WIth Christmas, Mary-Jo’s birthday and Anna’s birthday, December is a busy month in the Powell household.
I’m pretty sure we’ve made this error before – we set up a day to celebrate Mary-Jo’s birthday in early December, and while we have everyone there, we make cookies and decorate the Christmas tree. What’s wrong with that, you ask? There’s never any cookies left for Christmas, so then we make more. Suffice it to say that January is diet month!
I got the outside lights up on Dec 4th and Adam came for tree decorating on Dec 6th. The picture isn’t the best set of shortbread, but it’s the only photo I got. Adam took the picture of me putting the angel on the tree and we got several takes to be sure of getting a good photo. By this time I had been flashed so many times I couldn’t see where I was putting the angel, but I think it was repositioned several times afterwards anyway! Mary-Jo ordered in for dinner and deserts so someone stuck candles in her slice.
On the 12th, I took some presents up to Brampton for Gloria, and took photos. A little head transplant surgery got the best shots of Gloria and Carolyn in one photo.
Anna likes to plan a series of grand meals or excursions each December. This year she wanted a fancy tea in a posh Toronto hotel, but couldn’t get a reservation. Abandoning the “tea” part, she organised a lunch at the Royal York hotel and treated her old Dad – presumably to avoid sitting down by herself! After lunch (which I never photographed, and Anna never sent me her photos) we explored the hotel’s public areas and found the convention floor which was gigantic and empty. I’ve never seen such an expanse of carpet. Naturally Anna had to have a closer look!
Then we entered the underground maze called the PATH and only got slightly lost. Anna wanted to get on the bridge between the Sheraton Centre and Nathan Phillips Square, and I wanted to revisit my old haunts – I used to work in City Hall, and walked the PATH twice daily. Unfortunately, the entrance to the bridge was closed for the winter, but the place I used to get my haircut was still there albeit renamed. (“Hair Canada” needed to be renamed!)
We took a quick peek inside City Hall, but it’s now all security gates and you can’t even stand under the iconic council chamber support. So we walked through the square, took pictures of the Christmas tree and the “Frames” art installation (which would have looked better if we’d waited for dusk when it would be lit up) and over to Yonge street for a look at the decorated windows in what used to be the Bay store.
Then inside the Eaton Centre where the “tree” changed colours and even did a light show. By this time we were pretty tired so we ubered back to Union station.
The next Sunday, the 21st., we met Adam halfway for a birthday dinner for Anna at Jakes in Burlington. this is the seafood tower that Anna attempted to eat. We helped by sampling scallops, tuna and shrimp but our own plates were already quite full. There were still some giant shrimps for the doggie basket to take home.
On Christmas day, Anna and Mary Jo prepared another feast, and Anna created the table centrepiece arrangement. As I mentioned earlier, there were no more Christmas cookies, so Mary-Jo had made more, and iced the Christmas cake which she had begun preparing by soaking the fruit in rum just after Thanksgiving. Anna made a very tasty apple strudel and a beautiful charcuterie board. We may be finished the cake and cookies by Epiphany!
Finally, we ended the year and our month of fine dining with Mary Jo’s Shrimp fra diavolo, and watched Robin Williams’ “the birdcage”. Anna made us all lucky pigs. The bottle of bubbly had passed its best before date apparently, and by the time I took photographs, one “lucky” pig had given his all to fish and chips, so I only had two for portraits. But it was a month of splendid feasts and beautiful artistic creations. Definitely a great way to end 2025.
