Making Christmas Memories...

Warning...this is a long one folks! I'm using this as part of my journal, so read what you want, & skip the rest. :)

This Christmas was like no other for our family. Both Natalie & Jordan stayed in Utah and spent the holidays with their in laws. It was our first time not being home all together for Christmas. I tried not to dwell on that, but was so thankful that they have a new extension of family to love and be loved by. As manager of a shoe store, Bently had a very busy schedule both before & after Christmas, so our time with him was extremely limited too. We finally figured out how we could make being together all happen.... We held "Christmas morning" with Bently on Dec. 23 here at home.

Amy reading the Christmas story to us

Santa didn't visit, but we opened the gifts from each other, & had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast casserole, & cinnamon rolls etc. We had a fun morning together. I wanted the day to be special for Bently, & felt badly that he couldn't be with us on the real day. I had also planned to cook Christmas lunch (ham, potatoes, etc etc.) & already prepared alot of that meal ahead of time. After our gift opening & cleaning up Bently insisted that we were already full (which we were), & that we just needed to finish loading up the van and head off on our trip to Canada where we were spending Christmas with my parents.

So...that's what we did! We pulled out of the driveway at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 23.

We arrived at Grandma & Grandpa Wilson's house in Ontario on Christmas Eve. As soon as Amy & Ryan got out of the van they jumped into the snow. Amy just giggled and squealed and was so excited!!

Traditionally our family acts out the Nativity on Christmas Eve while Kevin reads the story from the Bible. We were all pretty tired after our long drive, so here's how our evening ended up.
Grandma read a sweet story called "The Christmas Quilt". My talented niece, Jenny Gaskin, was the illustrator. If you don't have this book, I'd really recommend adding it to your Christmas collection. :)

Kevin read from Luke 2

Amy proudly played "Jingle Bells" on the piano while we all sang alongMilk & gingerbread cookies were set out for Santa--after being sampled ;) We followed tradition & all chose our little cereal boxes, placed our stockings by the chimney with care, said family prayer, and then tucked kids into bed. ZZzzzzzzz

Waiting to go see what Santa brought Christmas morning

Yeah, Santa brought me the Little Mermaid Barbie that changes color in the bathtub!What do you give a kid who when asked what he wants for Christmas says "I'm quite content right now, I don't need anything!"?

How about an etch-a-sketch & an external hard drive for his computer?

Grandma gave Ryan his favorite home-made poppy seed salad dressing

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The Rest of our Visit...

There is a nice park just down the street from Grandma & Grandpa Wilson's house. It has a hill that is fun to go tobogganing on--not too steep or long so it's easy to climb back up and go again & again. :)




Our cousins from Northern Ontario came down for a few days, and we had fun playing outside together. It's pretty surprising, considering we live in Georgia, that we are so well equipped with winter coats, snow pants, tuques (hats), mitts, scarves, boots & two toboggans (sleds) - NOT to be confused with what the people here in Georgia call toboggans (which are really tuques)

Wilson, Maggie, Amy, David & Ryan Of course ya just gotta make a snow angelShoveling snow is fun-- when you only do it once a year ;)-8*C (20*F) That's COLD!!

Our favorite place to go tobogganing is at the golf course out in Union. It's hard to tell in this picture just how long & steep this hill really is! Amy surprised me and wanted to go down by herself. Walking back up that big hill was tough to do all by herself, & she did much better holding our hand. Ryan getting a face full of snow tobogganing down the hill Amy & me about to take a turn

As you can see, tobogganing was quite a highlight of our trip.

We played lots of games

Karen, Mom & ChrisWe couldn't visit Grandpa & Grandma without being measured on their special family board!

A trip to the Children's Museum in London is always fun!Amy orchestrated our New Year's Eve party complete with separate game stations--play dough, barrel of monkeys, krokano, puzzles & etch-a-sketch

The "official ball drop" (at 10:55 p.m.) to bring in the New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Our last adventure of the trip was helping strip the 20 yr old wallpaper in Mom & Dad's downstairs bathroom. As frequently happens, it turned into a major project. :) Kevin did a great job mudding and resurfacing the walls after we finally got all the paper off. Mom & I had fun picking out new towels, mats & paint. We were so happy we could help out, & they are excited about getting the update.