We headed to Canada for Christmas this year – there were reasons to celebrate and it felt like we needed to be together and be happy after all the ups and downs that 2024 brought us…. particularly in relation to Mum’s lymphoma diagnosis and treatment! A couple of days after arriving, some amazing news came through from the oncologist that Mum’s cancer was now in remission. The stars had aligned to make sure we were together to celebrate.
Before we arrived at Mum and Dad’s, we spent a couple of nights at a very nice condo near Craighurst (just north of Barrie). We went straight there from the airport to try and avoid the chance of directly transmitting any travel bugs to Mum and Dad really but also to explore somewhere different and be tourists for a few days. We took a trip to the mall in Barrie, a walk along the path running along the side of Lake Simcoe, lunch at The Flying Monkey’s brew pub we’d been to many years before, a trip to a farmshop just outside Craighurst and a morning at Vetta Spa checking out the Nordic spa’s saunas and hot tubs – and very quickly the cold plunge pool too!
Once we got to Alliston, we enjoyed snowy walks at Earl Rowe Park, Beattie Pinery and Gibson Hills. There were also some walks around the track at the Adjala township office and a hello to Mum and Dad’s friends there, a pedicure for me and Mum and trips to the gym at the New Tecumseh Recreation Centre for Paul. We went to Richmond Hill one day to visit with Jennifer and bring Janet home for Christmas. It was a white Christmas day when Paul cooked us all a lovely Christmas dinner… followed by a second roast dinner (involving some leftovers) on Boxing Day.
After we said our good-bye’s in Alliston, we headed to see Lauren, Andre and Olive at their farm in Cramhe for a couple of nights. It was great to catch up and we saw Joscelyn and Ron while we were there too which was a bonus. It rained for most of one of the days we were there so we went to Port Hope and had a little look around the shops and lunch in the pub where we just about caught the Liverpool football game on the TV. Andre cooked us an amazing south american themed meal while we were there as well as a tasty brunch. Boo boo the dog was very welcoming of us too. Sage the cat was less amused but you couldn’t say she was unfriendly either.
It was lovely to spend this time in Canada surrounded by family and all that the Canadian winter had to offer. Despite the snow, the travelling was good there and back and while we were there too. We got home on New Year’s Eve and certainly didn’t stay up to ring in the new year this time after having very little sleep on the plane…
Merry Christmas and Happy 2025 to you. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures from our trip!
