after spending countless years defending my native tongue from all the rude americans who say canadians sound funny, i am reluctantly admitting that they were right.
canadians do sound kind of funny.
not all of them. and not all the time. but there definitely is a canadian drawl that my ears have been immune to, until as of late.
this christmas was the first time we had stepped foot in canada in a whole year.
so perhaps it was the amount of time we have spent away, or the fact that we are now further south then idaho, but we definitely noticed it.
especially in some of our family members!
especially in some of our family members!
and we loved it.
for 10 days we didn't have to be self conscious of how we talked.
what a treat :)
aside from the accents, we also noticed one other canadian stereotype to be true.
a more desirable stereotype.
a more desirable stereotype.
canadians really are polite.
it was especially obvious when driving. [and i'm sure that has something to do with the fact that we live in LA now] but we never heard anyone honk at another driver during the entire 10 days we were in calgary.
here, we are lucky if we don't hear a horn on our 10 minute drive to church.
[actually, matt was the one who layed on the horn on our way to church this week! if you can't beat em, join em. right?]
our first big family gathering up in calgary was the leavitt family adult christmas party.
every year there is one gathering where no kids are allowed.
and it is always such a fun night.
there is always lots of food [like every leavitt gathering], funny games, and lots of catching up.
the most important part of the night is the annual competition for tina.
i don't know all the details about tina's past but, as far as i know, she is an incredibly tacky tree topper angel that matt's sister, sara, was given as a christmas gift from one of her students when she used to be a teacher.
tina wears a lovely pink gown and stands about 12 inches tall.
every christmas, all the couples in the family compete to see who "wins" tina for the year.
the winning couple "gets" to take tina home with them and display her in their home until the following christmas.
it's important that she be displayed in a prominent place - where house guests are sure to see her.
it is a true honor!
[not really..]
when your year with tina is up, you are in charge of putting together some kind of competition for the rest of the family to compete in to see who gets her next.
everyone is always very creative with their games. and, this year, rebecca did not disappoint with her creativity.
we played a series of 'minute to win it' type games.
every time a couple won a game they were removed from the competition until the 2 loser-ist couples were left.
i wish i had pictures of that night, but i was too stressed about winning a game so we didn't get stuck with tina!
the next night, matt and i got to go the hunger games movie.
and it was more then i had ever hoped!
these pictures have nothing to do with what i just wrote.
but i don't have any pictures about what i wrote, and i don't have much to write about these pictures.
so i thought it worked.
[actually, matt was the one who layed on the horn on our way to church this week! if you can't beat em, join em. right?]
our first big family gathering up in calgary was the leavitt family adult christmas party.
every year there is one gathering where no kids are allowed.
and it is always such a fun night.
there is always lots of food [like every leavitt gathering], funny games, and lots of catching up.
the most important part of the night is the annual competition for tina.
i don't know all the details about tina's past but, as far as i know, she is an incredibly tacky tree topper angel that matt's sister, sara, was given as a christmas gift from one of her students when she used to be a teacher.
tina wears a lovely pink gown and stands about 12 inches tall.
every christmas, all the couples in the family compete to see who "wins" tina for the year.
the winning couple "gets" to take tina home with them and display her in their home until the following christmas.
it's important that she be displayed in a prominent place - where house guests are sure to see her.
it is a true honor!
[not really..]
when your year with tina is up, you are in charge of putting together some kind of competition for the rest of the family to compete in to see who gets her next.
everyone is always very creative with their games. and, this year, rebecca did not disappoint with her creativity.
we played a series of 'minute to win it' type games.
every time a couple won a game they were removed from the competition until the 2 loser-ist couples were left.
i wish i had pictures of that night, but i was too stressed about winning a game so we didn't get stuck with tina!
the next night, matt and i got to go the hunger games movie.
and it was more then i had ever hoped!
these pictures have nothing to do with what i just wrote.
but i don't have any pictures about what i wrote, and i don't have much to write about these pictures.
so i thought it worked.
so. much. snow.
it's only december!
i love how holden is the only one who actually looks sincerly happy.
i'm not sure what is up with holden and i, but i know matt wasn't happy because we were taking pictures when we were late for church.
