Already

For the first time in 4 months, the ACs have switched at the Conley residence. Long pants haven't been seen a few days now - outside of work (Darren has to adhere to the dress code). Trips to the park are being reserved for 4:00 when there is sufficient shade. Looks like winter is on its way out.

It's hard to remember in the midst of the glorious 22-degree weather just how hot it gets here. I mentioned to my students that I thought it was starting to warm up and they said I should be happy. When I questioned that response they said, "Canadians like hot weather." At least now I know that stereotypes are alive and well in my classroom.

While it may be true that many Canadians like hot weather, I'm not one of them. And while it may also be true that this is just a short heat wave (a kind of Qatari Chinook?), I am reminded that whether next week or next month, my favourite time of year will indeed come to an end and I will once again contain myself to the indoors, out of the sun's reach.

I miss you, winter, already.

Christmas 2010

Ok, so it's February and I'm just getting around to posting this. It was begun early in January, but then we went back to work after the winter break and time seemed to slip away on me. (It *might* have had something to do with the ongoing Zuma competition between the Conleys and Dewburys.) Anyway, without further ado, here are my thoughts on Christmas 2010.


Over the past couple of years, we've been trying to figure out what we want Christmas to look like for our family.

Like most children raised in North America, growing up both Darren and I participated in large family gatherings and mammoth gift-opening sessions, holiday movie marathons and over-indulgence in Christmas baking, carol sing-a-longs and delicious turkey dinners. We both have fond memories of the events that developed into family traditions over the years.

When we got married, Christmas got busier in that we tried to fit in as many traditions with as many parts of the newly-expanded family as we could. So we'd travel to my parents' place for part of the holidays and then back to Darren's parents' for another part. It was tiring but good.

Now that we're away from "home" and have our own little family, we're starting to think about how to celebrate the season together. While we haven't established any family traditions, we did spend a fair amount of time considering the values or principles we want to govern our Christmases present and future. Things like spending time with family and friends, and maintaining a focus on people in need topped the list. I'm excited to see how these values will manifest themselves as our family and our situation changes from year to year. I'm also excited about who will join us for Christmas in Qatar, 2011! (Yes, that's an invitation for you.)

I realize that this post hasn't really said much of anything. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the recent changes in our physical location and life stage have given us the opportunity to rethink what is important to us and restructure our lives accordingly. This is definitely a work in progress, and maybe even a work that can never be completed. But being on this journey - and being aware of the journey we're on - gives me hope and joy.


I leave you now with a slideshow of the highlights of our Christmas vacation, 2010. (Only for those of you with the patience to let Smilebox load. I really need to learn another program. Any suggestions?)