Alison Ginn, Katy Ginn, Richard Krempulec, and Peter Ginn enjoy a walk at Carruthers Point on Boxing Day 2010. (Photo by Matthew Ginn © 2010)

One of our family’s traditions is the Christmas afternoon walk. Like our tradition of each taking charge of preparing part of Christmas dinner, I suspect this was started by my mother, who needed a little breathing space after the chaos of Christmas morning with three (or more) young children.

Perrie and I spent much of Christmas afternoon making snowmen and didn’t go for a walk this year. But I did get the chance to wander around Carruthers Point on Boxing Day with my parents, Aunt Katy and Richard. (Stuart was there too, but headed off in the opposite direction to the rest of us.)

Kingston (my hometown by default) is usually windy, grey, damp, and snowy/slushy/icy in the winter, blending perfectly with the historic limestone buildings of downtown and the university. Boxing Day 2010 was windy and cold, but mostly sunny, so it was a relatively nice day for a walk.