I haven't blogged in far too long, but it's the holidays and I'm at my Mom's secluded house with zero cable so I'm sure I'll be able to find plenty time to whip up a post here or there.
Got into town yesterday evening- It's funny how Toronto is only 4 hours away from Ottawa (3 1/2 if I'm driving), yet it seems as though we've driven 10+ hours North. The weather's about 10 degrees colder here and where I could still see grass in Toronto, there's not an inch of ground here that isn't covered with a foot or two of snow. Although I'm not too crazy about the subzero temperatures, the scenery is a welcome change. Seeing the houses surrounded by a blanket of snow, Christmas lights twinkling in windows and around the fluffy evergreens dotting front yards... it fills you full of Christmas Spirit with nothing more than a glance.
I still haven't gotten used to the concept that my brother, sister and myself have all left the nest and are travelling home to celebrate Christmas with our parents. My little brother and sister who are now 18 and soon to be 20 respectively... wow, time flies. My brother who used to be a knobbly little dweeb now towers above me? When did all of this happen!?
It's nice coming back to the comforts of home; no matter how much things change, home always has that feeling of everything fitting back into place again. My sister and I jokingly guessed at what food's we'd be greeted with back at Mom's. In the fridge? An avocado, some grain bread, a white cheese of sorts and something exotic and totally random that Mom bought on a whim. In the cupboards? Muesli, many types of muesli, nuts, maaaybe some nacho chips if we were lucky and a few boxes of cereal gone stale now that my brother's no longer around to polish it off in a few days. Silly creature comforts.
One thing that I both love and hate about my Mom's house is the fur! Oh the fur! My Mom has 2 very hairy dogs (one black and one beige) and 2 equally hairy cats (one black and one white); not to mention, the additional two cats that I bring with me whenever I visit home! Long story short, no matter what colour of clothes you're wearing, if you sit down in this house, you will have animal fur all over you. Everyone who has spent time here knows it; It-is-inevitable. I feel bad for my Mom sometimes for living alone in such a big house with so many chores to keep ontop of- I've literally seen hair-ball-tumbleweeds go rolling across the basement floor before, like some scene out of an old Western movie. I can help while I'm here, but I know that those tumbleweeds are still rolling about after I leave to head back to my budding Life. Funny, these creature comforts.
The animals here are a big part of what makes this house feel the way it does; so warm and loving. I'll never tire of being greeted by the four familiar furry faces, sometimes 6, that race to the back door the instant they hear the doorknob being turned. There's something about the love that animals give that I find so genuine and wholesome. I've been gone almost 3 years now, and this is still run of the mill. I still know exactly where to step so the floor won't creak as I move about the house at night. My room's been gutted and revamped into a greenhouse/aromatherapy haven, but my bed still waits for me in the same place it's always been and it feels like home when I crawl in to it at the end of the night.
Ten days to get re-acquainted with who and what I have known and loved for so many years-
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