Our complimentary Globe tells me that several people were shot (one of whom died) on Yonge Street yesterday, about 3 stops south of where we live.

C’mon, handgun ban.

Update: the garlic fingers were delicious, and Canada is kicking Finnish ass. All is right with the world.

Here’s the haul from xmas morning:

Books: Incendiary (Chris Cleave), Freakonomics (Steven Levitt), Your Call Is Important To Us: The Truth About Bullshit (Laura Penny), Lucky (Alice Sebold), and a great-looking book from my brother called Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit?. Can’t wait to read that one. There were a couple of others that I can’t recall right now.

CDs: none (!)

DVDs: The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Office Xmas Special, and a Best Of Eric Idle Monty Python collection.

I also got a whole slew of gift cards from HMV, Indigo, Future Shop and eMusic (among others) so those could translate into more of everything.

I should also point out what Nellie got: the entire collection of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, two seasons of Angel, three seasons of Alias and two seasons of Arrested Development. Plus a pile of books. We’re gonna need a new bookcase, methinks.

We’re in Halifax! I’m pretty happy to be here; it’s nice to get back to this city and have some time to ourselves, even though we would’ve both been happy to spend several more days on the farm. In fact, I was on a roll with my crib luck; dad had been up 7 games to 2 before I reeled off five straight. We called it a draw before I left.

We went to the annual family reunion, ate some food (including chicken wrapped in pig, dad’s ice cream, amaretto cheesecake and death by chocolate), played with some kids and got our butts kicked at Trivial Pursuit. From there we went to see one of Nellie’s cousins and her family for a few hours (the ladies played with the twin babies, I played with the dog and cats) before we got dropped off in Halifax.

We’re taking tonight to just relax and recharge, order some traditional Halifax cuisine (i.e., garlic fingers) and watch the Canada/Finland game. We have a nice big suite (sweet!) with lots of room to stretch out; Nellie’s having a bath in the oversized tub as I type this. Tomorrow should involve some shopping and (fingers crossed) some good food…sweet (suite)!

Merry Christmas, if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s been a nice, lazy, fun day so far. I hit the motherlode with the gifts (new MP3 player, Roku soundbridge, MP3–>radio thing for the car, 3 DVDs, 7 books, tons of gift cards and a pile of really cool other things. Nellie got enough DVDs to build a house…something like 80 discs all told, between all the box sets. Have to pack that all up tonight as we’re leaving in the morning.

Still groggy…just woke up from a post-lunch nap. I think I’m just about ready for some pie!

I am alarmed by my parents’ office. It’s always been incredibly messy and disorganized, but now, with the renovations, it’s a UN disaster relief candidate. The crap is piled up, quite literally, 8 inches deep in some places.

Nellie and her mom are on their way here, having been delayed by the snow. Hopefully they get here in enough time to relax a bit.

We left the brother’s lovely home this morning and made for NS. It was fun to spend time with them, to see where they live and be uncle Dan for a few days. My favourite part was when my oldest niece, after hours of being quiet in the other room, suddenly bellow at the top of her lungs, “I love being a turtle!”

I’m now back on the farm. We survived the shopping excursion (I managed to get them in and out in 45 minutes…not bad, considering the crowds. I also managed to survive eating lunch at the Big Stop. Guh.

Nellie called after her flight to say that her bags had been “misplaced” by Air Canada…so not only does she have no change of clothes, all the gifts are MIA. Grrrrrr…anyway, they’re meant to arrive tonight, and she should be here tomorrow afternoon, so we’ll have just enough time to do a little wrapping and get a bite to eat before (shudder) church.

It’s taking me a while to get used to the new kitchen. I can’t find anything and I keep stubbing my toe on the new floor, but it’s pretty nice. And certainly well stocked at this time of year. 🙂

Right now my other brother is headed for the French alps to go skiing. Wish him a merry & eurotrashy xmas, everybody!

Uncle Dan is tired. I’ve had a taxing day of lying around, watching movies and eating sweets. Granted, I did play jungle gym for my youngest niece, but not enough to make me as tired as I am. Must be the Maritime air.

My nephew seems to like the skateboard we got him (as a last minute replacement for the Star Wars chess set; turns out his grandmother got that for him last summer).

My parents arrived tonight around dinnertime, and we’re leaving some time tomorrow. Turns out that I have to help my dad finish up his xmas shopping tomorrow. Hmm…a mall on December 23rd. I can’t friggin’ wait.

My flight left about an hour late but that’s to be expected at this time of year. My brother and my two nieces were waiting at the (very tiny) airport. “Uncle Dan!!”

We grabbed some Wendy’s on the way out of town; we’ve stopped in Woodstock (I think) to grab some things. Not sure how much further it is from here but I’m about ready to be done with moving vehicles for today.

A few minutes back we drove past the town of Meductic, a place I’ve always wanted to visit. The Sabian cymbal factory is there (or was, at least, the last time I paid attention to such things) and I always dreamt that it must be like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory there…except with, you know, bronze discs. And fewer oompaloompas.

All checked in at the airport, and just waiting at the (very crowded) gate. My shopping bag full of gifts actually tore open, but I ran down to Lush and begged for one of their sturdy paper bags. The cashier gave me two, bless her heart.