Recently, I've been writing a lot about traditions and childhood memories. I'm not quite sure where it's all coming from, but here's another one for you. The Royal Winter Fair is an annual agricultural fair in Toronto, one that I used to go to every year as a kid. That tradition ended quite a while ago for likely the same reason we stopped going to Chudleigh's: they started charging admission. However, this year I decided that it was finally time for me to go back and see if anything had changed from how I remembered it. Turns out, it hadn't! What a relief.

This time around, I also learned how my priorities have changed over the years. As a kid, my favourite part of "The Royal" was the animals. I loved the animals in that petting zoo as if they were my pets. I fed the goats, I brushed the horses, and my entire family would have conversations with the cows (we're animal people.. I don't know). This year, I spent most of my time looking at the UTMOST Canadian booths, and tasting the UTMOST Canadian foods. I have never before seen such a vivid representation of all the Canadian stereotypes in one room. I'm talking flannel, toques, facial hair, maple syrup, the works. I think that is all part of the fair's charm, though. It is a direct manifestation of Canada during the holidays, and it definitely put me in the holiday spirit.

Another one of my favourite segments of the fair is the live auction. Adrian and I probably spent about half an hour standing there listening to this guy speak. Auctioneers have always amused me, but this guy was in a world of his own. Did you know that they actually have a chant that they methodically say in order to keep track of the bidding? To me, it seemed like he was just trying to fill the empty air space between bidding prices with "bibbidy bobbidy", but I suppose that's not the case. It sure was entertaining either way.

And surprise surprise, I ate a full meals worth of samples while we were there. What can I say? I like free food. The cinnamon bun we actually paid for, and received fresh and hot out of the oven (we even watched them come out). SO worth it. That, however, when combined with freshly poured maple taffy (very Canadian) and homemade peanut butter fudge definitely gave us some cavities.

The Royal Winter Fair is on until Sunday (November 12th), so definitely be sure to check it out and reminisce in your Canadian childhood with me. If you do end up going, let me know what you think or what your favourite part of the fair was in the comments!