Christmas Wishes from the Foxes Den

Our tree

Lennah's new toy shelf.

My Little Drummer Boy. Probably the real reason the tree finished getting decorated on Christmas Day!

Cooking the first turkey dinner that wasn't to be.

Some of our guests.

The 4 foot inflatable "Moo", as Lennah calls it.

Getting ready to open presents on Boxing Day.

Lennah putting her new tools to good use.

Whew, it didn't look like that much under the tree.

Relaxing the next day. The PJ's say it all, "Tis the Season"
Merry Christmas Everyone, We Missed You.

Well, after a very shaky start, we managed to get Christmas turkey dinner on Boxing Day.

Long story. After forgetting to buy our turkey when I was on the coast, I again, almost forgot to buy the turkey in Prince George. It was 9:30 at night and we were leaving Prince to head home, when I got on the radio to Nathan. "Emergency, Emergency" was all I said and he came running over to my truck, "I forgot to buy the turkey!". Now, keep in mind, we'd already done all our Christmas dinner shopping early that day, all the fixings for stuffing, dessert, etc. How I forgot? Blame it on the pregnant brain. So, in to Save On I run, hoping it would still be open and buy the largest turkey I could find. I find a 20lb turkey that should be perfect for a dinner of six adults with leftovers. So, onward home we go. We get as far as Fort St James around 12:30am and I can't go on. I just don't have the stamina I usually do. And I certainly wasn't going to drive another 3 hours in to Takla in the dark when I was that tired. So, we get a room to spend the night. We arrive home safely the next afternoon on the 23rd.

So, on Christmas Eve day, I remind Nathan to bring the turkey inside so I can thaw it out for dinner. You see, we'd left it in a cooler in the back of his patrol truck, since it certainly is cold enough up here! A few minutes later Nathan comes back inside and he's furious! It would seem that the turkey had been stolen out of the back of his police truck! $35 worth of turkey - gone! At first, I totally don't believe him, he's always trying to pass a fast one on me, but it was true. Thank goodness his corporal was in Fort on business and we radioed him to pick up another turkey for dinner. This time we ended up with a smaller one, so I decided to cook up a ham I had in the freezer as well.

Well, this is not the end of the story. I give the ham to the corporal's wife to put in their oven and I put the turkey in ours. I periodically check on it, finding it's not cooking quite as fast as I'm used to. Thanksgiving turkey turned out fantastic and our oven is normally right on the temperature. But, after 4 hours in at 350 degrees, our turkey is still pink - purple in some spots! We make the decision to go ahead with ham dinner. I had transferred the turkey over to the neighbors oven some time before dinner and cooked it for another hour, and yet it was still half raw.

Turkey was then scheduled for Boxing Day. Donna threw it in the oven for another hour the next day to reheat it and finish cooking it, by this time I'm convinced it's going to be super overdone, dryer than a bone, but it turned out fantastic! It was still moist, the stuffing awesome! It definitely was a very much appreciated and enjoyed turkey.

That's still not the end of our Christmas tale. On Christmas Eve, when Nathan and I were going to finish decorating the tree (yes, that's correct) and build Lennah's big Christmas gift. Nathan had to transfer a prisoner into the Fort, this was about midnight. He'd been busy with two prisoners in custody and was unable to even eat dinner at home. Then, after transferring the prisoner, he had a couple of calls in town which kept him out until after 5am. He didn't get to bed until 6am Christmas morning. So, needless to say, with getting turkey disaster together and all our company, we didn't have a chance to open presents on Christmas day. We finally managed to open gifts on Boxing Day, just before dinner! It's a good thing Lennah didn't know the difference and was so happy with her toy storage shelf that I made for her, but, next year I don't think we'd get away with it.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. Yes, we missed our families, as this was our first Christmas on our own. But, our little family was still together and you can't ask for much more.

Hopefully next year we'll all be together again with another little Fox to join us. Merry Christmas to all ...