So today I invited my mom, Estelle, Imran & Megan (Frank was invited but he had to work, so did Maggie) to my house to celebrate xmas and it was fun.  They came over for lunch because Megan and Frank had something to do in the evening but still it’s alright.  Brandon and I went to pick up Megan from her house so she didn’t have to take a taxi, we got back around 10:30am and lol she was entertained by Slinky being cute which frankly isn’t hard.  Imran and Estelle came by around 11 and my mom soon after that.

We had an early lunch and from there we discussed the upcoming trip, not really sure what to do because we initially planned to go to Europe in May but by that time Estelle will be 7 months pregnant and my mom is worried about possible problems.  We’ll figure it out, I’m looking forward to anything though I know Maggie would really like to go to Europe…

After lunch we went downstairs to the xmas tree to open some presents and…  I forgot to take pictures but needless to say Brandon enjoyed himself most. 😉  Around 1:30pm things were ending, I guess my mom missed Brandon because she wanted to take him over to her home to play so I drove Megan home.

Around 3, my mom dropped Brandon off and Maggie returned shortly after I gave her a new badminton bag as a gift and she gave me a very cool BioLite CampStove!

The BioLite CampStove works in the same fashion biomass/wood gasification system as my Solo Stove but this one has a thermoelectric generator (the orange piece) that can charge electrical devices via a USB port.  Very cool for emergency uses, this will allow me to keep my phone and other electronics pretty much charged indefinitely should I lose power for some reason.  That and I have USB chargers for my batteries so I should be good for whatever happens. 🙂  Um, I’m not crazy!

Anyway maybe I’ll do a review on it later but this is something I’ve wanted for a while and I think I’ll buy the KettlePot and maybe a few other accessories that could come in handy.  With Brandon getting involved in Beavers, I’m going to be doing more and more outdoor stuff and I absolutely can’t wait! 😀

We relaxed the rest of the evening and will be going to Amanda’s place to celebrate with my father’s side of the family.  I haven’t really talked to my dad much so it’ll be interesting to see how things go but I’ll do what I can to keep things civil.