no exams!

...but that means that I have 5 major assignments all due before the 12th. Watch me disappear. Or, watch me say that I'm going to disappear, and then watch me continue to blog, paint, cook elaborate meals, laze around discussing life in coffeeshops, attend plays, take buses to the end of their lines, rent children's movies and get into the Christmas groove far too early.

Those festivities were all packed into this weekend. And I wonder why I spend my entire Sundays at the library. It's all catching up.

A bunch of us finally made it to Victoria Park for the revered Winter Wonderland
treelighting ceremony. Surrounded by parents with bobbing children on their shoulders and pre-teens giggling in their parkas, I felt quite outnumbered. London so often feels like a town run by students that it's a bit of a shock when you're an age-group anomaly on your own turf: not a child, not yet a yuppie.

It was very pretty and cold and over-lit and jolly. I proposed the idea of my roommates and I taking turns pulling eachother to class in toboggans, but was shot down horribly. Being pulled in a a sled through fluffy snow, all puffed up in my pink jacket and red kitten balaclava and waiting for my dad to buy me a hot chocolate at the Richmond Hill winter carnival ...it doesn't get much better than that. Except it does, in a way.

I think there are still a lot of holiday festivites that remain uncorrupted by commercialization. The Winter Wonderland was free, welcoming to all and simple. I appreciate something like this more than ever when every other night's entertainment costs at least a few bucks.

Amy, who was feeling particularly inspired by the family-friendly festivities said

"Guys, usually Christmas makes me want a boyfriend but this year it makes me want a baby."

This was even more hilarious coming from a girl who hits the gym every day to prepare for her January police testing. Let me ask you, does this look like the face of a future law enforcer?



Fierce and ferocious, Amy will be the very picture of authority and vigilant law enforcement.

Aside from old spitfire mcGuire, a few other ladies were charmed by the kids as well. The idea of a communal "child pet" was even suggested. I'm not sure how much seriousness was in this statement idea, but maybe everyone just wants some child-like joy in their lives. Maybe we're getting older? Maybe it's just that pre-exam time where magic is in the air and anything goes. hmmm