So THAT was Christmas?

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year and whatever other well wishes you think you deserve. All right: pleasantries out of the way, down to business.

The holidays were, mostly, fine. I did find myself trapped with two very sick people for the greater (and I mean that strictly in terms of quantity) part of my time in Saskatoon. So I spent a good deal of the time washing my hands and staying out of the path of germs.

We did stay a little longer than we expected to, as the weather was not cooperating with us. Stupid weather. By Friday we figured we'd risk it and drove from Saskatoon to Regina in a thick fog. Once we were out of Regina, the fog let up and it was pretty much smooth sailing the rest of the way to Winnipeg.

Part of the reason for "risking it" was that we'd been invited to a wedding for New Year's Eve. Fortunately, we made it back and headed up to Gimli (not the dwarf) for hands down the GREATEST wedding I've ever been to. The only drawn back was that we hardly knew anyone there. Once the table we were seated with left, Rachel and I were pretty much on our own. Still, I had a nice time nursing a Dark Ale and watching people dance - there's something strangely surreal about a heavy set dude in a cowboy hat dancing enthusiastically and singing along to "Any Man of Mine" by Shania Twain. Less surreal and more frightening was the Grizzly Adams looking guy, who hand an inch thick ring through his nose, stunk of putchelli and flung his body around the floor like he was having some sort of fit. Maybe he was having a fit? Who knows. Closer to midnight Rachel and I took to the floor and, um, danced on it: she danced well, I...not so much. But I had (some) fun, and I didn’t hurt anyone.