santa and the gnomes

christmas in the hospital wasn't so bad. nick woke at the ronald mcdonald house to a garbage bag full of presents for Ford and here at the hospital, i woke to teddy bears tucked into Ford's crib and later Santa walked the halls handing out more giant bags of gifts for the kids. not that Ford noticed the pressies, but he certainly noticed Santa and wouldn't take his eyes off him:


more than presents, aren't the holidays about food? Nick brought a pancake breakfast in with him and also smuggled champagne for mimosas in paper cups. later we made the mistake of using the certificates for a "holiday meal" in the hospital's "terrace cafe" for lunch, but our senses were rejuvenated by the unexpected christmas dinner Lindsay brought us. it was the best food we'd had in days.

thanks for the phone calls, texts and emails throughout the day friends - it was a lovin' lovely day!

here's Ford opening one of the many RMH gifts (note the vacant right cheek as he's off oxygen!):

and obviously charmed by its contents:
the hospital was all but deserted so we saddled up Ford and went for a walk through many empty hallways in both the old and new SickKids buildings.
this hospital is very very big - this is one corner of it as seen from the 8th floor:

our favourite find from our exploring was this "asteroid":
inside each crater is an incredibly detailed, minute and for the most part odd diorama like this urban gnome setting (thanks macro lens on the new digital camera):
now it's monday and the hospital is partially back up to it's regular hub bub - it won't fully resume until after new years. Nick is on a plane back to vancouver for 5 days to dismantle, clear out and, as he has built art right into the walls, dry wall and paint his studio at UBC. so Ford and i will be returning to the asteroid as just the two of us for this week and i will surely be haggered come saturday.

we hope you had a happy holidays!