...Time To Start The Christmas Shopping.When my two brothers and I were kids our Dad was a long haul tugboat guy.
Which meant he was often away for three weeks at a time.
Which was crummy.
But when he was home it was fantastic.
Anyway...
It meant that he often didn't get home until a few days before Christmas.
Which meant that there was a whole lot of madness and last minute shopping going on the last couple of days before SantaFest.
One year, we didn't get the tree until the last minute.
In my memory the snow began to fall before we headed out the door on our way to the tree lot just past up past the old Oak Bay theatre.
Later, after much deliberating and branch twirling, the three of us carried the decidedly not Charlie Brownish Douglas fir, horizontally, all the way home.
It was one of the most fun things I can remember from our (mostly) pretty good childhood times.
****
Coming back to the present...
We came over to the Republic of VanIsle on one of the Spirits yesterday afternoon.
Because, as you may have already deduced, I avoid the KrautRock ferries if at all possible
The boat was not crowded and the sailing was quite pleasant.
The Whackadoodle II and littler e. were with us.
Bigger E. is coming over this morning.
We will pick her up and then head downtown.
Given HellTerm 3000, and all that entailed for the first three weeks of December, I will be pretty much starting my Christmas shopping this morning.
Just like old times!
_______
My youngest brother, the real musician in the family, turned 60 (very) recently...Last night, while we watched one of those empty-arena pre-World Junior games, I asked my Dad how it felt to have three kids who are all in their seventh decade...He guffawed.
For those who liked his stuff (and C. is crazy for it)...You can listen to pretty much all of Stuart McLean's Christmas stories, stacked on top of each other....Here.
.
