Man, this past long weekend was really a LONG weekend...
After work on Friday, I went to Kyrios as usual. It actually wasn't a formal program 'cause we were actually gonna get together again on Saturday afternoon. We started off with a bit of worship and then had a 'lite' night by watching the School of Rock. I watched this a couple of years ago and I remember it being pretty good and 'clean'. I still liked it the second time, but I had forgotten about some of the crude humour and vague drug references. The only reason I bring it up is 'cause I don't want any parents knocking on Ian's door. Although the teens have probably seen much worse stuff already, some parents will probably try to nail us about being irresponsible, etc. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but trust me, it's happened before.
Saturday was a totally jam-packed day. Woke up pretty early--for a Saturday--to finish cleaning up stuff since my family's Thanksgiving dinner was bumped up. Then went out to the church to pick up the teens to go volunteer at the Markham Salvation Army, where we helped them sort and pack food for their Thanksgiving food drive. It's interesting what people donate--sometimes it just seems like people are just cleaning up the junk in their pantry. There's the 'regular' items--KD's, chicken noodle soup, pasta, etc.--but then there's also pickled vegetables, exotic spreads (hummus/almond butter), expired canned goods and other questionable items. Rule of thumb: Don't give anything that you wouldn't eat yourself! Just because someone is poor, it doesn't mean they'll eat your garbage. Anyway, even though it was quite a bit of hard work, it was turned out to be a fun afternoon. With about 15 people, the 3 hours flew by pretty quickly and we got it done pretty fast. Since we were so efficient, they coordinator even got some of the teens to do some vacuuming and window washing--which the guys seemed to have way too much fun with. :) Talking to the coordinator, it's somewhat surprising to hear that they serve about 400 families in the Markham area. With all the new developments, I assumed that the communities in Markham were more affluent. It turns out there's quite a lot of Sri Lankan families in the area and with the tsunami last year, the coordinator is expecting the demand to be even greater now with new immigrants/refugees. Their next big food drive is at Christmas and it's supposed to be huge. If you'd like to help out, let me know--the more the merrier!
Anyhow, I rushed home afterwards and finished some cleaning before the guests arrived for dinner. The usual family--who are practically my cousins--came over. I also invited Ben, Janice and Thomas since some of them don't typically have turkey. Even Alvin showed up! ;) My mom made the dinner, which was, as always, great--mashed potoatoes, turkey, stuffing, ratatouille, beef stroganoff, shrimp. Yummy. All made even better with generous amounts of wine. Des, Auntie Vivien (Des' mom), Jenn and Ryan also came by for dessert and Texas Hold' Em (which I suck at). The only thing that was missing was my mom's tiramisu, which was in high demand. Still, we had lots of fruit, papayas that Jenn brought over, apple & pumpkin pie from Janice & Thomas, and a melange of cakes too. Another good Thanksgiving dinner with family & friends with great laughs.
Sunday was another busy day with wedding #9. See the pics here... Albert & Katherine, who I got to know at UW, had both their ceremony and dinner reception at the Hilton Suites Markham. It was a bit strange not having the ceremony at a church. Just funny hearing Kinson exhorting about being 'before the sight of God', yet we were just sitting in the ballroom. It's not a big deal in the end, but I think I'd like to be in a church when my time comes. :P The dinner was pretty good--mainly 'cause it was refreshing not having to eat at another Chinese banquet. I sat with Kinson and Bethany 'cause the majority of the guests weren't from the 'church circle', so Kinson didn't really know anyone else other than the bride & groom, a couple other T3Cers and myself. Anyway, unbelievably the dinner reception finished before 10. The speeches were good 'cause they were short and sweet, and no one shared their life story. :) There was a dance after that, so it was nice to celebrate the night away with some old UW friends.
Monday turned out to be a complete write-off. I was considering going hiking at the Elora Gorge to see the fall leaves, but I'm was just beat from the weekend. I slept all day... It was nice to finally have some rest.
