point.  The contents weren't necessarily of that much interest.  Instead, my sisters and I all wanted the decorative bottle!  Dad, in some good humour that I don't often see, wrote on three pieces of paper, which the three of us drew from.  "Good Omens" and "Of What You Will" appeared on Angela and Theresa's... so I found mine was "Victory"
(勝利).

Though there the conversation was a bit stilted and awkward, everyone was on their best behaviour.  Um... except the nephews. 

The cookies I had baked for dessert seemed to go over well... until I found the secret ingredient to the trail mix cookies (walnuts), Kevin was allergic to.  (I swear I'm not trying to kill him!)  






Thankfully, with a pill, he recovered quickly.  With time to open presents and play games, Christmas wasn't entirely ruined.  In fact, it turned out pretty good. 

(Left: Cracker jokes and paper crowns.
Below: The family females and Cranium)