Christmas and Canada with Grandad and Nana

So yeah. I'm in Canada. Yup. For those of you who know me well, you know that it's not that big a deal. For those of you who don't know me well, then, prepare for some brief history.

My mom's family is from England. In fact, my mom grew up in England, near London (yes, she has an English accent). When my mom was 12, the family moved to Plymouth (Minnesota). Then, they later moved to Canada (I don't remember exactly when, but I think that it was before my mom finished high school). After my mom married my dad, she moved back to Minnesota, which is where we live now (duh). So now, my mom's family lives in Canada (her immediate family, that is).

Because of this, every other Christmas we come up to Niagara Falls, Canada to visit them. We also come up every summer for my birthday. I've only spent one birthday in America, my first one, and I've never spent a birthday without my grandparents, who we call Nana and Grandad because that's the English version of Grandma and Grandpa.

So yes, we are up in Canada again. Christmas was actually five days ago, but that's okay. We didn't get very many presents because most of them are at home, but I'm totally fine with that. I think my favorite gift thus far has been the DS game my aunt got for me: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

That's what the case looks like. Actually, because of this game, I've been on a Kingdom Hearts kick. There's also a manga about the series. There are four series that make up the total series. I read all four online yesterday. Actually, the series holds a very special place in my heart because it was the first manga I ever read (it was also the first one I ever bought, too). The style isn't the best, but there are definitely some interesting expressions in there here are some examples (of the interesting expressions)

In the last two pictures, they have to smile because that's their ship's fuel. You  kind of have to look at their eyebrows and what they're saying to see the expression they want to make. I think it's funny, but that might just be my weird sense of humor.

In case you're wondering, yes, it's from Disney, and that's why there are a bunch of Disney Characters that pop up everywhere.

To put it (sort of) briefly summarize it, in Kingdom Hearts, which is the first series, the main character, Sora,

teams up with Donald and Goofy to find his friends who have been mysteriously transported to different worlds. On this quest, he runs into different Disney characters like Aladdin, Ariel, Belle and Beast, and so on. He also discovers that he has the ability to wield the keyblade,

which has the power to "unlock hearts" and destroy the heartless, who are these monsters who have been terrorizing the many worlds that Sora travels to.

In the second series, Chain of Memories, Sora travels to Castle Oblivion, where basically his memories are changed by a mysterious girl called Namine. In this series, he also encounters Organization XIII, who try to stop Sora from finding the secrets hidden in the castle. In the end of the series, Namine puts Sora to sleep in order to restore his memories.

Which brings us to the third series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, which happens during Chain of Memories. This is the game I got. It follows a different main character, Roxas, who is a part of Organization XIII. He can also use a keyblade. I like Sora a lot because he's funny and enthusiastic, but I love Roxas because he's just so awesome and adorable!

I mean, look at that face! (Oh, and as a by-the-way, I'm sorry about that huge rant, I just love the series so much)

What was I talking about before this? Oh yes, Christmas and Canada. On Christmas, we had a huge feast. My auntie Bernadette  (yes, I still call my aunts "auntie") made appetizers, and my Nana and auntie Clare made the main dinner and desserts. It was super good, but my favorite was the dessert. My Auntie Clare made Turtle (chocolate and caramel) Cheescake and Chocolate Eclair with strawberries (that's right Clare made Eclair. Ha)

We also had Christmas crackers, which are always fun to open. I got a little blue car. It's next to my flashdrive so you can see how small it is.

Isn't it cute? So yeah. Now we're just hanging out, doing homework and whatnot. I don't know why, but it seems so much more peaceful here. It is without a doubt my second home. I even have a room that is mine

We drink tea a lot here, as I might have mentioned before. In fact while typing this post I've already had two cups of tea. I love it. My Nana actually doesn't like tea that much, but she still drinks it as often as the rest of us do.

You know, I really love my Nana and Grandad. They are so nice and I know it costs a lot to have seven of us up here. My Nana just had knee surgery this summer, but she is always moving around, making food, doing laundry, washing dishes, etc. I try to tell her to sit down, but she doesn't listen to me.

My Grandad works just as hard. He actually still works every now and then by helping my aunt manage the store (the store being the paint store that my Grandad used to own, but has now handed down to my auntie Clare). He got up at 6:00 this morning to help her with something, and he didn't get back until, like, 2:00 in the afternoon. In addition, he does a lot of woodwork projects. When I was younger, he made my desk. That's right, he made it. A couple of years ago, he made my sisters and me bedside tables. It's amazing how talented he is.

(sorry it's not the best picture, but they don't really like their pictures being taken, so it's the best I could do)

I especially love staying up late with them. After we put my three younger siblings to bed, we sit upstairs in the living room. Sometimes we talk, but usually we read (and drink tea). Most people would probably think that that's boring, but I think that it's really nice.

This is the living room where we sit. It's really comfy

 Of course, when we stay up late, we are joined by their cat, Missy Chrissy, or Missy for short. He (yes, it's a boy cat named Missy. We thought he was a girl at first) is adorable. He loves to be pet and played with. He thinks that he's the king of the house, which he kind of is.

 He's also super fluffy, especially his tail. Of course he's not as fluffy as one of my aunt's cats, Winston. We call him Sir Winston Fluffykins, because he's so fluffy and he reminds my Nana of Sir Winston Churchill (hence the "Sir" at the beginning of his name). Here's a picture I took of him a couple of years ago. I swear that this wasn't edited in photoshop or anything. It is honestly what he looks like

It's okay, you can laugh.

Anyways (I'm sorry this is so long! I promise that I'm almost done), since we're in Niagara Falls, Canada, I made sure that we did visited the falls so that I could post pictures. That's right. I made my family endure the cold just so I could post pictures. You're welcome. We went at night, because they light up the falls with colors. Right now, they use twenty one xenon lights that are 30 inches in diameter to light them up (I got this information from a poster in the convenience center). It's really cool because you can see the beams of light because of the mist from the falls

In the winter, they also set up a huge lights that are in the shape of different Disney characters in a park nearby. They're huge and a lot of them move!

Unfortunately, my camera started glitching out, and I couldn't get a picture of the actual falls....so here are some from Google!

If you've never seen them I very highly recommend it. They're beautiful, especially at night. And if you can handle it, I think going in the winter is even better. I really like how everything around the falls is frozen (like the trees and the lamps and stuff), but the falls themselves are still flowing and roaring over the edge.

There, now I'm done. Again, I'm sorry it was so long. Happy New Year!