"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose..." soft holiday music wafted through the restaurant.  Almost every table and booth was full.  The Best Western had this wonderful restaurant that served supper and provided the breakfast buffet included with the room.  Tinsel sparkled, greenery twined across the beams of the ceiling and red Christmas accents made the dining room warm and inviting.  We ordered our food, enjoying the ambiance.  It made my heart long to be home and be getting our home ready for Christmas.  It was only late November but my surroundings made me feel I was way behind in holiday preparations.  

Soon our food arrived and we at our smoked meat platter for two like we hadn't eaten in days!  The brisket, pulled pork and Chorizo with fries and deep fried mushrooms tasted amazing.  A couple of tables over was celebrating a birthday, and the customary "Happy Birthday" song rang out.  We smiled and clapped along with most of the restaurant patrons.  Then it settled back to the normal buzz.

Exhausted after a day of travel, we went to bed at our usual Selke 10 pm bedtime.  Back when we were dating, Walter's parents would sit visiting or watching TV in the evenings.  But at 10 pm sharp, the TV was turned off, all the lights were darkened and we would be staring at each other like, what just happened?  So we would often head out then to visit Walter's friends in town. Now we are the old folks that can't stay up past 10 pm!

In planning the trip, I was so glad how God arranged us to be able to have a full day in Halifax.  All our visits and flights worked out so we could participate in the Executive meeting back in Saskatchewan via Zoom.  Walter chaired the 6 hour meeting and I took minutes.  We had arranged the furniture in the hotel room to accommodate the tablet so we could see and hear our NCEM Executive team.  But no matter how comfortable we tried to make ourselves, it is still a very long day to be stuck inside when in an interesting city like Halifax!  When I took a look out the window, it was grey and raining most of the day.  By the time our meeting wound up at 5:30 pm (which was only 3:30 pm in SK), it was dark outside.  

As soon as the meeting adjourned, we disconnected from Zoom and decided to escape!  We put on our coats and jumped in the truck.  We didn't know where we were going but we headed to the harbour/wharf area.  Soon we realized we had no idea where to eat, no recommendations or directions to follow.  We drove up and down the narrow streets, but only saw a couple small pizza places and convenience stores open!  Obviously our wing it strategy wasn't working and the one-way streets had us heading away from the wharf.

Then we saw signs for the Halifax Shopping Centre and thought, hey, there could be restaurants in that vicinity.  Following those signs, we entered the parking lot and realized this mall was a smaller version of the West Ed Mall!  We memorized the parking lot number and the door we entered into so we wouldn't get lost.  Then we entered the mall - decked out in all festivity for the holidays.  Crowds were doing their Christmas shopping and another pang struck me!  But I tried to just enjoy the festive atmosphere and realize we were in no rush to get ready for Christmas.  It was over a month away!  And besides that, our kids would be gathering at New Years for our family celebration.  Lots of time!

We wandered the halls of the mall, then decided to search for the Food Court.  Teenagers sat or walked in big groups, older couples strolled hand in hand window shopping, young mothers pushed strollers and kiosks were set up with all manner of gift ideas.  We took an escalator down and found the Food Court bustling with hungry shoppers!  We walked up and down along all the fast food options and then came back to the Greek Souvlaki & Salad booth.  With our food containers and bottles of water on small trays, we looked for an empty table.  Soon, a group stood and left their spot and we quickly slid our trays to claim it.  Having only eaten our breakfast buffet and snacking on a muffin and fruit during our Executive meeting's lunch break, we were famished.  The Greek cuisine was delicious and we ate quickly.  Then we decided to vacate the table for other hungry patrons; we wandered through more of the mall but only browsed, not purchasing anything.

And then we headed to the parking lot and found our vehicle with no trouble.  It was nice to get a bit of fresh air and a change of scenery, but it was dark and we had an early morning flight to catch.  So, back to the hotel to pack up and prepare for our next adventure:  Happy Valley, Labrador!

                                                Halifax Harbour - stock photo!