CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas Eve was a quiet day. I did a bit of running about to get some last minute things. I had the hardest time finding pitted olives that aren't stuffed. I bought Ron the OLIVATOR so that he could make his own much loved blue cheese stuffed olives. I had the blue cheese but not the olives. I finally found them at Fresh and Easy, a grocery store.

I went to the huge outlet mall again this year and then remembered that I really didn't like it there. So I bought the same pretzels and dip that I bought last year for the Christmas Eve dinner, had a bit of a look around, and left. The reason I don't like that mall is that all of the stores are name brand only; Coach, Guess, Lacoste, Miss Sixty, etc. etc. and so nothing in any of them are made for a woman of my size, ulike the outlet mall in Tulalip has Lane Bryant and Dressbarn (terrible name but fabulous clothes). One thing I did find; I have always wanted a diamond tennis bracelet and so went into Zales to see if they really are discounted in an outlet mall. They seemed quite decently priced, with a 40% sale price. Then I found one that was 5 carats, regularly $7,000 for $2,000. And if I wanted it the sales girl was ready to strike an even better deal with me. Of course I didn't buy it, but I left it behind rather reluctantly.

We were to be at Ron's at 8:30 for his traditional pasta dinner and so I had a nap before getting ready and arriving on time. It was a really relaxed and fun evening and I managed to persuade Ron to perform a few magic tricks. He's really, really good! Later in the evening his mother gave him the gift of a large manilla envelope stuffed with clippings from newspapers, performance bills, and other memorabilia from his decade of magic shows in the 90's. Turns out, he was Ontario's most famous magician!