Almost Christmas...Seriously???

Well...I'm listening to ezrock (edmonton) on-line...to try and get some feeling of 'Christmas' going on over here. We attended the Canadian Club's Christmas dinner at the Hilton on Friday night, and took a few pictures with their beautiful Christmas tree. We were visited there by possibly the worst Santa Claus we have ever seen in our lives...a Santa who doesn't realize that little ones have bed-times and perhaps he should have come at 8 pm, like he was scheduled to, instead of waltzing in at 9 pm. Good thing A has no clue about this aspect of the Christmas tradition. For me, I feel that this will possibly be my last seasonal 'Canadian Club' dinner...as I left hungrier than I started. My meal of lettuce pieces, mashed potatoes and 'buttered' vegetables (and I couldn't taste any butter friends) was sorely lacking any flavour. I figured I would make up for it with dessert, but was not alone in my disappointment of the two dessert selections (one of which was mincemeat tarts...which my friend Christine described as 'Halls in a tart shell'). I did enjoy the time with our friends though, and that would be the only thing that could lure me out to another one of these 'dinners' (I am using that word loosely). Apparently, the turkey was 'fabulous' (and I'm so glad that everyone else could enjoy it). Also...the smoking...blech! This event (unlike Thanksgiving) was smoker-friendly.

That was Friday. On Saturday, we got up and head off to Dubai, for our car to get serviced. We also had to drop off the Visa for Rosemarie, our housekeeper, to pick-up at the airport. We are flying her into Dubai, rather than Abu Dhabi, solely for the savings. For any of our friends considering visiting, make sure you use Dubai airport, rather than Abu Dhabi. You'll save yourself almost $1000 (I think it was $700-something). Then hop into a cab, and for 300 AED (about $100 Cdn) and an hour of your time, you can be at our doorstep, safe and sound...with more $$ in your pocket. The drive is actually quite scenic, as you can check out all of the developments in Dubai, and then all of the growth and development in between the two big cities. It is nowhere as boring as the drive from say...Edmonton...to anywhere an hour away (Red Deer was always the drive that got us).

Back to Dubai: we had grand plans. While the car was being serviced, we would get dropped off at the mall and shop. A would have lunch, and then we would head back around 2 pm, and she would sleep the whole way back. Seems the dealership, in their effort to help us out, decided to make our oil change service a 'priority', and get it done within an hour, so we could head back home with our baby. So, we didn't actually get to the mall, but A and I did check out the Dubai Garden Centre...a lot like the Ellerslie Garden Centre..but with elephant and peacock topiaries, and running fountains everywhere. I had a latte at "Raw" the coffee bar inside, and we wandered and checked out the plants...some familiar (they are really liking the petunias over here) and so many unfamiliar.

P had taken a cab to the airport, and we ended up heading back to the dealership around the same time. Minutes after we got into our car and were heading back towards Jebel Ali Road, A had fallen asleep, so we just kept on going back home. She woke up just as we entered our garage, and then proceeded to stuff her face with fistfuls of--what else?--pasta...today's special was macaroni with tomatoe sauce.

P got our speakers set up and we spent the evening catching up with Bond...James Bond in Casino Royale. We needed to be refreshed for when we watch Quantum of Solace (sometime soon...).
There are no holidays for Christmas here. P will be taking Christmas eve and Christmas day off. We are very excited to welcome our friend Peter M's family back to Abu Dhabi (as they fly over from various parts of North America). It will be so nice to see Kathy (Peter's wife) and to meet their children (who are young adults). We have been invited over for Christmas dinner with our friends Stefan and Brenda, who are having the event catered by the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. It will be so nice to be spending the holiday with friends.