For the first time in several years our family drove back to the Chicago area and Michigan to spend the holidays with relatives. Here are some highlights:
- We pulled into Jackson, Michigan, on Christmas Day, entirely forgetting that we would be unable to find food virtually anywhere on a holiday. Finally found sandwiches at a variety store called Yogi's Beer Company.
- We discovered that what we in southern Ontario call "variety stores" are called "convenience stores" in Michigan. And what Michiganders (yes, that's a word!) call "variety stores" people in our neck of the woods call "dollar stores."
- We ran into an exceedingly brief but horrific snow storm at the southeastern tip of Lake Michigan. It's called lake effect snow, and I remember it well from my years living in South Bend, Indiana.
- We saw The Polar Express, based on the two-decade-old book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg, a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's definitely worth seeing, if only for the special effects.
- I read Alexis Troubetzkoy's Imperial Legend, an investigation into the supposed disappearance of Tsar Alexander I of Russia in 1825 and his subsequent reappearance as the starets Fyodor Kuzmich eleven years later. Kuzmich died in 1864, during the reign of Alexander II. I'll have more to say about this fascinating book later.
- On New Year's Day Nancy and I were given the grand tour of the Hillsdale Academy, Hillsdale, Michigan, by my brother-in-law, Ken Calvert, who is headmaster of the school.
- We got through the border at Windsor quickly and easily. The same could not be said for those travelling into the US at Detroit. Huge lines stretched across the Ambassador Bridge. We were glad not to be going in that direction.
- We were served vodka martinis by another brother-in-law near Chicago. That's the first time I had ever had one of these drinks. I didn't finish it, but I did eat the olive.
May God's blessings rest upon everyone as we enter a new calendar year.
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