Friday was a snow day in Toronto. It was also the day that the new Clint Eastwood film, Gran Torino, opened, so, at lunchtime, I headed out in the storm to buy tickets for the 7.40pm show. Mostly to avoid lining up later to buy tickets but some screenings sell out on opening night (most recently, as I recall, for Snakes on a Plane, which I admit seeing on its opening night) but there were about only 25 people willing to venture out in the wind and snow this time. And, it was way better than Snakes on a Plane, too. For Clint fans, it's obviously a must see but, I recommend it even for casual Clint fans. At 78, Clint stills knows his craft. We liked it. My grandfather drove a yellow Gran Torino for a couple of years when I was about 11 or 12 - might have been just a Torino.

Got up early Saturday and drove to the Queens Quay Loblaws to get the turkey. We're having my family to the condo for Christmas Dinner this year. Got a fresh turkey and loads of other stuff, just beat the huge line-ups and were home in time to get 2 messages from Siobhan's mother advising us to wait until Tuesday to buy the turkey. We could have waited and picked up the same turkey on Tuesday but our fridge is as good as Loblaws fridge, isn't it?

Sunday, I was cleaning up and ruminating on Christmas details during the early games and my Pro-line ticket blew up early as the Lions failed to win for the 15th time this year. Then, I watched the first quarter of the Bills game. It inspired me to go skating across the street at the Harbourfront rink as the second quarter started. The first quarter was a disaster - the kind that poor teams - especially those with "nothing" to play for - very rarely can turn around, but, as was anticipated by some, the team seems to like and respect Dick Jauron and, in the second half, it showed. I don't know if that's counter-productive in the long term but it's not a bad thing. I am also certain that, psychologically, once you have been eliminated from the playoffs, the pressure is relieved - or re-focused on your individual job, next year, free agency - whatever - but not on getting a birth in the tournament and seeing where you can go. Teams play differently once they are out. Some better and some worse and it's sometimes hard to know what it means but its different when you are just playing out the schedule.

Not to take away from what was a really good effort against a playoff calibre Broncos team (who must now travel to San Diego to decide the AFC West in what might be next week's best game). The Bills played 3 quarters of pretty good football yesterday and what I liked most besides Fred Jackson, was Edwards, who looked like he is not as scared to throw the ball down the field as he was through the month of November.

So, one more game next Sunday against the Patriots with a chance to go 8-8 and show the home fans that there might be hope for next year. The Patriots will have something to play for so it could be fun to play the spoiler again. I want Edwards to continue to build for next year. Next year - yeah, that's it. Next year will be the year.

Here's hoping that whatever we all do for the holidays, that we enjoy it as much as we can. As I write this, the winter solstice is some 15 hours past and each day will now grow longer, the sun will rise a little higher in the sky and the Stonehenge druids can take most of the next 12 months off. We will be off to the cottage Friday. Maybe we will take the ABS canoe to the creek for some December paddling.