Back at 'er...

- I'm so glad I woke up on a farm yesterday morning, no less than 90 minutes away from any Boxing Day Sale. C'mon people, you got enough stuff for Christmas! My wife, who also stays away from such sales (for the most part), told me Old Navy in Saskatoon was opening at 4am.

- Christmas, as it always does, flew by... but that's because it's truly the best time of year. I had lots of time with both sides of the family, between Saskatoon and my parents' farm. It was obviously tough NOT having Christmas with my Grandma Stein, who passed away 2 months ago. We did get my Grandpa out to the farm for Christmas Dinner though. I never would have thought last Christmas would have been my Grandma's last.... things can sure change quick. Enjoy that family time!

- The birth of our daughter Bailey, and her first Christmas, made dealing with the loss of Grandma a little easier. She preferred gift bags to the actual presents... but was a good lil girl most or all of the time this past week. The camera we bought last month, kinda for Christmas, was a good investment!

- My holidays saw me do a lot of back-and-forth, and some farming last week. The three of us went to the farm last Saturday, Carly & Bailey then went up to Saskatoon for the rest of the week, while I stayed at the farm till Thursday, doing the morning and evening chores (baby-sitting close to 100 cows). My parents (who never really go anywhere!) were able to get away for a few days before Christmas... a well-deserved break! Although it was obviously more manual labour than sitting behind a microphone is... it actually felt like a mini-vacation for me too! The phone barely rang, and my youngest sister, who's in Grade 12, still had school till Wednesday, so I basically hung out on the farm, watched some World Jr's, some NFL, and spent a little time outdoors. I went to Saskatoon Wednesday night, had the tradition Ukrainian Christmas Eve supper there, had Christmas morning there, and was back to the farm by noon Christmas Day for another big meal.

- Like I said before my time off, the radio station treats us well over Christmas/New Year's. Everyone ends up working some stat holidays (like today and tomorrow officially, with Chirstmas/Boxing Day on the weekend), but in exchange, everyone in the newsroom gets a Monday-Friday off, either Christmas week or New Year's week... and everyone's off Christmas Day regardless. I'm making up for my week off this week, doing morning News & Sports on GX94 from Monday-Friday... which means 4am alarm clocks, close to 2 hours earlier than my usual wake-ups. REALLY looking forward to the Junior 'A' scene getting back at it later this week. We'll have both Yorkton/Melville games Thursday & Saturday, and our 3rd Robin's Roundtable Wednesday from 7:00 - 7:30 at Robin's Donuts in Yorkton with members of the Terriers and Millionaires' Coaching staffs.

- I want to once again express my condolonces to the Terriers, the Ochapowace Thunder, and the Cameron family after the tragic passing of Myles last week. It's a story you hope you never have to cover as a reporter... but it's something that will be talked about leading up to the Terriers' next action, and it'll be on everyone's minds around here, likely for the rest of the season and beyond.

- The Melville Fox FM Prairie Fire are at the Mac's 'AAA' Midget Tournament in Calgary, and play their first game tonight, 7:00 against the Fraser Valley Phantoms. The girls play 4 games in 4 days in the round robin portion of the tournament.

- The exhibition portion of the World Under-17 Hockey Championships goes tomorrow (TUE) in Winnipeg and Portage. The round robin opens up Tuesday. Team West will be represented by Melville's Damon Severson (Kelowna Rockets) and Swan Valley Stampeder defenseman Landon Peel.

- The World Juniors kicked off yesterday on a good note for Team Canada. Six different goal scorers found the net, including 3 on the powerplay in a 6-3 win over the Russians. Canada's off today, and play the Czech's tomorrow, Norway Wednesday, and Sweden Friday. Team Canada doesn't have an Eberle, Tavares or Hall this year, but they're deep, BIG, and physical. Love watching guys like Zach Kassian, Marcus Foligno, and Casey Cizikas so far. Jaden Schwartz had an assist in yesterday's win, playing on the top line with Brayden Schenn and Louis Leblanc.