Baba & Cynthia

We visited my mom (Baba) in Kelowna. She was not doing well but she enjoyed seeing Mattias. He got a lot of attention from the residents of the home, a child's giggling will do that. :-) Cynthia was saying some of the residents rarely seemed engaged at all but they were with Mattias.

I am afraid this will be the last Christmas where Mom has some awareness. When I visited on the day we left back to Vancouver I do not think she realized who I was. I must say my sister is a saint with all that she does for Mom. We are all so lucky to have Cynthia around. Thanks sis!

Christmas is for kids

This was a great Christmas with Mattias getting so excited about Santa giving him presents. Mattias had on his list to Santa a drum-set, chocolate airplane (no idea where that came from), Cars (Disney), and Spiderman. R2D2 was a last minute addition to the list, strongly added. Santa pulled through. Some gifts were from the rents but this was lost on Mattias, Santa got all the credit. R2D2 was the favourite, he even had to bring R2D2 to the park. On boxing day we visited Cynthia, Randy, and Mom in Kelowna.

Xmas Eve

The lone stocking...

Mattias' gingerbread house with lots of missing building material...

The tree...

Evidence Santa visited...

Good thing Santa had Rudolph on this foggy night.

Preparing a duck

For Christmas this year we are doing duck and salmon. I butchered the duck, prepped the breasts for pan searing, and cured the legs for confit. I even rendered the fat from the duck for the confit.

mmm, duck fat..

Kits Beach in December

Putting up the Xmas Tree

Yesterday we put up the tree, it was so exciting for Mattias. Don't worry the saw photos were staged, Justine was not happy with me when she saw the photos. ;-)

Mmmm Apple Dessert

My attempt at replicating a dessert I saw on Gordan Ramsay's F Word was a success (at least by Mattias).