Christmas in Victoria
I'm finally getting into the holiday spirit.
It's different in Victoria, for sure. On the one hand, there are a ton of Holiday activities. From the Santa Claus parade to the Parade of Lit Up Heavy Equipment, to the All-Tuba Christmas Carol Concert to the Huge Gingerbread House Competition. All this and more, within four blocks of our apartment.
But still, it feels odd. Maybe it's because we're walking around in light jackets, wearing toques as fashion accessories rather than the life saving head covering I'm used to.
There was a change for the better, however, when we went out gift shopping on Saturday. Cindy and I went to the Moss Street Christmas Market. It was completely jammed; part farmer's market, part handicrafts, and all awesome. We bought 90% of all our gifts at the market, either edible or up-cycled goodies.
My favourite stall was Xocolat Chocolate. The couple across the table from us farm their own cacao in Costa Rica then grind it to make bars that are absolutely exquisite.
After a few samples (ok, more than a few) we bought a handful of bars for gifts. Then, after we walked around the market, we went back and bought some more bars for ourselves.
As we walked home with bags of locally made gifts, we were quite happy. The sun was shining, shopping was done and we even had some chocolate for ourselves.
The guilty party
I just wish we had put them up higher on the shelf.
We woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of muffled chomping from the next room. You see, we forgot just how much our dog Buddy loves chocolate. Especially really expensive chocolate.
Cindy leapt up to the guest room to see Bud putting the final touches on his second chocolate bar. He gulped down everything - wrapper, foil and chocolate. We thought he was too old to get up on his hind legs, but he just needed the right incentive.
Now, chocolate is supposed to be bad for dogs. Not Buddy, though. This is not his first Premium Chocolate encounter. Even the foil he ingested isn't an issue; he's eaten rubber gloves in the past, and once ate a kilogram of protein powder from Ben's gym bag, including the ziploc bag it was stored in. No, Bud has iron guts.
So Merry Christmas, Buddy. Your present came early this year. I hope you enjoyed your first bean-to-bar chocolate. I'll wait for the next market for my treats.