The Holiday Spirit

I love the holidays… straight up.  I love the colder weather and snuggly clothes, Christmas music, shopping for everybody’s presents… it is all so fantastic.  It’s funny because the holidays themselves, like the actual days, have been really stressful for me the last several years – you know, driving from house to house to house and trying to balance time with all of the family without offending anybody.  Because of that, it’s really been all about the season to me, rather than the day itself.  I’m really interested in how this year will go.  As awful as this sounds, my dad was a big part of the holiday complication.  I mean, he estranged himself from everybody but me, and I think even though he genuinely missed the family time, he was kind of a bah humbug about it all.  This year I think I might have a less complicated day, but I’ll also have to balance it with the sadness that comes with my dad’s death.  I just don’t know how it’s going to be…

This year I have been finding it hard to get into the Holiday mood… Not that I don’t want to be… that isn’t it.  I think being in the car and going from place to place has kind of kept me away from it.  Ben and I don’t have our house to decorate, so there isn’t any of that.  Ben doesn’t really like Christmas music, so I don’t get much of a chance to listen to it… I don’t know, it just hasn’t been the same.

Well, lately I have been pestering Ben a little bit about getting the Glee Christmas album, and as you can imagine, he never really got into the idea.  The other day however, we saw a She & Him Christmas album, and that’s when he caved.  That’s right folks, Ben indulged me and bought a Christmas album… woohoo!

This year, Ben and I have decided to do a mini vacation at Whistler, BC for each other’s Christmas gift.  We booked a deal for 2 nights in a hotel and 2-day ski passes for each of us.  We drove up here from Vancouver yesterday, and something is finally falling into place for me holiday-wise.  We listened to the She & Him Christmas album as we drove by these gorgeous mountains just melting into the water… the scenery was absolutely beautiful, and there was some little bit of perfection between that and the tunes.  I also bought myself some eggnog, which I always crave this time of year, and I have been enjoying it (and the Holiday feeling) in the evenings. :)

We realized as soon as we got here that two days would not be long enough.  Our hotel room is wonderful (see picture) – black out curtains on the windows, full kitchen, huge comfy bed, and a huge tub.  Not only that, but we are staying in a lodge that is right in the middle of the village and just a couple minutes worth of walking from the two closest gondolas.  After a great day of the biggest skiing of our lives today (a couple runs were 6.5 miles long!), we decided to go ahead and extend our stay.  We won’t be checking out of the hotel until Thursday morning, so don’t expect us to be in contact by phone until after that (we’re trying to avoid expensive foreign fees). 

And finally, Liz asked me a couple posts ago about our mileage and driving time.  Well, we’ve driven about 5,500 miles, and we have split the time really evenly.  For the most part, we switch off every tank of gas, so it works out really well.  Enjoy another map!