Christmas in Calgary

Well, it has been a while since Christmas came and went. It's just been so hard to find the time to sit and blog. I am sure you all understand. Anyways, here is a brief look at what we were up to for our holidays.

We had decided that we didn't want to travel for Christmas this year so we hosted instead.  We had Nana, Papa and Aunt Janae come over Christmas Eve and stay until Boxing Day.  We had three days of great food, delicious treats and wonderful company.

Christmas day was a whirlwind of activity.  Surprisingly enough, scheduling the opening of gifts was a bit of a challenge.  After a delicious brunch, we anxiously waited for Hunter, who didn't arrive here until after noon. We were attending chuch at 1 pm so there just wasn't any time for presents at that point.  By the time we got home, Sophie was exhausted and needed a nap.  I think it was around 3 pm before we finally got around to opening the gifts.  Of course, it was well worth the wait and everyone was spoiled as usual. 

Sophie really enjoyed her first Christmas; she particularly liked the wrapping, ribbons and bows.  We briefly considered hiding some presents and rewrapping them for next year since there was only one gift she really seemed to notice.  But we thought she would eventually figure us out when she was older and looked back at the pictures.  The present she squealed for was a book with animal puzzle pieces that can be placed on the different pages.  It continues to be her favorite toy but has seen better days.  The front cover is standing on its last  leg.

She has thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had all the Van Ormans for dinner Boxing Day.  Ally came in a beautiful Christmas dress made mostly of sparkles.  This dress must have been magical because it left a trail of sparkles wherever she went.  She was sure to leave her magical trail in every room while she was here and to this day, our couches are still covered in sparkles!  We had our gift exchange before dinner, where each couple buys for another couple and the cousins exchange one gift as well.  We got a very cool pocket video cam from Jordan and Cyd.  I have tried to take some great videos but it is a bit hard when I have to hold Sophie's hand while recording.  The only shot I really seem to get is the back of her head.  Once she is on her own I will be able to take more.  Ryan and I made turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, veggies and a salad for dinner.  Ryan's mom took care of dessert.  We had two choices, a pumpkin dessert or a cranberry cake; I think almost everyone had a tough time choosing and just sampled a bit of each just to be fair.

For New Year's, we went to my Mom and Dad's house in Red Deer.  We had a wonderful dinner together and Mom, Dad, Mamie, Pepere, Julien, Chantelle and Ryan spent the evening playing games.  Unfortunately, I had to sit out of the games portion of our evening.  Sophie was having a particularly bad night with her teeth.  I spent most of the evening rocking her and trying to get her to sleep.  We spent the night and headed home the next day.

The rest of our Christmas/December pictures are here