I was thankful to finish my big exams before the Christmas festivities began. This year was wonderfully full of various activities with friends and family and I was thankful for the time to spend with them.
The festivities began at the very beginning of December with the SvN Christmas party. I appreciated being invited to their party even though we only rent office space from them. The party was in the basement of Luna. Everyone dressed up and there were appetisers, good music, and some games. One of the games was to wear a crown with a word and ask others yes and no questions to discover what it was. Another, more strange one was a board with pictures of children and you had to guess which SvN employees were their hypothetical parents. Creepy! There were also fun photo props and a polaroid camera. There was music and people started dancing a bit as the evening progressed. I was surprised to find out who the dancers were!
Polaroids from the SvN party
That Sunday Susan and I bought and decorated our third Christmas tree! It was a good thing we did it that day because later in the week Susan went to the emergency room with abdominal pain and found out that she needed surgery! The surgery happened that night and then she stayed for four more days recovering. Susan was a real trooper and was already walking around a little bit on the day after her surgery. It was good to see our church community rally around her during that challenging time. She was able to leave the hospital on the following Saturday and on the way home we had the idea to go and see the “crazy house”: the house in our neighbourhood that goes crazy with Christmas decorations every year. This year was even bigger than the previous two years, one big addition being two large teddybears on either side of their front door, that moved there arms in a hugging motion.
The following week on December 8th was the Toronto Society of Architects (TSA) Social. Vikkie convinced me to go and I’m glad that I did. It was held in the gym at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, a building designed by Patkau Architects and MJMA. At first we both felt a bit overwhelmed because we didn’t recognize anyone, but as the evening progressed we encountered many familiar faces. The gym was a nice venue because it was easy to walk around and find people, and there were tall tables set up here and there. There were life size silhouettes of famous architects here and there as well and you could try and guess who they were.
The next day I went to two parties: Tarun and Robb’s Christmas party and the Red and Green Party at the Loft. Vikkie joined me for both of them. The first was a more intimate gathering of friends with delicious food. I wore Susan’s amazing elf slippers. It was wonderful to reconnect with people from both my church and architecture circles.
Amelia sporting the elf slippers
The following week on December 15th I went to three parties. First I went to the Adam House Social where we made gingerbread houses with the residents. It was such a happy affair and just filled me with so much joy! From there I walked to Andrea’s Christmas party since it wasn’t far away. Vikkie was there and I met several new people. I was planning to head home from there, but Vikkie and the others I had met were planning to go to the Teeple party. We had been invited by Petra to go to this, but I hadn’t responded. Vikkie convinced me and the fact that she was driving definitely tipped the scale. The Teeple party was insane! It was a long narrow space with a bar on one side and was chalk full of people! The music was loud but the selection/DJing was fantastic! As the evening progressed it wove in different eras of music. The only downside is that you were encountering people you had not seen in a while and were therefore talking yourself hoarse.
Adam House family
The following day I had a funeral to go to in Belleville. It was a sad event but still very nice to see the Lammers family. Afterwards we hung out and Janice and Ian’s near the wood stove. The feeling of that front room summarizes my experience in that wonderful house! I went home with my Mom because I had planned to go to Kate’s Christmas party in St. Catharines and still wanted to go despite the funeral. I arrived an hour or two late but still had a nice time. I went back with Andrea and Cam and they dropped me off at Kipling Station. On Monday the 18th I went to my third PBAI Christmas party. It was a nice intimate occasion at Philip and Anne’s house that has such a wonderful atmosphere.
Susan and I didn’t have a star for the top of our tree, and so I was inspired to make her a lighthouse out of white card. It was a fun craft and turned out better than I had hoped. I put it on the tree to surprise Susan but she didn’t notice it until she had some ladies over and Jess spotted it! Susan had recovered enough to go to Florida to be with her family for most the holidays, but before she left we had a cozy Christmasy evening where we opened up our stockings (this was the first time I had ever had a stocking) while watching White Christmas.
The following Christmas weekend I hosted my parents in Toronto and then Alissa also joined us on Christmas eve. I took my parents to see the Evergreen Brickworks (this was a little disappointing because some parts of the facility were closed) and City Hall. In the evening I cooked lentil curry soup and we watched It’s A Wonderful Life. On Sunday morning I took them to the downtown Grace Toronto Christmas eve service and then Alissa met us when we got back. I invited my friend Pamela with her baby to join us for the evening. It started snowing like crazy and so it was slow going picking her up. What should have taken 15 minutes took 40 minutes because of a road closure. Her time with us was short but she had a nice time. We had to keep a close eye on Jewels because my apartment is not exactly baby-proof! Foxy was there as well and it was the first time Jewels had encountered a dog! It was fun to see her initial fear but then the overriding curiosity. Foxy doesn’t have much experience with kids but took it like a champ!
I had a few relaxing days on my own and then our family gathered again at my parents place on the 29th and this time Jen and Chris joined us.I knitted my Mom a patterned scarf with two shades of blue for Christmas. Our family played lots of games and ate more delicious food! We stayed for two nights and then went home on New Years day. That evening I went to Rebecca and Sanford’s new years party. There were people from Grace and many people from other circles as well. It was another enjoyable evening.
What a social month! I am so thankful for the different communities I am a part of in Toronto!
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