Farewell to 2021

Our family Christmas get-together was cancelled again this year, which I imagine was the case for many others too. It’s a shame because with more animals than people, it would have been entertaining. Karen and Tom have three cats, a dog and are fostering an additional 5 kittens. My niece was also planning to bring her dog. With my brother and sister-in-law’s dog and Juno, that would have made: ten people, 8 cats and 4 dogs. In a condo.

As the day neared and the covid numbers climbed, we realized that getting together was too risky, given that Tom is immunocompromised. Visiting Ray’s mom in the retirement residence was also a no-go as they implemented tight restrictions on visitors in the week leading up to Christmas.

We were disappointed and sad, of course, but once that wore off, we put it into perspective. Last Christmas, Tom was in the hospital with covid and we didn’t know if he’d be coming out. Four years ago, Nick had his first chemo treatment on Christmas Eve. Things could definitely be worse.

I mostly felt bad for Karen who wasn’t able to see her kids over Christmas for the second year in a row. Despite her sadness, she still drove two hours to Brighton to drop off gifts (we had a short outdoor visit in the gazebo with hot chocolate and cake and then she turned around and drove home again). She also packaged up turkey dinners for her kids, and for my brother and sister-in-law, and dropped those off along with their gifts. Sisters are the best. Well, mine is anyway.

We still had a nice Christmas, with Nick and Juno’s energy and optimism to keep things fun.

Ray and another wood carver were invited to provide carving demos in exchange for a few nights of accommodation at the Rousseau Muskoka Resort & Spa. Not the best time to be in such a public place perhaps, but we decided to go ahead with it.

To keep it as safe as possible, the Marriott management put the carving display in an out-of-the-way ballroom rather than in the lobby, so the ‘first come, first served’ caveat was hardly necessary, but the guests who managed to find the room were very appreciative.

For those not familiar with Muskoka, it’s prime Canadian cottage country. If you eat a bowl of Corn Flakes in Muskoka, for example, you’ll pay double or triple what you’d pay for a bowl of Corn Flakes that is not in Muskoka. It’s the privilege of eating those Corn Flakes in Muskoka that you’re paying for.

While Ray carved, I’d sit at a table with my tea latte, scone and notebook, looking out at the lake and reflecting on the past year. I also thought about what habits I wanted to change for 2022 and how to make that happen. Ray would take a break mid-day and we’d go for a walk. We splurged on a couple of “in Muskoka” dinners – lobster ravioli was yum – and it was great to get away and have a change of scenery for a few days.

On the left, Ray is making an outdoor fire in the cauldron for us to sit in front of. On the right is a guy giving a demo of how to make a Swedish fire log (and then cooking bannock on it). As you might expect, there’s not a lot of crossover between people who stay at a 5-star resort and people who make stoves out of logs. When he asked if anyone camped, one guy said he’d been once with his scout troop. The rest remained silent. I suggested to Ray that we could save the resort money next time by having him do the wood carving demo and the outdoorsman demo.

You would be correct in assuming that dogs are not permitted in the resort. My sister once again came to the rescue and drove here to watch Juno for the first 24 hours, then Nick and Megan took over for the next couple of days. Juno had all her favourite people around, and also Harper, who she loves to play with, as long as Harper doesn’t take her toys or anyone’s attention.