Olympics Redux

As everyone knows, I absolutely LOVED the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.  It was, hands down, the best two week party I'd ever been to.  Come to think of it, it's been the only two week party I've ever attended.  But I digress.

Suffice it to say I had a ball.

Joe and I opened our home to two Olympic volunteers.  We went to Whistler to watch the luge, skeleton and bobsleigh events.  We went to the Callaghan Valley to see cross-country and ski jumping.  Our guest bedrooms were revolving doors with friends and family alike.  My sisters came.  My mom came.  My kids came.  Some cousins came.  We attended medal ceremonies, sang 'O Canada' on buses crammed with other like-minded Olympic enthusiasts, strolled the streets of Vancouver immersed in a flood of patriotic smiles.  We certainly did our share of flag waving.

Joe, my sisters and I at the ski jump hill in the Callaghan Valley.

Miss Olympics Canada at the Whistler Sliding Centre

But our Olympic revelry didn't stay on the mountain.  When we weren't physically at a sporting event, a core group of us were in each other's homes every other night taking in the Olympics on TV.  (Or two TVs as it were.  At one house two televisions were set up side by side so we wouldn't miss a moment of Olympic action.)  On President's Day we ate a cake iced in red, white and blue to celebrate the accomplishments of the American athletes.  We drank vodka straight up while we watched the Russia vs Canada hockey game.  We even had a Scandinavia night complete with gefelte fish, for Pete's sake!  

Paige with her new American friends on President's Day.

I've never worn so much red and white in my life!

Ball hockey on Granville Street in Vancouver.

Chowing down on gefelte fish on Scandinavia night.

Fast forward one year to February 2011.

Our hard core group of Olympic lovers decided to get together once a week to watch the highlights from my Olympics DVDs.  (Of course I ordered the boxed set!)  Five consecutive Wednesday nights found us plopped on couches in each other's living rooms re-living our favourite Olympic moments.

We ate, we drank, and talked about how much fun was had when we hosted the world.  Those mid-week gatherings gave us something to look forward to during the dreary month of February.

And we got to re-live the best damn two week party we'd ever been to.