Paul And Jenny

Had lunch with James, Paul and Jenny today. It was great to say P and J, since I rarely see them. They moved to Texas almost a year ago. Mind you, even before they moved south, I rarely saw them.

Here's a pic of us at my favourite resto in Vancouver: Al-Watan. Khalid, the cook, joined us for the pose.

Glenayre Reunion @ Anton's

Tonight we went for an Italian feast at Anton's. So yummmmmmy.....

From left to right: Cub, Judy, Fred, Peter, Tyson, and Gonnie:
















I'm thankful to be able to keep in touch with the Glenayre gang. I miss them. They're great friends.

Pesebre

I got a nativity set for Christmas. It's quite big, but I like it. It's past the advent season, and indeed, christmas has come and gone, but I'll put it up nonetheless and keep it up until the day of Epiphany on January 6th. Here are a few pics I took of the scene, after I put it up in my apartment.

Daytime:















Nightime:















Next year I'll put it up on the first day of Advent.

Christmas With Family

This Christmas was like last Christmas: good. Even with Ted/Karin and family's escapade to Asuncion, the rest of us here in the wetlands had a festive time with family. I stayed the night at my parents' place. Here's how I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve:
* 6:30pm - went to my parents' church for a children's program. It was a good program, a typical North American "musical performance" that had a lot of props and lights and even video streaming, but not too much of a theological backbone. The kids, however, were super excited and enthused about the program, and that was great to see.
* 8pm - dinner at mom and dad's. Heinz, Melanie and family came also. Great dinner, great conversation. Thank you Lord for the blessing of family.
* 11:30pm - midnight mass at Westminster Abbey in Mission. Beautiful, as last year. The sermon was on John 1:1: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...

Christmas Day:
* 9:30am - I went to a church service at St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Abbotsford. It's a small church, but it was a great service. The officiating pastor had such a gentle yet genuine demeanour it was inspiring. I could tell he really loved the Lord and the people he was shepherding. I'm more and more convinced that the perfect church is one that has under 100 parishioners. That's the magic number, because once you have more than 100, it gets big and impersonal.
* 1pm - lunch with the whole family-gang again. Same as last night: good people, good conversation, and good food.
* 6pm - played Rook with dad, Heinz, Terence, and Tanis.

My only complaint is that we still exchange too many presents. No matter how much family members agree that "this year we'll only buy 1 present per person", the resolve is weak and without integrity. The result: everyone gets 5 presents, and those people who only buy 1 present (as agreed to previously) look like stingy idiots.

I arrived back at home in Vancouver around 11pm.

Ambiguity Leads To Alienation

I'm not happy about how things are with Clau. Over the past few months we've become more alienated from each other, even though we see each other more often than ever. Maybe that's the problem, but regardless, I don't get it.

Yesterday at Karla's party she gave me a Christmas present "in passing" .. it seemed more a duty than a real gift. I don't think she meant to hurt me but I think her actions do represent a painful alienation from me.

Months of ambiguity - are we together? are we friends? together in private, friends in public? - are finally catching up to us.

Karla's Birthday, Goodbye

Karla's time in Vancouver is sadly coming to an end. I love her genuine spirit. She'll certainly be missed around here. It was her birthday today, so she made it a 2-for-1 celebration: birthday and goodbye. She goes home to Mexico for Christmas now, then she comes back mid-January for 3 days before returning to Australia.

I wonder how Clau's going to deal with Karla's departure. Those two are so close.....

Trouble

Clau and I are in real trouble, and it breaks my heart.