We were finally getting into the holiday spirit this last weekend before Christmas Eve and we had the 2025 Mazda CX5 Sport Design in Rudolph’s nose red to get us there.
This is Mazda’s stylish compact SUV that has seen longevity and continues to garner great reviews year after year. It seats 5 comfortably with average cargo room.
The cabin is sporty with gloss black accents and red stitching against black leather components. Push button start and all the daily driving essentials like heated seats and wheel, plus individual climate control at your finger tips.
No major standouts, just the tried and true daily driver that we all know the brand to be.
Our weekend began with a house party. We came later so got what remain of the potluck to ourselves. I prefer eating this way, as I can indulge unabashedly and scoop as much as I want without feeling I should save some for the next person.
The assortment included homemade stew, wonton soup, and lumpia. Two different kinds of Chinese fried flat noodles with beef, sweet and sour pork, beef and broccoli, and egg fried rice. There was fried chicken from Nene’s, pepperoni and Hawaiian pizza from Papa John’s, and an assorted sushi platter. For dessert someone made chewy ginger molasses cookies and another person brought their mother’s homemade mango pudding. This was all splayed out for anyone to graze on throughout the night.
As much food as there was, there were more drinks. We brought our own and finished a regular bottle of wine and started in on another in magnum. There were soju, coolers, and even whisky straight. Thankfully I wasn’t the designated driver.
I especially enjoyed the planned group games. There was a well thought out jeopardy with boys against the girls, and all the categories were Christmas themed. There was pin the nose on Rudolph and a physical game that required bending down low to grab a paper bag with your teeth.
This took us late into the evening as we ate, drank, chatted, and even walked a dog.
The next day we went to Metrotown to get all our last minute Christmas shopping done. We went early enough to avoid much of the mall’s rush hour traffic.
We grabbed a wheatgrass and ginger shot and a boosted smoothie each from Booster Juice. Healthy fruit and vegetable fuel for the hustle and bustle ahead.
We would walk 4km around the mall, where we explored a few stores and ended up getting everyone on our list clothing or accessories. I even got to try Aritzia’a oversized super puff jacket and would have loved it in place of a beanbag chair at home.
With everything we needed and the wrapping paper and tape to wrap it with, we went home to do just that. A team effort with 10 presents made presentable using our cannabis themed name stickers, free from a local dispensary.
For lunch we ordered our usual Vietnamese delivery of bun bo hue, lemongrass chicken with spring rolls over vermicelli, and Vietnamese coffee from Super Bowl. We had this while watching the new Kraven movie.
Then when traffic dies down and it got even darker, we went back out for a car ride through our neighbourhood to enjoy some home Christmas light displays. We were left feeling festive and ready for Christmas eve in one day’s time.
