That was an angry pizza!

This morning, after filling our bellies with delicious hot oatmeal, Jake and I went outside to play in the lovely deep snow that fell on Wednesday. I was waiting all week for today, because there was a mountain of snow in the parking lot that I wanted to climb, and I wanted as few cars around as possible, just in case.

We went into the back yard and made snow angels (and I caught the perfect shot of Jake falling back. If he had tried to get one of me, I would have been falling straight back, not half-sitting like he was though. Looks like he has an invisible throne) and then I started climbing around trying to get on top of giant piles of snow. There were places where I couldn’t do anything but sit, because every step meant I tripped myself up or sank deep into the snow or both. In another spot I managed to climb to the top, but then my leg slipped and I fell into the snow up to my hip (thankfully just one leg, or that might have been difficult). And then I moved on to why I went outside in the first place.

Right by the entrance/exit to the parking lot we live… on pretty much, there are the giant piles of snow that the plows left behind. The one I wanted to climb is taller than Jake, possibly 7ft tall. That was Jake’s guess, I have no idea so I’ll just stick with that. I got about halfway just stepping up on it, but then I started to sink. The snow is very powdery, not good for snowballs or snowmen or anything like that.

I did eventually make it to the top. I have no idea how, I just kind of… shimmied upwards.

I’m proud of my effort.

This afternoon/evening was Christmas for the American side of the family. They waited for us, which was lovely, they even made it this weekend rather than last so we wouldn’t be jetlagged and could actually enjoy ourselves, which was also awesome.

The football was on the whole time we were there. This is a Chicago Bears family, so we had to watch that match, which the Bears won, so that was good. And then we watched the Jets/Patriots game, which the Jets won which was also good because everyone hates the Patriots. I have never seen an entire match of AFL (Aussie rules football…), and now I have seen 2 NFL games in one day. Beh.

Besides sports, there was awesome food and loads of presents. Of course.

First Lisa and Matt (the parents of the gathering) gave out the presents they got for all us kids. We were spoiled and got everything we asked for, which is so very awesome. Many Wii games!

Then it was dinner time, which was chicken baked with pears and raisins. So good. I love cooked fruit with meat, it’s just… yum. A peppermint bundt cake was dessert, which was also yum.

After dessert, the 6 kids played a grab bag game. It was very uneventful though, everyone kept the gifts they opened. But it was also amusing. Nick and Stacy both got the gifts from Jake and I (a calendar of my photos… like I gifted everyone at home; and a aboriginal-patterned oven mitt/pot holder set with a canned kangaroo toy), Jake and I got the gifts from Matt and Kristen (Jake got a candy/popcorn set – perfect for movie snacks; and I got a set of smuckers icecream toppings and a thing of peppermint bark) and Matt and Kristen got the gifts from Nick and Stacy (I think… travel organiser and journal; super soft throw blanket). Overall, good fun, and good presents.

Our massive haul. Jake got some polo shirts as a gift from his Dad (Nick had seen him over christmas and passed the gift along), some white tshirts, a CD, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Goldeneye for the Wii, m&m almonds, and some Bears boxer shorts. I got… MJ Vision DVD (has ALL the music videos… including one I didn’t know existed so that’s kinda cool. Plus, the front – under the gold leaning MJ – is a bunch of lenticular images which is freaky to watch them all move at once!), MJ – The Experience game for the Wii (so looking forward to playing that!), skittles, meat fork, turkey ‘lifters’, a collapsible cupcake and cake carrier, and some polka dot underwear (It’s a tradition – Lisa always puts undies in our stockings.) We also got a cake server stand thing, hiding behind the MJ things, that Nick and Stacy had but didn’t want. Now I feel I really need to get better at baking cakes! They are my weakness.

I just realised I never took a picture of all the stuff we got in Oz. Bah. If I can remember what it all is I will gather it all in one place and take a photo, otherwise… oh well.

Title: I don’t know really. Matt was taking pictures and one time he made the people-he-was-taking-pictures-of say pizza instead of cheese and I guess someone wasn’t happy about the photo? I don’t know, I think that was at the part of the afternoon where I was too cold to care about anything other than staying alive. I missed my thermals (which got drowned from all the sitting and crawling around in the snow earlier in the day… before that I don’t think they had been removed from my body other than for showers for the past week. It’s a good thing Jake loves me and never thinks I’m gross, because that’s kinda gross)