Time to get festive!

I must say it’s hard to feel festive with a lack of snow and no Christmas decorations in my apartment because I’d rather buy groceries than a tree. But last weekend, me and my new Vancouver friends (who are from the UK and Ireland and have delightful acents) took advantage of some of the free Christmas festivities happening around town.
Our first stop was Robson Square for some outdoor skating. I learned that this place had been closed for 9 years for reno's and with the Olympics coming soon there was a push to get it ready. It will be the International Hockey Centre during the Games. It's a great outdoor rink. They covered it which is smart with all the rain. Skating was free and it was cheap to rent skates. We had a really fun time. As a Canadian, you're pretty much born with skates on. This is not the case overseas. None of them had been skating for a good 15 years, some never skated. I hadn't skated since earlier this year and I was having a bit of trouble while kamakazee children weaved in between us.
They even had Christmas music playing and dimmed the lights as it got darker...so romantic, even more so when Caitriona and I held hands for balance while we skated. I had to laugh at the couples with the guy all good on his skates, and the girl - not dressed for skating at all - holding on for dear life and carrying her giant purse while she skated. It was good times. Glad they are keeping it free.

After skating the group split and the girls went to get crepes. delicious. Next, we hit Stantley Park for their Christmas lights display. We hoped to go on the train but it was sold out until a few hours later and we didn't want to hang around. So, we enjoying all of the lights that decorated the children's area of the park. There were tons of displays set up, even South Park had a scene. The best part was when we heard one kid say "Oh man, Jesus again" while passing a nativity scene. My camera sucked at taking pics of the lights for the most part, but this one turned out.



My night was made with this picture. I love Frosty.

All in all it was great to experience some of the free festivities going on around the city.







ps. I hope everyone reading this appreciates the positioning of the pictures...it was quite an effort...I was even editing the code! I feel pretty badass right now.