Greetings from Victoria

Hi Everyone,
It is Christmas Eve and we are getting ourselves prepared for the big day Christmas Day. There will be ten of us that will be having Christmas Dinner with us tomorrow. A bit different from home. Today I helped my Aunty Lois peel the potatoes, cut the carrots, onions and celery. I also diced up the bread for the stuffing. Mum you will be pleased!!! The kitchen was big enough and we had separate work areas. Today I got to try a raw cranberry. It tasted very tart and needed a lot of sugar. Tomorrow we are going to have a roast turkey with the trimmings. I'm looking forward to this. I'm also going to try out Banana Cream Pie which I think is a Northern Hemisphere dessert. My aunty has made the cranberry sauce and these delicious chocolate and walnut cookies. The kitchen smells really good at the moment. Shortbread is being made at the moment.
Yesterday we went to Nanaimo to see my second cousin Penny. It was great seeing her. I also met her niece Debbie (David's daughter) who would be a third cousin down the ranks. I'm not entirely sure how it works. She is a tutor in office management at the College / Polytechnic at Fort St James-along way from the Island.
On the way to Nanaimo we stopped at A & W a fifties diner that specialised in burgers. These burgers were very nice. Mum you might have remembered this: A & W as they had a lot of pictures of the 1950's and with the drive thru the staff would physically go out to your car and give you your food, rather than passing it through a window. It was quite unique during it's time, and the mascot was a bear-like the Hudson Cookie Bear. At the A & W I got to try Root Beer. I initially thought it was alcoholic and made a bit of a prat out of myself when I asked the girl whether it was alcoholic. I thought after the night before it was a little early to have alcohol at 11:00am. Also it would be a little weird if they promoted beer with their burger combo's at a family restaurant. It wasn't alcoholic but it had an interesting taste. It tasted like tooth paste / dental floss. A bit like a dental clinic had a smell of it's own but it was very frothy as if it was real beer. I got use to the flavour after a while. I'm not sure whether we have root beer down under.

Last night we played Trivial Pursuit. I wasn't very good at it, especially around answering questions on American presidents, athletes. I was ok at entertainment and leisure. It was great fun and it tested out the brain. We were in teams and so my Uncle was fantastic at answering questions on history, arts and literature and geography. Well that's all of the news I have at the moment.
Another thing that I did today was walk with my uncle along Willows Beach. The houses around the Oak Bay area are beautiful. We also drove up to Mt Tomie that looks out over Victoria. It is simply amazing to see mountains across that are part of the USA. We also drove past Government House, where the Queen stays when she is in Victoria. We also drove to where the Cruise Ships dock when they are in Victoria. I am having a fabulous time here in Victoria and the family have been very good to me. On Saturday Ann, Lois and myself are going to have afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel-a landmark and must do in Victoria. I am also going to buy a Swiss watch at the Bay Centre, with the actual swiss logo. The company that makes the Swiss Army Knives. These watches are of very good quality and are meant to last a life time. It is $170.00 at the moment but I am going to wait until the Boxing Day sales, I may get it slightly cheaper. It has a leather strap and has the date built in. It is analogue and looks very hard weating, heavy duty. My watch that I've had since high school cause a blister at the end of my thumb when I tried getting the date changed upon my arrival to Vancouver. Winding the date forwards has died and so I have to physically wind the watch throughout a 31 day day calendar-bugger that. Time for a new one, excuse the pun :)