A Christmas (Short) Story

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the creative and festive atmosphere, where everyone everywhere has some story to tell. So I thought I'd give everyone here on HP the chance to share theirs! To enter your story, you can post it here or upload it to Google Docs and share the link here or with me via TITLED message.

To bring home the Christmas spirit, all short stories should revolve around Christmas themes and must include the sentence: "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Every entry into the contest will earn you 1000 points on the animal of your choice, with an additional 1000 points for each 500 words you write. That's a max of 10k points! 

The winner will receive a store pair in your breed of choice with 50k points!

Rules:

1. Stories must be at least 500 words and no more than 5000 words
2. Your story must include the sentence: "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night"
3. Only one entry per player!
4. Stories must be HP-appropriate! No cursing or inappropriate content!

Guidelines:

- Stories can be any genre (fantasy, fiction, or non-fiction - sometimes you just can't make up anything better than actual Christmas experiences!)
- If non-fiction, take some artistic license and find a creative way to include the key sentense above (i.e. character's dialogue, a decoration in the setting, said on the TV in the background, etc.)
- If fiction or fantasy (or you're having trouble picking a Christmas experience to tell), pick one of these themes:

- A Christmas Grinch
- Christmas vacation gone wrong
- Untraditional Christmas
- The meaning of Christmas
- Saving Christmas

- Stories will be judged on plot, uniqueness, and creative use of the required sentence!

Deadline to submit is December 23rd, and the winner will be announced on December 24th!

Merry Christmas and happy writing!

Psst - if you can find a creative and seamless way to incorporate the quote - "A one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month club?" into your story, you'll win 1mil HPD!

And the winner is...

Serfass! The story is so full of Christmas spirit and is just the kind of tale I love to read around Christmastime. Thanks for sharing your unique little tale, Serfass, and thank you all for sharing your own stories. I enjoyed reading them all, funny memories and special creations alike. I hope you've all had a very merry Christmas, and let's all have a happy New Year!

Christmas In Australia

To those in the north Christmas is always white but here down under unless you live in the south-eastern region you may go your whole life without seeing snow.

Christmas here is hot, humid and it’s the middle of summer. Its one of two choices, 1. Stay inside preferably with aircon or head to your nearest body of water even if its just a rain water tank. Spending this time of year with family, friends and food along with hoping your present is 5 mins peace from the children in your care.

So now a little bit of filler backstory out of the way time for the short story of my own creation. This one is set in the world i created for my fantasy novel that of which I do not know if I ever will complete lol. Also as I’m writing this on the fly and all at once please forgive the short paragraph structure and lack of in depth descriptions lol.

Snow drifted down from the grey sky over the capital of Herot, the first of the year and the first she had seen since becoming queen. Cradling the new born baby in her arms see watched the snow fall.

In the hallway, she could hear the castle busy with activity and excitement, soon it would be Christmas and she was looking forward to it.

A knock sounded at the door.

‘Enter’

‘Your majesty it is time, here I will take Narambi for you’ the servant said.

‘Thankyou Mira’

And with that she headed to the great hall where her husband along with all the great houses of Cupania were gathered for the tradition Christmas Ball.

She Entered the great hall and walked up to the two raised thrones where her husband awaited.

‘welcome one and all to the grand Christmas Ball’ said the king, ‘We hope you all have the time of your lives tonight, so dance and be merry!’

As it was with every year the king and queen took to the floor for the first dance, they glided gracefully around to the music and as the song ended applause could be heard all around. As the next song started the king and queen took their seats to watch the rest of the Ball.

The night drew on and the ball drew to a close the king rose to give the closing speech.

‘And now the time has come once again to light the candles and say a prayer for the next year to be fruitful for all of Cupania. For we who have the power should use it to better the country, each year we should strive to do more for the people of this land regardless of status. If I would take a peasant for my queen, then you should all do more to better the living condition of all who fall under your care. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!’

And with that the ball came to a wonderful end and all went home to there families.

The End

Twas the night before christmas, and inside the barn

A woman was weaving some wool into yarn.

The sheep they felt robbed, It was sort of cold…

The little lamb Sebastian promptly blew his nose

“What is this”, he says. “Do I look like a slave?”

“Is this what I have to deal with for that yarn that you made”?

The woman looks up and says “Oh a talking sheep”

I suppose it is late, and perhaps I should sleep!

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter

The horse stopped snoring to see what was the matter.

Out of the lean to he pranced and he dashed

Billy the clydesdale never heard anything like that.

All of the critters came to watch the show

Izzy the mouse even dropped his mistletoe

What could all this craziness be about

But a big ol’ sleigh pulled by many pink snouts.

And on this sleigh just who should it be

A big man in a red suit who’s gotta go pee

That noise Billy heard was Santa going

Eeeeeeeee!

Whoa, Sassy! Whoa, Jenny!

Whoa Tina and Ellie!

Stop, Terry! Stop, Jill!

Stop, Cheryl and Telly!

To the house, to the barn

To the outhouse I don’t care

The eggnogs were too much

And I’ve got nothing else to wear

Down to the yard they flew like a flash

They landed with a thud an oink and a crash

When out of the barn door there arose such a clatter

Santa springs from his sleigh to see what was the matter

There’s a mouse, sitting on a cat, sitting on a dog, whose on a horse

An old lady who fell off a stall gate with great force

Who woulda thought santa is human too

Eggnog affects him like it does me and you!

So Santa walks over to the barn and says “hey”

Hay is for horses Billy kindly neighs.

Santa gets down to business and says “Can I use the restroom?”

The woman is speechless, and the cow daisy only moo’s.

Sebastian to the rescue say’s “sure Santa over there”

Santa hears a voice but he doesn’t know where

Standing in a stall not 10 feet away,

There’s a little lamb, Eating some hay.

“Was that you little dude, Oh wise future sheep?”

“Sure was Mr. Santa” from the woman not a peep!

“Oh thank you little guy, It means much to me”

So off to the washroom Santa walks in such haste

The critters were all laughing with baa’s, squeeks, barks, meows and neighs.

The woman says “I think I’m losing my mind

Just as Santa walks out and says, “It’s Present time”

“For you Billy Clydesdale a new halter with bling”

“And for you Mr. Izzy a shiny cheese ball thing”

The cat gets a new bell, The dog a new bone

Daisy the cow gets a new gramophone.

To that woman however who isn’t so nice

A lump of coal and a melted block of ice.

Sebastian says “Santa is there anything for me”

Santa says “A one year membership to the jelly of the month club” and follow me.

Out the door they strutted together, While singing a song they heard in Old yeller.

Santa says “Sebastian I’ve got something special for you”

For tonight you will guide my sleigh and a new sweater too!

Santa snaps his fingers and onto Sebastian appears

The prettiest coat he’s made in 5 years.

He hitches him up to the harness with bells

And to his loyal team of flying pink pigs he yells

Up, Sassy! Up, Jenny!

Up Tina and Ellie!

Go, Terry! Go, Jill!

Away, Cheryl and Telly!

Up, Up, and Away they fly out of site

Faintly the critters hear

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Once upon a time, in a (mostly) snowy kingdom far far away, there was a queen who ruled her kingdom with the help of her awesome team of advisors...seriously, they were the BEST! This wonderful queen was named Sam, and she had carved out her kingdom from the wreckage of another previous kingdom when it's ruler had changed things...changed things for the worse and made everyone be child-like. The people wanted a haven to retreat to after their previous kingdom changed, and Sam stepped up and provided it, carving out a niche for her future people and declaring herself queen.

Sam’s kingdom grew and grew as more people abandoned their previous, now-childlike kingdom, for her better, more mature one with better features. As the kingdom grew, Sam added more advisors. She gained some and lost some over the years, all of whom were valued in what they had brought to the kingdom to make it better. On the seventh Christmas in the kingdom’s existence, she was surrounded by her current close advisors: Blitz, Binny, Tron, BV, Aud, Insomnia, Khal, Chao, Monnie, Sass, Zad, Maha, as well as the newcomer Tana, head of marketing. Together, Queen Sam and her advisors tried to make the kingdom fun and enjoyable for all who found themselves there.

The month before this seventh Christmas, Queen Sam and all of her advisors sat down to decide how the kingdom should celebrate this year. Many ideas were volleyed around. BV thought, “What about a snow horse building contest?”, however that was shot down, as not all areas the kingdom’s valued citizens lived in had snow. "What about a one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month club?" asked Monnie, but Queen Sam poo-pooed that idea…too expensive for shipping! Advisor of all things Ninja, Blitz suggested, “What about sending glitter mail bombs to all trolls and hackers?”, however Sam disliked that idea as well. A few more ideas were shot around, before it was decided that the kingdom would celebrate the month of December by having a different, fun activity run by a different advisor for every day leading up to Christmas day. All of the advisors clapped at this idea, and so it was done.

The first week of the month saw scavenger hunts, Christmas trivia, snowflake making, and more from Zad, Binny, Khal, Blitz, Tron, Sass, and Chao. The second week saw crafts, bingo, short stories, and more from Maha, Insom, BV, Sass, Monnie, Binny, and Chao. The final ten days leading up to Christmas day saw bad drawings, colouring pages, bingo, and Christmas songs from Maha, Sam, Zad, Khal, Aud, Insom, Chao, BV, and Monnie. Throughout the 24 days there was also an epic word search from Blitz, a favourite of the people of Queen Sam’s kingdom.

Throughout the month, Queen Sam’s people were overjoyed to participate in all of the activities that had been planned for them in all of the Christmas spirit. Finally, Christmas Day arrived and all of Queen Sam’s subjects awoke to find that they had been awarded with a special badge on their doors for all to see that they had participated in all of the planned festivities, an honor for all! All of Queen Sam’s subjects joined her for her annual Christmas speech in the center of the kingdom. She thanked them all for participating and making yet another year a prosperous and enjoyable one for the whole kingdom. Finally, at the end of her speech, she uttered the famous words, as she always did: |Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

im just here for the stories because writing is my worst subject

and 500 words is down right scary!

All was quiet except for the munching of hay among the stalls. Snug as bugs in rugs the horses were accustome to the long winter nights. The farm manager was the first person to arrive in the morning and the last one to leave in the evening. She didn't mind, for she enjoyed her time spent being around the horses. The barn was her second home and all of the lesson kids and boarders were her adopted family. Today's earlier activities consisted of lessons in the morning followed by the barn's annual holiday party. All the stalls had stockings and garland decorated on their doors. At the end of the isleway by the tack room a fake Christmas tree was lit with ornaments of carrots and crafts made by the kids. There were even a few books left about beneath the tree's branches. All the food that was brought had all been carried away aside from a few crumbs of which the mice would find if the barn cats don't find them first. One more glance over at the happily munching ponies the lady said her good-nights as she turned out the lights and walked out through the tack room door. More clean up will happen in the morning after feeding and chores.

While everyone was at rest and the early rays of daylight began to shine through passing clouds a dusting of snow had fallen against the frozen ground. Fresh powder for the horses to play in during their turn out time. Today was the day of Christmas Eve. Lessons had been postponed till after the holiday so the kids could be at home celebrating with their families and for the horses to have a little bit of vacation time. A little bit of peace and quiet for the barn manager, as she would be the only one at the barn for the next couple of days. After yesterdays activities she welcomed the lack of human presence on the farm. Stepping out of her heated truck a brief cough was heard before brisk footsteps crunching and scattering the freshly fallen snow. The door to the tack room opened and closed followed by a chorus of whinnies and nickers from the residents inside the barn. Breakfast time. Even the barn kitties came running in to greet their favorite person. Without much fiddling around the lady walked out toward the feed room. Grain, hay, and fresh water all given to each eager equine. While the horses were busy eating she walked over to the arena and started cleaning up and packing away the spare folding chairs and tables. Once that was done she walked back down the isleway and turned on the radio. Christmas tunes of various artists played in an endless loop.

After the rest of the morning chores were done. The horses were turned outside to enjoy the afternoon sun. The lady grabbed lunch and worked on some paperwork in the office while humming to what was currently playing, "Let It Snow". More decorations were stored away before bringing the horses back into their freshly bedded stalls. Blankets were checked after each horse was given a good brushing and carrot taken off from the tree. The sun was starting to go down as evening chores began. A lot of work done throughout, but not a care was given as the lady had no where better to be. What was done, was done correctly and things returned where they needed to be. For just a moment perfection, the normal barn chaos would return in a couple days. The last thing that was on her to-do list was to take down the tree. The leftover carrots were stored in the tack room mini-fridge, and the crafts were placed along the shelf beside the tack room door for kids to pick up when they come back. The books re-stacked except for one which had been left open to a single page. With the music still jingling along in the background she read the final words out loud to the ponies "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night". With that she placed the book on top of the rest and turned the lights off to return home. For morning chores would come soon enough.


Blegh xD

Oh goodness! Here it goes!

---

It was Christmas Eve. Families were all inside, celebrating with their loved ones. Choruses of the all-too-familiar Christmas carols could be heard from every house as children all tried to outdo each other and be the loudest singer. Chimneys were slowly burning away at logs of pine and birch, crackling and popping a friendly reminder that the houses would stay warm through the night.

Outside was a different land; it was a completely separate entity than the jovial gatherings taking place in living rooms and kitchens spread across the town. The sun was just starting to set, and a soft blanket of snow had covered over everything outside. White little flakes fluttered down from the sky as lamplight reflected off of the frozen crystals. 

It was a picture-perfect scene from any snow globe. A snowman stood near a pathway, offering his protection to the park entrance he guarded. A big red smile wrapped around his face. The builders had seen fit to make the expression out of cherries rather than stones or coal. The eyeballs were walnuts, and the nose was a small little carrot who's root twizzled out at the end, creating quite the odd look. The snowman wore a brown paperboy hat atop his head, while his neck was wrapped in a blue scarf. He had pink gloves with snowflakes knitted in resting on his long branch hands, and Brazil nut buttons down his rather portly stomach. 

At first glance, it seemed to be a walking pile of clothes with a dark gray hat that had been approaching the snowman's post. The raggedy clump of cloth was bent over a walking cane as it trudged along through the fresh powder on the ground. Crunsssssssssshhhhcrunsssssssshhhhhhh. The mass of jackets never seemed to pick up it's feet the whole way, leaving two toe skids in the snow, accompanied by little depressions where the foot had made it's hole way down. 

"Good evening, my friend." The man's voice was old and weak. It shook as he came to a stop, resting on the cane and looking at the snowman. "It seems the children did a marvelous job with you today. You look great." Soft, dark eyes caught a glimmer of light from one of the lit oil lamps as the man looked up and gave his head a courteous nod to the silent protector of the park before continuing on with his trudging.

The frail old man came to a halt at the first park bench that he saw. He reached a shaky hand down to brush the fresh snow off of the wooden slats before sitting down. A cloud of warm breath puffed from his mouth as he huffed, the motion of sitting not being a very easy one for an ancient creature such as he. 

The little old man set his hands on the knob of his wooden walking stick before leaning back onto the bench. "Alright, you've been following me for quite a while now..." he said, reaching into his pocket. "Why don't you come over and say hello like a proper fellow?"

It didn't take long for a grizzled old cat poked it's gray tiger-striped face out from under a bush. His nose was smushed up in an odd fashion, and a stray snaggletooth that stuck out on the bottom. He had fluffy hair that caught onto branches and leaves, collecting any bit of debris that he could. 

The walking matted ball of hair slowly ambled over to the man, screeching out a dry, broken meow. 

"Yes, yes. I've brought you something special today." The man chuckled as he unwrapped a small bit of turkey that he'd taken from his table. "You know, it's not Christmas without a nice warm dinner."

He held the piece of turkey out to the cat, who hungrily ate it down. It was obvious that the little feline wasn't used to such delicious treats. And as soon as he was done scarfing down the cooked bird, he hopped up next to the old man.

The cat purred and rubbed against the man's jacket, trying to repay him for such a marvelous supper, as was his normal ritual. For three years, this had been the daily ritual. They both knew how it would play out very well.

"I can't fool you, can I?" the old man said with a soft little chuckle, reaching back into his outermost coat to produce another chunk of turkey for the cat. He placed it down on the bench for the feline to gobble up.

"You know," the aged gentleman said as the cat ate. "I'm not going to be bringing you food out here any longer..."

He pet the cat as he spoke, making sure the little beast was enjoying the meal.

He sat there in silence for a few moments, the cat eventually purring and rubbing up against him again. The little tabby knew there wasn't any more turkey, as the old man never had anything left after the second bunch of food was produced. He merely enjoyed the company that he was able to keep now. 

After a few long minutes of the grizzled old man sitting, staring off and recollecting his thoughts, his old wrinkled hands reached back into his jacket. This time, it was not food that he produced, but a very lovely looking red and green plaid collar. 

"Here you go. I can't have you meeting my Missus without getting all dressed up."

The old man reached over and put the collar around the cat, who was quite enamored with the new contraption. The gentleman smiled as he leaned back and stared at the cat. "I think that looks very nice on you."

He then pulled out a matching leash and clipped it onto the cat's collar. 

"If you want some more of that turkey, I bet you my wife's still got it out. We'd better hurry along, though!"

The man slipped his wrist through the loop on the end of the plaid leash before wobbling himself up off of the bench. 

"Alright then, Benjamin..." He stopped, looking at the cat. "Oh, by the way, my wife has taken to calling you Benjamin. I hope you don't mind." He chuckled as he started trudging back along the path, the cat happily following along, pawing at the leash every few steps.

They both left out along the same little walkway that the old man had walked in on. The snowman was nodded to on the way out with a quick "As you were, sir! Merry Christmas!"

Christmas carols were still being sung in the background, different sounds in front of different houses. 

Bells on bob tails ring, making spirits bright! fused into where the treetops glisten and children listen... and then into All is calm, all is bright... As they neared the small little set of stairs that marked the old man's home, one sound rang out from somewhere down the road. Merry Christmas to all! the voice called, a chorus of responses echoing back. 

"Yes, Benjamin. Merry Christmas to all. And to all a good night!"

He slowly ambled up the three little stairs to the door, the cat trotting along with him. It was unlocked, as always was when he came back from his walks. As the door closed, he called for his wife. "Martha dear! I'd like you to come meet Benjamin!"

OMG Serfass that brought tears to my eyes no joke! My absence as of the past week on hp has been due to a story very much like your own

as you see I have found a little "Benjamin" so to speak in our garage. She was in desperate need of somebody to love her and I think she has found a home .

She still needs a name but I have been calling her Jezebelle as it seems to suit her.

http://i.imgur.com/CoshwDar.jpg

OMG Kaly your kitten looks just like the rescue cat I got a month ago, except mine has a yellow line down her nose

PS: such wonderful stories everyone

 Kaly, that is suuuch a cute little kitty! Torties are so adorable~

Jezebelle really does seem like it fits her looks. She seems to be one happy cat!~

It was Christmas Eve, our flight out of Toronto was at 10am. Dylan was super excited to get on the airplane. You gotta admit, at 3 years old airplanes are pretty awesome, especially getting to go on one! Really it turned out to be 2, so that’s even better!

The first plane was 2.5hrs. With NO in flight entertainment. Like seriously?! How was I supposed to keep a 3yr old occupied, on an airplane with no TV. For almost 3 hours. Luckily there was a child behind us with Lego. So, we were saved. Phew!

We touched down in Calgary, got a bite to eat, then it was time to sit and wait for the next leg of the adventure. We even got to see santa! He was at the airport with Mrs Claus handing out Candy. I thought that was pretty awesome. Just before leaving he waved to all the kids and said “ Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” After that we headed back to the terminal. This one had fun kids games, so Dylan was occupied. The 2hr layover actually went pretty quickly. Once we boarded the plane for the hour flight, I got the headphones out and Dylan settled. They have TVS! I was so relieved. We had been up since 5am, at this point it was 3pm, and with the 2hr time change, it was really 5pm. Dylan was being so good though all things considered! He hadn’t even napped yet!

This flight was uneventful. Chris slept haha, Dylan watched TV, as did I, and we just enjoyed it. We arrived in Fort McMurray finally at 6:30pm (remember, 2 hours behind, so really 8:30pm) We were wiped! My Stepmom aka Nana Janet awaited our arrival. She was so excited to see us. It had been almost 1.5years since we last saw her and my dad. Dylan slept all the way from the airport to their place. About a 35min drive. It was good for him to recharge.

Finally, we got to their place. The anticipation was killing me. I was so so so excited, you have no idea!!! I carried Dylan up in the elevator (he was still sleeping), I had Chris recording the whole thing. It was perfect! Got to their door, knocked and waited.... I felt like I waited an entire decade at this point! PLUS, Dylan was HEAVY!!!

Finally, my dad opened the door, and the first thing I said was "Surprise!!! Merry Christmas!" You should have seen the look on his face! He was speechless! His little girl and family was standing right there, in the hallway, in front of his face. His reply was "No way! No Way! Omg this is amazing" and immediately gave me what still was the biggest hug ever! (again with Dylan still sleeping in my arms).

I was pretty much shaking with excitement. He had no idea we were coming. Nana Janet set the whole thing up! That day he had a feeling something was going on, as someone at work had to drive him home, and she told him to have a blast! Silly lady, almost ruined it!

Once inside we dropped our bags, Dylan woke up, we got our jackets off, and had one more surprise for them both. As of this point I was 3 month pregnant with Ethan! And they didn’t know. I had Dylan dressed in a "Big Bro" shirt, so once he had his jacket off, I was like "Hey Dylan, show far away Grandpa your new shirt" so he did, pointed out that he was a big bro. It took a second for either of them to get it. I’m pretty sure my dad was still in shock that we were actually there, in his living room. On Christmas Eve! Sure enough after what felt like forever! Nana Janet went, “OMG Are you serious!!!!?????” Then dad clued into what it actually said! More hugging, more happiness, more shock and congratulations all around. After all that we were pretty dead tired, we got Dylan to bed, watched some Pawn stars, and headed to bed ourselves. After all Santa would be arriving soon!

Christmas Day. Oh boy. 5am. Almost on the dot. Dylan was awake. Are you kidding me. Its 5am! But… back home it was 7am, so really you cant get mad at the poor guy. PLUS its Christmas Day and SANTA came here!!! I let him watch some YouTube while I parent napped on the couch. I let the rest of them sleep a little longer. 6am and Dylan was now hungry. Nana Janet had just gotten up, so we told Dylan to go wake up grandpa. He sure did, and was nice about it. Crawled up into the bed, sat on his belly and told him Santa had come. Coffee was made, cereal was poured, and once Chris graced us with his presence, about 6:30am, we started opening presents. That lasted about 2 hours. Which is a long time considering there was only 5 of us haha!

Nana Janet was really smart with shopping, since we were coming, and Dad didn’t know, she wanted to make sure that anything bought was easily transported home. Good thing I brought an extra suitcase hehe. Everyone had a blast. Weird though, being that far north, the sun didn’t start rising until about 9:30am. It was crazy, I didn’t think the sun was ever going to come up!

After brunch was made, eaten and cleaned up we all went for a nap. And oh boy did we need it! At this point we realized that the 3 of us (Chris, Dylan and I) could NOT sleep in the double bed in the spare bedroom together. Dylan was an acrobat while he slept. Night one was fine, nap day 2, not so much fine. Sheesh. When we woke it was about 2pm and the Sun was already on the decline. It was crazy!

We drove over to Nana Janet’s son and girlfriends (Matt and Christina) for Christmas dinner. It was delicious. Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, stuffing and of course gravy! There was far more food, and plenty of appetisers, but listed was my favourite! While there we found out that Christina was pregnant! She was about 5 months, and looked great! So we ate, swapped pregnancy stories. It was a great time. Dylan played with the dogs, Chris hung out with the boys. It was a good night.

The one thing I love about Janet, is she’s not one for socializing beyond what’s needed. There’s no ‘when are we going home, I’m bored’ thoughts haha. We ate, we talked, we exchanged gifts, and off we went. It was bittersweet, I was still slightly jetlagged and wasn’t yet used to the time change. The sun was fully set at 4:30pm! So with it being dark at 4:30, come 7:30 it felt like 10pm, and bedtime since it was dark for 3 hours already. Totally messed up! Apparently come summer, its only dark from midnight to 4am. So I get it haha.

Once home we got Dylan bathed, played with his new cars, then off to bed with him. Tonight Chris would sleep with him, and I took to the couch. Before we went to bed we had to keep up with tradition though and watch “Christmas Vacation.” Its only the best Christmas movie out there. Chris’ favourite part is his huge minute and a half rant at the end haha. All because poor Clark got a one year membership to the Jelly of the month club. Chris can pretty much recite the entire rant after that. The greatest part of the movie. Well aside from the Christmas light disaster haha!!

Boxing day. I had an amazing sleep on the couch. Chris and Dylan… well Dylan slept like a rolling log, Chris not so much, so this night would be his turn on the couch haha. After breakfast they took us for a drive around town, showed us where they worked (they both drive public transit buses for the city). We drove out of town to see the refineries and the oil sands. I must say, regardless of any controversy, it was beautiful. We say the Equipment Laydown, which is were they have a few LARGE machines now retired, almost like a museum. I must say though, IT WAS COLD! Within 5mins of being outside your nose hairs were frozen! It was pretty cool to see. We got a picture of the 3 of us standing INSIDE a bucket from a bucketwheel excavator. If you don’t know what that is, google it. This thing was MASSIVE!! I didn’t think equipment this big was even possible!

From there we drove to an oil sand spot that was finished being reclaimed. There are 7 steps to reclaim land once the oil guys are done with it, and more then a few years. You have long range reclamation plans; Placement of landform foundation materials; Landscape design; Placement of top soil; Revegetation and reforestation; Monitoring; and finally certification. The place we visited is known as the Bison Viewpoint. Back in 1993 a herd of 30 Bison were introduced to the 4000 hectares of land Syncrude reclaimed. Now, there are more then 3000 Bison on site. Mind you, its just my luck, but we didn’t see any… I was disappointed haha. But beautiful land. You would have no idea there was ever an oil sand there. Again, crazy! From there we went to Mac Island. This was built to give the workers on the oil camps something to do in their spare time. It was a MASSIVE community center. We went to go swimming, but the pool was closed for cleaning. That was annoying. So we went for dinner instead and celebrated Dylan’s birthday (which was 4 days prior). On the way home we took the in town route to see all the Christmas decorations and lights. It was pretty J

December 27^th, we went back to Mac Island, spent the entire morning there swimming. They have 2 large pools, a lazy river, 2 water slides and a childs area. (and that’s just the pool section of the center). Dylan went down his first waterslide! By ACCIDENT! I couldn’t believe it. Dylan wanted to go down with Chris, but wasn’t allowed, so Chris went, and was coming back up to get him, and he came down after Chris, the attendant allowed it! Mind you Dylan cant swim, so once he got to the bottom he was almost drowning! (not really, but still! Lol). He said it was SO MUCH FUN! But… he wouldn’t go again haha. Poor guy. After the swim we went for lunch then headed back to dads place for some relaxation before the travel home the next day.

The way home… geez, this is a story and a half…

Original plan was 11am (Ft. Mac time) flight into Edmonton, 3 hour layover, then fly into Toronto. Getting us there about 8pm (Toronto time). Now Toronto was expecting a wicked winter storm that night (and they weren’t wrong, it was nuts!) So our 11am flight was cancelled. The airline called at 8am to tell me my 11am was cancelled. She could get me a 9am flight into Vancouver, no layover (we wouldn’t even get off the plane), it would pick passengers up, then get us home for 5pm. Catch was I had to be at the airport within the hour… airport was 35mins away. Other option was a 7pm flight into Edmonton, then the red eye into Toronto, us landing at 5am the following day. No thank you, no way was I doing a red eye with a 3 year old. Nope. Nope. Nope. So… What happened next, no word of a lie was straight out of Home Alone, when they overslept (minus leaving Kevin behind, no one was left behind).

We get to the airport at 8:52am, go to the counter to check in. The lady who I spoke with, opened the seating arrangement and added us in.. then hummed and hawed… and hummed and hawed. Sure enough, the 3 seats that we were given, ended up being broken. So guess what, no flight out at 9am. We were left with the red eye out of Edmonton. So then I cried haha, pregnancy hormones, I couldn’t help it. She was super nice, I complained that we would have no drive home at 5am, as my ride would have to get up at 3am in order for that to happen, and I wasn’t asking.

After a few phone calls, and tissues later she was able to get us on an Air Canada flight (not WestJet) leaving at 5pm, going to Edmonton, where we wouldn’t have a layover at all, just get on the next flight home, landing us at 11pm. She also gave us free checked baggage, so I checked it all, instead of the 1 that was paid for previous, $90 in food vouchers and a cab voucher to get us home from the Airport, since I told my mom not to come at 8pm in the snow storm.
We went back to my dads for an hour, ate breakfast then came back to the airport. We got $45 worth of Mary Browns for lunch, thank you voucher. And we pre-bought subs for dinner to eat on the second plane. Never in my life have I spent $45 at Subway! Haha We used up one voucher for subs so we didn’t have to find somewhere to eat in Edmonton airport.

We got onto the plane no problem after it was delayed. We then had to deice a million times. Mind you though, the flight was only 45 mins and it was the longest 45mins of life. Again no on board entertainment. You could rent tablets for $9, credit card only. We don’t have a credit card… So Dylan played with my camera, took tons of photos, we cuddled, he whined, it was great haha. Once we landed in Edmonton it was good. We had to walk A LONG way to our terminal, go through security (where in Calgary we got off the plane after security). I got Dylan to take a nap, lied him down on the bench seats, and I read my book. It was nice and quiet!

Once our final plane arrived, we got settled, and ate our subs on the plane. It was 6:30pm Edmonton time and this flight was 3.5 hr and had TVs! Dylan watched Treehouse the entire time. I think he dozed off a few times though lol. I watched 3 episodes of CSI! Flight was uneventful… until landing…. Chris hates small spaces, plus he smokes, so after almost 4 hours since his last cigarette, he was getting ancy. We arrived on the runway in a blizzard about midnight, due to the storm. Of course they were short staffed, so we had no ground crew. After 45mins of just sitting on the plane on the runway, we got taxied to our spot. THEN the jetway was frozen. So de-icer had to come over and deice it. Another 30mins. Chris was going nuts, he was raising his voice, wanted to stand, got in trouble for standing. It was chaotic haha. Poor guy. At this point we had landed almost 1.5hrs ago!

Once we finally got off the plane it was 1:30am (we have been up since 7am (9am our time) the day before. We were TIRED! Good thing we have a taxi voucher… OH Wait, you want a free taxi, at this time, in this weather, going NORTH?!. Nope, not gonna happen. No one could help us, 45mins of us with Dylan and our luggage, walking around the darn airport. It was ridiculous!!! Finally Chris sat us down with the luggage, I got Dylan asleep on my lap, and he went to do what he does best, get things done. About another 20-25mins goes by, its almost 2:30am (darn, should have gotten my mother to meet us.. UGH!) Chris comes running down the hallway, we got a ride! A VERY nice Italian man, who had been driving since the previous morning offered to drive us the hour home. He had 6 drivers call in sick that night, so it was him and one other. He couldn’t leave a family stranded at the airport! I almost cried, I was in awe we found a way home. The ride home was long, and slow, due to the storm. I did understand why no one wanted to drive out of Toronto, ESPECIALLY north, where it was worse. But this guy was our saviour!

We arrived home just shy of 4am, Dylan slept the entire way, didn’t even wake when we got home, got him undressed and into bed. And amazingly enough, he slept until 11am!!! I was so worried he was going to be up at 7am haha!

And that folks is my Christmas story. Real life right there. The best trip Ive had, the worst travel experience ever! And so many stories to tell everyone who we cross paths with. Hope you enjoyed my trip as much as I did! I do have TONS of pictures, if anything intrigued you and you would like to see J

Ps… some of the times may not exactly work out. The time change confuses me, and Im going off of what time I took pictures.. this was a year ago! LOL

Merry Christmas!!