A winning day

I arrived in Canada yesterday afternoon to find lots of left-over Christmas turkey and friendly people waiting to greet me. (The turkey gets first mention not because it’s better than the people, but because it seems to be playing a very big part in this little mini holiday of mine.) I also arrived with a feeling of peace and a smile on my face, because I’d been looking forward to this relaxing little break for quite some time!

[Enter story and cast description here: I have travelled to Canada to visit my friend, Rebecca, who has travelled from Scotland to visit her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew who all live in British Columbia. This is my first time meeting my friend’s family “in real life” and they are all absolutely lovely. Now, back to the story at hand.]

It was so great to wake up this morning feeling rested and relaxed – even though, as always, I woke up in the middle of the night unable to sleep. The difference is that I didn’t wake up thinking I was having a mild heart attack, as I’ve been doing in recent weeks thanks to stress and anxiety (my new “best friends”, apparently).

After a nice sleep in, I enjoyed a nice chatty breakfast before we all headed out to Burnaby Village Museum where the four grown-ups in our group helped the not-quite-grown-up young boy with a 12 Days of Christmas themed scavenger hunt around the little heritage village. We spent a considerable amount of time peeking into the old buildings and admiring not only the interesting old-time displays (look for photos soon!) but also the fantastic architecture.

Once the boy found all 12 items on his list, we went to claim our prize of miniature candy canes. (YUM! I do love candy canes.) Then we got to ride on the vintage 1912 carousel, which made all of us smile like little children – including the child.

And, upon returning to the house, we got to feast on more left-over turkey.

So, it’s been a winning day all around: Successful scavenger hunt = WIN. Good food = WIN. Good sleep = WIN. Good laughs = WIN. Good friends = SUPER WIN. (Oh, and not feeling stressed and anxious about life all day was certainly a bonus WIN!)

My only disappointment was that it was a miniature candy cane. Oh well, you can’t have it all!!

(Up for tomorrow: Bottling wine, cross country skiing, and MORE TURKEY.)

And because I know everyone is expecting them, you can see some of the photos of my trip here. (Yay!)