Another Christmas in Tucson

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The boys made tourtières and meat pies for Christmas!

I made blueberry and cherry pies!

The girls offered us a gastronomic 3-course meal for Christmas. We were completely blown away!

Aïsha prepared us a mango-avocado-shrimp tartare that could not have been better at an high end restaurant.

Mara made a Garlic Basil Chicken with Tomato Butter Sauce. It was delicious.

Mathilde made us a Layered Chocolate Cookie Sundae. Yum! I think that a tradition is born!

Mathilde made us a Layered Chocolate Cookie Sundae. Yum! I think that a tradition is born!

And on Christmas day, we went for a geocache hike on Brown Mountain. 

We love spending Christmas with this sweet family year after year!

It's the fourth Christmas that we spend in Tucson and it has become a tradition that we all look forward to. Pascale and Antonio always welcome us with open arms. It is such a treat to see their boys grow every year and to be enjoying the outdoors with them a bit more every year. 

On truth and moving on (and geocaching in Catalina State Park, AZ)

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Some days, the world you carefully crafted in your head collides with reality and the truth hits you in the face like a ton of bricks.

It’s usually on those days that you vaccum the USB key, that the dog eats a mouse trap (yes, he did), that you find out your awesome camera lens cannot be fixed for less than 600 US$ (which means almost 1,000 CAN$). Because, really, you wanted more bad news.

On those days when everything feels hard and heavy, you know you should be laughing, but right then, you simply can’t.

And you wonder why you do this to yourself.
Why you remain stuck.
Why you just can’t let go and move on.

My dad likes to say: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Isn’t that true?

And that’s what truth does to you. It guts you and puts you back together. Leaving you a bit shelled shock and sad, but also humbled to have found one more puzzle piece to fit into your own story. 

Hiking (and geocaching) up Brown Mountain, Tucson Mountain Park, AZ

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Scrouching to take a picture in the desert can be quite dangerous as I quickly found out... A friend had to remove the many needles poked in my butt (which took our friendship to a whole new level!). But I kept at it, pulling balls of jumping cacti from around my ankles, wincing... The light was so beautiful, it made the whole thing worth it... On the way back, I heard some coyote sing ... And then, there was the full moon...