Santi Meets Santa...

It was back on December 6th of last year that I visited Santa (As I do every year) and as per usual when Santa asked what I'd like I sad "a Dog" That year, as opposed to most he said he's see what he could to...

On December 15th I met a dog at the SPCA... a dog that would become mine not 4 days after...

Santa had followed through, and ahead of schedule.

This year I visited Santa on November 28th and gave him a Christmas card, thanking him for giving me Santiago, and including a pic of me and the wee beast. Santa asked why I didn't bring the dog along and I replied I didn't think I could bring a dog into the Bay, let alone up to the 7th floor. He said, well, Santa says you can...

So... one week later Santiago and I made the trip downtown on the metro, up up up the elevator to the 7th floor and directly to Santa.

I was greeted with "Hello Shawn. This must be Santiago..."

I'm telling you this is THE Santa...

We sat for a few pics, unfortunately, Santi took, like most two yead olds right hissy fit!

Santa was happy to met Santi nonetheless and Santi made a wish and asked for a huge bag of Puperoni and a new duckie...



And the fun had ONLY just begun...

Day of Rest

Even Santa needs at least one day of rest...

A little Red Wine Never Hurt...

[from my Mom via email]

Why Red Wine is important on Christmas, more than any other day of the year...

Cheers!
Merry Christmas!

Operation Claus

While I don't agree with why so many of our and other Military are over-seas, I certainly do support them... and so does Santa...

The Night Before Christmas


T'was the night before Christmas,
He lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house,
Made of plaster and stone.

I had come down the chimney,
With presents to give,
And to see just who,
In this home did live.

I looked all about,
A strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents,
Not even a tree.

No stocking by the mantle,
Just boots filled with sand,
On the wall hung pictures,
Of far distant lands.

With medals and badges,
Awards of all kinds,
A sober thought,
Came through my mind.

For this house was different,
It was dark and dreary,
I found the home of a soldier,
Once I could see clearly.

The soldier lay sleeping,
Silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor,
In this one bedroom home.

The face was so gentle,
The room in such disorder,
Not how I pictured,
A Canadian soldier.

Was this the hero,
Of whom I'd just read?,
Curled up on a poncho,
The floor for a bed?

I realized the families,
That I saw this night,
Owed their lives to these soldiers,
Who were willing to fight.

Soon round the world,
The children would play,
And grownups would celebrate,
A bright Christmas Day.

They all enjoyed freedom,
Each month of the year,
Because of the soldiers,
Like the one lying here.

I couldn't help wonder,
How many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas Eve,
In a land far from home.

The very thought brought
A tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees,
And started to cry.

The soldier awakened,
And I heard a rough voice,
'Santa, don't cry.
This life is my choice.

I fight for freedom,
I don't ask for more,
My life is my God,
My country, my corps.'

The soldier rolled over,
And drifted to sleep,
I couldn't control it,
I continued to weep.

I kept watch for hours,
So silent and still,
And we both shivered,
From the cold night's chill.

I didn't want to leave,
On that cold, dark night,
This guardian of honor,
So willing to fight.

Then the soldier rolled over,
With a voice, soft and pure,
Whispered, 'Carry on Santa,
It's Christmas Day, all is secure.'

One look at my watch,
And I knew he was right,
'Merry Christmas my friend,
And to all a good night.'

- This poem was written by a peace keeping soldier stationed overseas.

The following is his request, I think it is reasonable.

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
People as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due
to our Canadian service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
Festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe.
Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed
themselves for us.

Santas with Flair

Weekends are too short!

Friday night was rather ho hum.. We got our monthly haircuts over to Mohawk, and then took it easy in front of the idiot box for the rest of the night...

We watched "Notes on a Scandal" We like both actors: Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench. Their acting was superb, but the plot I'm sorry to say was rather weak. It did not hold up and even the delusional character of Dench's would have I am sure seen through her fantasy world long before she did in the movie. The cat fight scene was rather enjoyable however. (I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's an inner straight man in my psyche that enjoys such scenes. Fortunately for me, my gay self overrides and so such scenes are only acceptable when both participants are fully clothed.! *phew*) We were glad to have seen it, but gladder still I think that we didn't drop $30+ on it in theater.

Misster-Kitty give "Notes on a Scandal" 6 hairballs outta 10.

- - - - -

Saturday was JAM-PACKED with the beginnings of seasonal goodness. We had a quick bite to eat and then headed down to Ste-Catherine St in front of Christ Church Cathedral and amid thousands of rug rats and hobbit like beings we watched the Santa Claus Parade go by.

After that was over we went and saw "Beowulf" in 3D. It was rather impressive I have to say. I'm not usually impressed by 3-D flix, but this was more about a truly three dimensional viewing experience than cheesy fast moving objects coming toward you (although there was that too). Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Crispen Glover were among the actors in this 'live action to computer generated' 3-D animated version of the story of Beowulf. And it was rather well done. You often felt as if you were watching the actors and not a computer generated reproduction. Angelina's 3-D animated knockers were spectacu-laire! (... if you're into that sorta thing) a little bit gory... but then so to is the story when you really look at it. It was also playing at the Imax in 3-D but we didn't feel like waiting 3 hours to see it.

Misster-Kitty gives "Beowulf" 8.5 3-D projectile hairballs outta 10

We then got home and watched "Eragon" on the Movie Network... in HD. It was good, not great... And altogether with ""Beowulf" it was a little too much John Malkovich. What I did like about Eragon was that Jeremy Irons was in it. I heart Jeremy Irons. There's an odd sort of sexual appeal for me. And what's offer still is that I first noticed that while watching "the Mission" Trust me, no one is more perplexed at my attraction to a Jesuit Priest in a South American jungle than I. He's a great actor that we just don't see enough of these days.

Misster-Kitty give "Eragon" 7 hairballs outta 10

After the movie we, rather Didier decided to install the new Wii that he bought as a 'Christmas gift' It was in the house less that 2 weeks before the anticipation and need to open and install it overtook his wee frame. (Ok I'll admit I was intrigued and wanted to see it too, but was willing to wait til Christmas to dive in...) Little does he know that opening a Christmas gift this far before Christmas means that it's really no longer a Christmas gift and so does not really count on Christmas day. :-)

We were INSTANTLY ADDICTED. Wii if 1000 times more addictive than Blogging and Crackbook combined (which explains my near absence here and on the Crackbook, this past weekend! I'm only updating now, here at work, where the Wii cannot tempt me.) We so far only have the Wii Sports pack: Bowling (My fav) Golf (2nd fav), Tennis (3rd fav) , Baseball (4th fav) and Boxing (5th) The BEST part about Wii is making your Mii. you can build your own player that looks like you; and I have to say we did rather well in creating out Mii. I also made myself a 2nd Mii... my alter ego, half of Misster Kitty. She's fab and fierce. With a big hair (with a blue rinse) and even bigger glasses! So when Didier is not there with me I can compete against myself. Talk about split personalities! I have to try and take pics of our Mii for you to see just how realistic they are...

Maria, we're gonna have to get together some weekend for a mini Wii Olympics!

After a couple hours of Wii-ness we got dressed up in our finest rubber wear and went to the Mr Rubber contest at the Black Eagle. Much Leather and Rubber cladness was to be seen. Terribly naughty men every where! I really need to wear my rubber more often... it's such an easy way to drop a few pounds!

- - - - -

Sunday started with Brunch with friends and then a walk from the village to the Palais des Congres for 'AU CŒUR DE LA MODE' which is huge clothing sale with lots of shops and 'label's hocking their wares for vastly reduced prices. Me and the Man bough a pile of socks and knickers: 21 pair of socks and 5 pair of undies for $50. Not bad when you consider that a lot of the socks were the SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFTEST wool ya ever did feel! (and even as I write this, my toes is warmly snuggled in a pair!) And just before we left I saw this pair of pants. They called to me. They said 'aren't we fabulous Shawn? you must buy us Shawn" I looked closer at them and saw the label "Versace Sport" and then I saw the price... $399.99 I put them down immediately! The sales clerk behind the table said, 'they're only $40.00" I said "Where's the dressing room?" Needless to say that $40 and me were soon parted. and Bitch, (you know who you are) before you even say it, I don't even care if they're last season... I ain't that kinda gurl!

Then we stopped off at the Future shop to buy an extra Nunchuk and Controller for the Wii - this way we don't have to keep hading it back and forth and putting on the wrist strap... (a clever addition not including in the Pre Dec 2006 controllers. This ensure that if you 'thow' or 'pitch' or 'swing' etc too fast and the controller slips out of your hand, it does not end up mid screen in your $2000+

then we boogied back home to play some more... and admittedly I got in a bit of a mood because Didier was winning practically everything... but after a brief time out I regained composure and the will to destroy ...er, to compete, um, I mean to play, side by side with Didier.

What they DON'T warn you enough with Wii is that it's rather close to the real thing... and by that I mean overnight, never having played an actual game of tennis or golf in my life I am now suffering THE worst case of tennis-elbow / golf-shoulder known to man... (and what's worse still is I want to rush home and play some more... until my arm comes out of it's socket!) Youreally have to immitate the full action of swinging the tennis racket, following through with a Golf swing, or srinning a bat and so on... actually not a bad little work out when you do all the training exercises for the Boxing game especially!

...and after about 3 hours of play (with a 30 minute break for Family Guy) it was time to collapse and go to bed.

I think when I write Santa this Christmas I'm going to ask for a 3 day standard weekend.

so what did 'y'all get up to?