White Christmas on the West Coast

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It's been a dry winter here. My skin and my hair and my eyes have been struggling with the lack of humidity since I got back from Europe in November. I got so fed up with it, that three days before Christmas, I booked a flight to Vancouver to spend Christmas with my sister, her partner, his family, and my mom and stepfather. I was even lucky enough to find flights at a reasonable price that close to the holiday.

I flew in Christmas Eve (just in time for dinner), and it was very festive to fly over the houses with their Christmas lights, both leaving Calgary and arriving in Vancouver. The increase in humidity was noticeable as soon as the plane started descending to Vancouver airport, and it was fantastic.

Christmas Eve was a late night. It was the first time the two sets of parents had met, and we were up late having fondue and wine. My sister and her partner did a really good job of combining two families Christmas traditions. Christmas Day we opened stockings once both sets of parents had arrived, and all the other gifts once the rest of the family were there. Just as we were wrapping up the unwrapping, my sister looked out the window and exclaimed, "Look, it's snowing!" Vancouver is one of the last places in Canada I would expect to see snow on Christmas Day, so it was pretty exciting.

By the time I got around to heading outside with my camera, the big fat pretty snowflakes had turned to sleet, and the views were obscured, but there were still some beautiful things to see before I got too wet to continue.

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Photos

Random and amusing
These keys were sitting out on a retaining wall. Totally random, and rather amusing.