On the friday before Christmas, Brent picked me up and we decided it would be nice to go to the Rude Native for a couple drinks. We got there pretty late so all the drinks were cheap cheap cheap. I got us a couple glasses of Presecco to celebrate Brent's raise, and we had mostly empty mussels and flatbread. We sat around for a while and talked about religion and other topics before we headed back to Brent's apartment.
The following morning, Brent and I had planned a full day of celebrating Christmas together. We woke up early, stopped at Tim Horton's and split a bagel on the way into Toronto. We first stopped in Oakville to go to my favorite chocolate shop in the world - Bernard Callebaut. Unfortunately, they only have 2 locations in all of Ontario, so we stocked up on some very delicious chocolate (which are like 2$ each) and had Lick's for lunch. We hopped back onto the highway, snacked on a couple chocolates and tried to find our hotel in Yorkville. Since Brent will not purchase a GPS, I guided us through Toronto and found the Marriott at Yonge & Bloor. Perfect! It was a little later than we planned by the time we got to the hotel room, so instead of going down to the Eaton Centre (on the busiest day of the year for shopping, PLUS the subways were not working) we decided to look around in the stores in Yorkville. I definitely enjoyed shopping around Holt Renfrew, and it was the first sale I had ever really seen in that store. We had to get back to the hotel room to get ready before our (early) reservation. Brent had grown out his beard that week SPECIFICALLY for one of my Christmas presents, which was for him to grow a sexy mustache for our night out. He adopted the nickname Luigi for the night because he was wearing yellow and looked like a Super Mario Brother.
I realized we had not printed off the tickets for the Nutcracker, so I went on a crazy hunt to find a place to print them off. The stupid receptionist told me the wrong time, so I started freaking out because we were going to miss our reservation (a watch didn't go with my outfit). I zoomed back up to the room all wired and rushing, and Brent told me we still had plenty of time and he moved the reservation. :) Perfect as always. I got to relax for a few minutes and we opened cards and presents before we walked over to Sassafraz for dinner. Sassafraz is my new favorite restaurant (for the time being). Sole is definitely still up there. We ordered ridiculous martinis and had olive bread, oysters and blueberry- goat cheese salad, lamb and rabbit ravioli.
The meal was to die for. Unfortunately we were running quite late (as always), so we didn't get to enjoy dessert at the restaurant. We pretty much ran out of the restaurant and caught a cab that brought us to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. We had to still get our tickets, so we rushed to do that and bolted upstairs to our seats. We just entered as The Nutcracker started. It was quite a good show, but Brent and I kept catching errors in the orchestra and dancing. We are too cynical I think. During the intermission, I dealt with some very stupid women in the washroom, scarfed down some Haggen Daaz ice cream and went back to finish the show. Once it was over, we walked down to the subway and took it back up to our hotel. Brent ordered some pizza, and we sat in bed watching Superbad until Brent passed out.
A couple days later, I was off to Mississauga for Christmas. I bused to Hamilton, which took much longer than it should have and met up with my sister. My dad brought us to Tim Horton's for a snack, had a doughnut for the first time in a while (it was sooo amazing) and drove down to Port Credit. Of course, there was no snow on the ground and it looked like spring, but nonetheless it was Christmas. My sister and I went up to Square One for some shopping, then we headed back and had steak for dinner. I knitted while drinking plenty of wine and went to bed early.
On the Tuesday, we went downtown to see the Nutcracker... again. It was a gift for my sister and I. We took the train in, which was hilarious because this older woman LITERALLY gasped when I made an error knitting and we stopped at Eggspection for brunch before the matinee show. I had Eggs Benedict and felt incredibly sick afterwards. We walked around the mall for a bit, then headed over to see the show. We were in the sixth row this time, so the show was incredibly different. The Sugarplum fairy hurt herself during her duo with the Nutcracker so a substitute had to come on. I was literally surrounded by little girls and boys and I wanted to steal one of them. This little girl was totally silent throughout the entire show and was adorable. After that, we took the train back to Mississauga and went over to my family's house. We exchanged gifts which included some very embarrassing home videos from when I was little. Oh boy. My sister and I helped down 3 bottles of wine (before 6pm) and headed back to my dad's place for sushi and more alcohol. Unfortunately I was still feeling really sick so I talked to Brent quickly before sleep and passed out pretty quickly.
On Christmas Eve, I decided to sleep in. After lunch, Jessika came over and we went to Paradiso in Oakville for a late lunch. Her mom really wanted to see me, so we headed to her parent's place for a visit and to exchange gifts. She dropped me off and Lin had arrived for dinner. We had lobster for dinner which was pretty good minus the literal shit that comes out of them. My sad lobster's name was Chad.
I was pretty tired after dinner since we eat so late, so I talked to Brent before I headed to sleep.
Christmas Day was nice and relaxing. It always seems to go by so quickly no matter what you are doing. We all woke up and had mimosas and Panetone for breakfast before we opened presents. I got the tv that I wanted and a bunch of other small goodies. During the afternoon, my grandparents came over as well as other guests. We started drinking early and I definitely finished early. My sister and I got a little inappropriate with the reindeers on the table. Ohhh no. By the end of the night, I had a bottle of Presseco planted right in front of me, and drank until I chatted with my lovely boyfriend and passed out before everyone even left. Good Christmas.
This past sunday was the first time I got to see my bb in almost a week. It was so nice. I finished work early, and Brent made his way down to Guelph pretty fast after that. We didn't even make it back to Waterloo for a couple hours. We drank some tea and watched some TV before we headed to bed.
Monday, well, we didn't leave the house until we went to my aunt's place around dinnertime.
We watched Planet Earth and The Hangover in bed. We had dinner at my aunt's and hung out for a bit. Brent left earlier to meet up with some people and I stayed around and took the bus back to Waterloo. Met up with Brent at his apartment and a bunch of people I didn't know and hung around until everyone left for the bar. Brent and I stayed around and watched some tv until Brent fell asleep on the couch.
I have to work tonight, but then tomorrow!!! It's New Years Eve! Brent and I are going to get a bunch of party stuff to jazz up his apartment.. including a big uncomfortable birthday hat for the birthday boy. It should be a good time.
I think that is a long enough post to last me, oh, until after new years. Then I can write about the randomness of that night I am sure. Just want to say how excited I am to be bringing in the New Year with the most amazing man I have ever known, and his cool friends too. I can't believe how quickly this year has gone and all the amazing things that have happened.
Happy New Year. Hopefully you all remember the next day :)
