Our Christmas season started this year with the kids getting their message from Santa in the North Pole.
Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve we built a gingerbread house, which is a tradition we started with Aaron and Chantale’s kids over a decade ago and carried on with Abby and Aiden. As always the kids had fun not only decorating the house, but also “sneaking” some of the candy for themselves!! We then finished with a watching of the new and old version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And of course we left out treats for Santa and his reindeer.
Christmas Morning
Christmas morning started relatively late this year with the kids not waking up until a little after 7 in the morning. As always the kids ran down and bounced around between their stocking and the tree to see what is there and tell each other what they see.
We began by opening our stockings in the living room with kids getting little toys from Santa including a soft ball with the Earth painted on it. After they had finished going through their stocking they got a quick power snack and then moved onto the gifts under the tree. There are a few videos below of them opening their presents:
Christmas afternoon
In the afternoon we headed to Mom and Dad’s where the kids received more presents from grandparents and Uncles and Aunts. We followed that with a large family dinner at Mom and Dad’s. Melissa had to stay behind to work night shift for the next three days.
Dec 26
On Boxing Day instead of shopping we went to the toboggan hill near the Zoo. Apparently everyone else decided to go shopping because the hill was empty for most of the 2 plus hours we spent there, which was surprising because the temperature was near zero which made for a gorgeous day.
Dec 28
On that morning, I drove up to Mississauga to surprise Melissa at work at 7am. I picked her up and drove her back to Peterborough with me so that she partake in some of the Christmas festivities.
Another gorgeous day with the kids and I making a Snowman in the front yard of Mom and Dad’s. We also went out back and rode our sleds down the hill with Macklan and Aunt Julie.
Shortly after building the snowmen, we got a visit from Uncle Sam, Aunt Barb, Carrie and Ava. The highlight of the trip was Macklan figuring out that if he went to see Uncle Sam, he would turn on the dog that played the very loud, very obnoxious singing Christmas Dog that Mom puts out every year since Rob bought it for Mom when he was a teenager!!
After everyone left, Macklan and the kids hung out and then went to bed.
Dec 29
It was another gorgeous day, so we decided to go tobogganing again at the hill by the Zoo. This time though we were joined by Uncle Shawn and Aunt Megan. It was loads of fun with Melissa and Shawn racing down the hill against each other and the kids also racing each other down the hill.
We then went to Sandra and Ted’s for an afternoon visit.
After that we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s for a family dinner with everyone. While there the kids got to open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa.
Dec 30
On Dec 30, we headed back home to get ready for our New Year’s Party at Steven and Karen’s
The Cain Family 