Yes, finally the dust has settled and I can post about our Christmas. Perhaps you were wondering if we even did Christmas this year. Well, yes we did, and it was very lovely.
We have had a very busy Christmas season in our house. Between the kids all doing things with their classes as they wrapped up before the break, skating with our church, church services and kid's production and an amazing Christmas Eve service, I am finally starting to feel like I am relaxed.
Our Christmas Eve service was a real highlight and challenge for me. I played the cello which I am teaching myself. I don't get too nervous much on stage anymore but my hands were shaking as I played this instrument in front of strangers for the first time! It went well and am proud of myself for pushing out of my comfort zone and doing something scary!
Christmas Eve was also memorable for our girls who happen to both loose teeth on this night! Crazy right? Never happened before. Cici lost hers just before we left and Bean lost hers during the service! Didn't know if the tooth fairy worked on Christmas Eve, but she did and deserves some overtime for it too!
It is a tradition in our house to open our stockings right after we get home from Christmas Eve service. The kids were very excited and as expected, we all got new Christmas PJ's to wear to bed.
It is also a tradition or ours to take a picture of the kids first thing Christmas morning.
Here it is.
We have had better "in front of the tree pictures."
This is one of J Man's toys that has now become my nemesis. It looked like such a great idea in Costco.
He opened it and was overjoyed to have a marble run. He opened the box and out spilled bags, lots and lots of bags with lots and lots and lots of tiny parts. Oh, boy. The first instructions are to count all the pieces and see if they are all there. Ya, right. Anyway, as the morning progressed he decided to open many of the bags and dump out the parts. They were all together on the floor, no big deal. Until though as I began to put it together and realized all the bags were numbered and to put it together you needed to match the numbers with the pieces that matched the instructions. Oh, boy. I did put it all together though. It took 4 hrs. 4 long, long hours. It required much patience as I turned each page on the instructions and found all the mistakes I made in the pages before as the pieces would not match up.
It is together. It works. It is NEVER coming apart.
We were honoured to host Christmas dinner at our house this year and blessed to have my parents, Paul's parents and my grandparents over for dinner. It was such a great time with them all and the meal was very yummy! My grandpa always rejoices in "4 generations" under one roof. That is something to rejoice in!
A few days later, we headed to Paul's brother's house to celebrate with them and Paul's parents. Again, so great to see them and spend time with family. We ordered in Chinese Food, also really great!
Well, I guess the year is coming to a close. We will take down all Christmas things soon and get our house back into order. I always miss Christmas when it is gone but am looking forward to a new year and what it will bring!
