Santa Picture

We got our Christmas season off to a great start this year by visiting Santa at the Mall. This year we all got to go as a family and take a family picture.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Melissa came home in the morning from a night shift and we got ready (packed & dropped off Dogs at Kennel) and travelled to Peterborough at mid-day. We met Julie, Macklan, Eva, Mom & Dad in Millbrook for mass. After mass, we went to Mom & Dad’s. When we got there, we had supper and then got ready for Santa to come. We put out the stockings and cookies, carrots and Egg Nog for Santa.

Dad resting on his chair on Christmas Eve.

Gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve.

Abby & Aiden getting the Egg Nog, Cookies, and Carrots ready fro Santa and the reindeer.

And of course, before they went to bed, the kids were read bedtime story from Mama. I snuck the camera into the bedroom to catch the story, while Melissa listened in the hall. We love listening to Mama read bedtime stories to the kids.

Christmas Morning (Stockings)

When the kids got up in the morning they were overly excited and immediately came down and got Melissa and I up so that we could start to open the Stockings. While I did not capture Aiden’s reaction on video, when he opened his first gift from Santa (Yu-Gi-Oh Cards), he immediately ran to Mama exclaiming: “This is what I always wanted!!!” We carried on opening the rest of the presents in the Stockings and then we stopped and had breakfast, as this was the tradition in my family for as long as I can remember.

Aiden wearing his new hat from Santa

Aiden in front of his Stocking

Aiden looking at one of Abby’s gifts.

Abby holding up the journal she got from Santa

Abby in front of her stocking

Abby and Aiden with their Great Uncle Joe holding the gifts he got for them.

Peter opening his stocking

Christmas Morning (Gifts under the tree)

After breakfast, we continued opening presents under the tree. Most of the presents were from Family members with few left there from Santa. Part way through opening these presents, we were joined by Peter, Julie, Macklan & Eva. A new tradition we started this year was Face-Timing with Uncle Rob and his girlfriend Holly while they opened their gifts. It was great because Rob and Holly got to see all the kids reactions as they opened their gifts.

Eva helping Melissa open her present from Peter

Melissa holding Eva, Aiden, Julie, Peter and Macklan opening presents.

Mama with Aiden, Eva and Abby.

Melissa, Abby and Aiden holding a calendar from Sandra celebrating the Year of the Monkey, which is the year that Melissa and I were born in.

Mom hanging out with Macklan and Eva

Star Wars Gift

One of the most anticipated gifts for Melissa and myself were the Star Wars Movie present we got for the kids. It included tickets to the Force Awakens, Star Wars T-Shirts & Star Wars Christmas Decorations for the kids. Needless to say it was big hit with Abby & Aiden. Their excitement continued long after the video ended.

Christmas Evening (Family Dinner)

We had a small family dinner this year, with the following in attendance:

• Mom & Dad
• Bruce & Jackie
• Melissa, the kids and myself.

We had a nice evening of dinner, visiting and playing one of the board games Aiden got for Christmas called Pictureka.

Melissa with her ugly Christmas Sweater posing with her Dad.

Melissa (& her ugly Christmas Sweater) hanging out with her Mom on the couch.

Bruce relaxing with a drink in the living room at Mom & Dad’s.

Boxing Day

On Boxing Day, we had a quiet morning at Mom & Dad’s and then got ready to go to Star Wars in the afternoon.

Abby (AKA Chewbacca) getting ready to go see Star Wars

Storm Trooper Peter, Darth Melissa, Chewey Abby and C-3PO Aiden ready for the movie.

After Star Wars, we met Mom , Dad Julie, Macklan & Eva for church at Mount St. Joseph. After church, we brought Macklan back to Mom & Dad’s for his first ever sleepover away from Mom & Dad. We built and decorated our very own gingerbread houses with Mama & Papa and Abby & Aiden.

C-3PO Macklan and Storm Trooper Abby striking a pose.

Macklan & Aiden helping Mama decorate her gingerbread house

Check out the sprinkles on Macklan’s nose!

Macklan devouring his spaghetti at supper 🙂

Macklan, Abby and Aiden playing imagination game that included Star Wars, Marvel Comics (Aiden is holding Thor’s hammer, and Power Rangers (Abby is holding Power Ranger sword)

Abby decorating her gingerbread house

Aiden and his little cousin Macklan getting ready for bed.

We then put the kids to bed (which did not take as much time as I though it would) and then Melissa & I visited for a little while and then we all went to bed.

Dec 27th

The kids & Macklan played with each other all morning and then Mom & Dad took Macklan in to met Julie in town at a wake. Melissa, the kids and I then proceeded to Lakefield to visit with Sandra and Ted (unfortunately Ted was sick so we did not see him). Then we went to Jackie’s house for the evening. When we arrived there Auntie Megan & Uncle Shawn asked the kids if they liked Star Wars to which Aiden replied: “Yeah!!!, followed by a huge spoiler 🙂

At Jackie’s we all opened our Santa stockings and then we all played a game of CAH, while the kids watched a movie on the iPad and played with the Toy Box in their bedroom. At the end of the night we returned back to Mom & Dad’s.

Melissa posing with her new scarf and Vegan cookbook with Abby in the background.

Jackie checking out her new knitting basket and supplies.

Bruce holding a pic of Jackie taken during Christmas in August by Shawn.

Megan, Melissa & Ernie resting in Jackie’s living room.

Bruce checking out his new comforter.

Abby holding up her new pants

Dec 28th

In the morning, we all got up and went to eat breakfast with Mom & Dad at the restaurant located at the Peterborough Airport. This way the kids could see some planes and helicopters taking off and landing. They only saw a couple since the flying school was closed for the holidays, but they sure enjoyed the couple that they saw. Aiden even went up to a couple of pilots who came in to eat their breakfast to ask them what type of plane they flew. It was quite cute. After breakfast, we returned home to Mississauga and picked up the dogs from the Kennel. They were exhausted from playing with other dogs for 5 days.