{"id":267197,"date":"2015-12-18T16:18:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=267197"},"modified":"2024-11-11T17:25:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T22:25:40","slug":"ingram-family-christmas-letter-for-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2015\/12\/18\/ingram-family-christmas-letter-for-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Ingram Family Christmas Letter for 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We started the year with our usual trek up to The Farm near Peterborough, which had turned into a winter wonderland<\/a>, so we scraped the pond<\/a> and did some skating. We had the usual feast of gourmet creations, including an awesome turkey dinner with Zoe’s friend Jade and Kris and Marc’s niece Becca and Stephanie and our friends Barb and Lori<\/a>, and my famous yin-yang caviar pie<\/a>, which I stole from Marc and Kris. Back in Toronto, Meaghan premiered her cool new hairdo<\/a> and Zoe performed in her school’s presentation of the play Legally Blonde, playing the sarcastic lesbian<\/a> character \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got a cool email from my friend Rob Hyndman in which his dad Bob — who flew with my father in German — shared photos from a famous incident in which my dad tried to help steer a fighter jet and it wound up skidding off the runway and into a field<\/a> (something about the front steering wheel control being different than he was used to). We went to Orangeville for one of Zoe’s hockey games and the hockey dads had an impromptu cookout in the parking lot, with condiments on a foldout ironing board<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon it was Winterlude time<\/a>, with skating on the canal and poutine and beaver tails, and it turned into a bit of a whiteout at one point<\/a>. Ottawa even has these cool new enclosures where you can put your skates on without freezing to death, which is nice<\/a>. Unfortunately, 2015 saw some bad news as well — I and the rest of the writers at Gigaom were told in March that the company had essentially run out of money, and the funders didn’t want to put any more in, so it was closing immediately. It was a pretty big shcok — I had been talking to Om Malik, my friend and the founder, about a job offer from the Wall Street Journal and he never mentioned the possibility that Gigaom might shut down. After much deliberation, I decided to turn down the job with the Wall Street Journal (they wanted me to move to San Francisco) and accepted a job with Fortune magazine. Onward!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putting all of that behind me, we put winter behind us as well and headed south, where we did a swamp tour of the Everglades<\/a>, complete with alligators<\/a> (which our guide called over and fed by hand<\/a>) and some of the group got to put their feet in the sand near Miami Beach — I had to wait with the car so we didn’t get towed \ud83d\ude42 We spent the night in a tiny apartment where we somehow crammed all seven of us into bunkbeds, and then it was off on a cruise<\/a> with lots of pools and hot tubs<\/a> and our own little balcony<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First stop was Cozumel in Mexico, where we got to hold a giant parakeet<\/a> and rented these dune buggy-style<\/a> vehicles and bounced through the jungle till we got to a cenote — a public watering hole — where we jumped in<\/a> and swam around. Then we drove back and Dave made sure to drive straight through the only puddle of mud<\/a> we saw on the entire trip, which Jenn was not impressed by but everyone (including Dave) thought was hilarious. We also rented these little scooter-style mini-subs<\/a> where you put your head into a plastic bubble so you don’t need tanks. They kept us tied to a rope<\/a> so we didn’t really get to drive around, which was too bad, and they showed us various aquatic lifeforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next was Key West, where we rented some Sea-Doos and rode them all around<\/a> the entire island through the waves, and stopped at a sand bar and Sandra smashed into a wave so hard she flew off and lost her glasses<\/a>. We wandered around Key West a bit, where for some reason there are wild chickens running all over everywhere<\/a>, and we saw Ernest Hemingway’s place<\/a> with all the cats but we didn’t go in because it seemed too expensive. We went to bars and drank out of pineapples<\/a> in an attempt to blend in, and saw the house that belonged to the famous naturalist John James Audobon<\/a> and then it was back to Florida<\/a>. And then back to Scarborough and some more of Zoe’s hockey games with the Scarborough Sharks<\/a>. Then Becky and I did a quick trip down to Saratoga Springs<\/a> in upstate New York state for a conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stopped in at Dave and Jenn’s on the way back from New York for a chocolate fondue<\/a> (because why not) and went to a sugar bush near Kingston for some maple syrup and pancakes<\/a> and a hay ride. Zoe got invited to take part in a special theatre presentation through Hart House, which she really enjoyed<\/a>, and she won an award for most outstanding performance! And then pretty soon it was time for Becky<\/a> and I to fly to Perugia for the annual journalism festival there. We stayed at our favourite little hotel in Rome with its French Art Deco-inspired sitting room<\/a> and its cute little balcony<\/a> and we visited the Spanish steps<\/a> and the Trevi fountain<\/a> (which was being cleaned) and ate at our favourite little hole in the wall, Piccolo Bucco — whose name literally means little hole<\/a>. And we walked past the Piazza Barberini<\/a>, near where we stayed the first time we came to Rome, and the fabulous Piazza Della Repubblica<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Rome, we took to train to Venice, where stayed in a fantastic little room at the top of one of the old palazzos<\/a> right on the Grand Canal. The view from the sitting room outside the bedroom was spectacular<\/a>. One of the best decisions we made in Venice was to buy an all-you-can-ride pass for the vaporetto — the water bus that goes throughout Venice. We could go wherever we wanted, and get on and off as many times as we wanted, so we took it down the Grand Canal and saw some amazing palazzos<\/a> and churches<\/a>, all the way to Saint Mark’s Square where we saw the Doge’s Palace<\/a>. Naturally we saw a lot of gondolas as well<\/a> of course, and the gondoliers with their blue and white striped shirts, and we walked across a lot of bridges, including the famous Rialto bridge<\/a>. At dinner time we found a table<\/a> at a nice little place<\/a> right beside one of the canals. Venice at night<\/a> is almost more beautiful than it is during the day time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We even took the vaporetto out to the islands near Venice, like The Lido — which is normally a popular beach spot, but not in April<\/a> \ud83d\ude42 Some spectacular buildings<\/a>. Then it was on to Burano, whose main claim to fame is the amazing<\/a> variety of colourful<\/a> buildings that line its canals<\/a>, We also visited its less colourful neighbour Murano, which is still beautiful<\/a> and is primarily known for its blown glass. Back in Venice, we travelled around some more and saw more of Saint Mark’s Square, including the amazing clock tower<\/a> there, which dates back to the 15th century and has a balcony where mechanical figures come out at different times. We wandered around the city sort of aimlessly for quite a while and eventually decided that despite the cost (90 Euros) that we had to go on a gondola ride, so we did<\/a>. Our gondolier said he was a terrible singer, so we didn’t get any songs (probably just as well) but he was a fountain of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our way back from Venice to Perugia, we stopped in Florence<\/a> and I put my backpack under my seat without thinking and then when we went to move seats a few minutes later it was gone — pulled out from behind I think. I reported it to the police in the train station, which was quite comical: all the older polizei were in the back room smoking and watching soccer, so they sent a young kid out who didn’t speak English. When I mimed having my backpack stolen, he said “Dove?” but I didn’t understand him, so he said it louder \ud83d\ude42 When I still didn’t get it, he yelled back to the older cops “Comme se dice dove?” and they answered “Where.” So he asked “whay-er” and I mimed the train, and then signed a form which I’m sure he threw out as soon as we were done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within an hour of losing the backpack, which had my computer and a portable hard drive (but thankfully not my phone or passport) I had gotten emails about someone trying to reset my Gmail password and my iTunes password, so I logged out of Google and changed all my passwords and that was that. Not a big deal, but still kind of irritating. The upside was that when we got to Perugia, the co-founder of the journalism festival, Arianna, was so sorry that I had been robbed that she decided to pamper us (she had never heard the term “pampered” before, and had a great time asking us if we were pampered every time we saw her). so she gave us the royal suite<\/a> in the Brufani Palace hotel, which rents for about 3,200 Euros a night, and has a whole separate sitting room with couches<\/a> and a fireplace. It was great to be back<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While we were there we decided to do a bus trip to Assisi, which is only about an hour away from Perugia, and we did a tour of the basilica of St. Francis<\/a>, with a great guide who explained all the murals done by Giotto and the other Renaissance masters. The basilica was built as two churches one on top of the other, with the bottom one<\/a> for the peasants and the upper one<\/a> for the royalty. We had a lunch in Assisi that took about three hours, with five courses, which is apparently standard in Umbria. Back in Perugia, we took a nice long hike down the main Corso and up into the far reaches of the town, to one of my favourite spots: an ancient circular church<\/a> that used to be a pagan temple<\/a> when it was built in the year 500 or so. We had lots of lunches<\/a> in the piazza on the Corso and some great dinners, including one at our favourite Ristorante del Sole, which is on the side of a hill with huge windows<\/a> facing Assisi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in Toronto, it was time for our spring trip to Canada’s Wonderland, where there were many coasters<\/a> to be ridden<\/a> and mini donuts to be eaten, and Wade carried Caitlin<\/a> around when she got tired. Meaghan and I went for a hike<\/a> up Highland Creek near our house, and Zoe sang in the choir<\/a> and Becky and I and the girls met up with her cousin Libbie<\/a> and her family at the restaurant in High Park. Meaghan got a new MacBook for her birthday<\/a> and then graduated<\/a> from the University of Ottawa with a combined degree in linguistics and gender studies and we celebrated by going for tepanyaki<\/a> with her friend Nicole. At the cottage there was hammock time<\/a> and lots of kayak sunsets<\/a> and reading on the boat<\/a> time and coffee cruises<\/a> and we rebuilt the stairs down to the beach because the ice stole a bunch of our sand away and the steps were too high<\/a>. And I even proved that I could still slalom water-ski (I definitely look cool in this photo but I’m pretty sure I fell over just after this was taken<\/a>) and had some time for golf<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We visited Go Home as we often do in the summer, for canoeing<\/a> and playing in the falls<\/a> and French toast on the dock<\/a> and guitar<\/a> on the porch. I built a canoe and kayak rack with virtually no help whatsoever, except for the odd webpage, and I think it turned out pretty well<\/a>! Becky’s mom helped pay for us to rent a different cottage in Muskoka this time — a great old place right on a point near Bala, with a huge deck<\/a> for watching the sunset (and for diving off<\/a>) and a smaller deck on the boathouse<\/a> for the morning sun. The guy who built it had a thing for the sea, because there’s a giant old sailing buoy light fixture and a massive steering wheel light fixture in the living room<\/a>. The upper floor has a huge steel chain going from a huge eyehook on either side at roof height (the ceilings are easily twenty feet high upstairs) which I assume is to keep the whole place from falling apart. And there’s a huge ship’s bell out by the point<\/a>, and a massive chain and anchor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dave brought an inflatable party island, which was very popular<\/a>, and the hammock<\/a> that came with the place was also very popular (with me at least). We made loads of beer-can chicken<\/a> and crammed everyone into the dining room<\/a> — you can see the buoy in the corner. Back at Golden Lake there were some more spectacular sunsets<\/a> and I got to play some guitar on the porch<\/a> with my nephew Curtis, who is getting quite good! Meaghan got a job as a “dust angel” (cleaning staff) at the hotel and resort down the road<\/a>. I built a viewing platform<\/a> out of the old pieces of the dock, because we bought a new (to us) Fendock from our friends Angela and Doug, and it is waaaay easier to put in and take out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becky and I made another whirlwind trip to New York where I spoke at a conference, and we spent some time in Times Square<\/a> (avoid the Elmos) and had a nice lunch<\/a> in Bryant Park, which has a beautiful old carousel<\/a> and fountain<\/a> and comes alive at night as well<\/a>. There’s also a great kiosk called Wafels and Dinges at the corner where you can get authentic Dutch stroopwaffels with caramel sauce (dinges means toppings). We had some oysters at the great oyster bar<\/a> underneath Grand Central Terminal, and then we had my birthday dinner at a steakhouse<\/a> near Times Square called Bond 45. It was a tomahawk chop with over a kilogram of meat<\/a> and then a bucket (a literal bucket) of mousse<\/a> for dessert. And then Becky rolled me back to our Airbnb \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that we did a backwoods canoe trip with Marc and Kris, to a lake not far from where they live in Buckhorn (they’ve been doing these trips for a couple of decades now). We did a couple of portages and had a small lake<\/a> pretty much to ourselves<\/a>, along with the gourmet meals that Marc and Kris make — double-smoked pork chops, back bacon, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, etc. It’s pretty rough. It did pour rain through the night and our tent leaked and dripped right on Becky’s head, which she definitely was not happy about<\/a>, but other than that it was a great trip! It got sunny<\/a> the next day and we even saw a bear climbing a tree at a campsite we passed on our way out of the lake to the first portage. When we got back we got a tour of Caitlin and Wade’s new house<\/a> in Ancaster, which is near Hamilton and has a big backyard deck<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it was back to the lake<\/a> for paddling and so forth, and some spectacular fall colours<\/a>. We hiked up to the lookout at my uncle’s place<\/a>, which we often do in the fall, and we were well rewarded<\/a>. Spent a weekend at the Farm cutting down trees (or almost<\/a> cutting them down anyway) and then I went to Phoenix in Arizona for a conference, and managed to get out for a great hike up a local rockpile<\/a> nearby, which offered a spectacular view<\/a> from the top. The end of the year brought some miscellaneous trips including a stroll along the Toronto waterfront and an impromptu dance party<\/a> under a musical sculpture, and then another quick trip to New York, where Becky and I were able to attend a taping of The Daily Show<\/a> with Trevor Noah, thanks to a friend who works there. We got some massive smoked meat sandwiches<\/a> at Katz’s Deli, visited our favourite carousel<\/a> at Bryant Park and the windows at Macy’<\/a>s and got a burger at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park<\/a> and toured the 9\/11 memorial museum<\/a>. We found a great little Italian restaurant in the Financial District, and then walked down to the bottom of Manhattan where there’s another carousel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was about it for the Ingrams in 2015. Hope you and yours had a great one as well and see you next year!<\/p>\n

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We started the year with our usual trek up to The Farm near Peterborough, which had turned into a winter wonderland, so we scraped the pond and did some skating. We had the usual feast of gourmet creations, including an awesome turkey dinner with Zoe’s friend Jade and Kris and Marc’s niece Becca and Stephanie … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Ingram Family Christmas Letter for 2015”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crsspst_to_mathewingramblogwordpresscom":true,"mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267197"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267730,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267197\/revisions\/267730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}