Looking back on it, Christmas was a chaotic whirlwind for us. Not only did we move at the beginning of December, but we decided to host Christmas. This was a pretty big deal for Stephen and I, so there was no way we were going to give that up.
My Christmas vacation started early, which was perfect, because I had a lot to get done around the house before guests arrived. We also did some dogsitting for my old nanny family, so this sweet pup showed up a few days before Christmas. Meet Bailey:
My family started showing up on Christmas Eve, because we all like to wake up together on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve was filled with a ton of food, including way too many baked goods. We each opened up a present, which was our traditional Christmas jammies. We may have even tuned into the Santa Tracker channel on Telus TV for a late night round of Christmas karaoke. Despite our awful singing, it was absolutely perfect in my mind.
Christmas morning started off with Dad waking us up with a hand bell and a bull horn. I have no idea what possessed him to do that, but it was one heck of a way to wake up. We started off with stockings, then took a break for breakfast while we waited for Stephen’s Mom to get here from Edmonton. We opened up our presents (always way too many!) a bit later than normal (around 11am I believe), but it was so much fun. There were a few presents that stole the show: my Dad surprised my Mom with jewelry, which made her cry; the family all pitched in on an EReader for my Uncle D’arcy; and the family pitched in again on a TV and Blu-Ray player for my parents. While those were definitely the stand out gifts, everyone else received some awesome gifts, for sure.
This gift deserves a special mention…I was told that I have to blog about it or it gets returned, ha! My sister Jessica and her boyfriend Daniel went above our set present budget and got Stephen and I the Eye-Fi memory card that we had wanted so very much. It was unexpected, but such a welcome surprise. I can’t wait to get a moment to set it up and put it to good use. Thanks Jess and Daniel!
Christmas afternoon brought more guests: my other sister and her fiancé; our old roommate Cam; and my great grandma and her boyfriend. To add to the chaos, 4 more dogs showed up. If you’re keeping track, there were 5 dogs in our house, ranging from tiny lap dogs to giant boxers. Never a dull moment in our household!
Christmas dinner was a feast, and Stephen outdid himself. His original plan was to make a Turducken, but not enough people like duck for that to become a reality. Stephen revised that plan and made a turkey stuffed with two chickens. This crazy turchicken (as we so lovingly called it) was a beast, and required two people to lift it! We were left with so many leftovers that we could have easily hosted a second Christmas dinner with it.
The celebrations continued on Boxing Day with a family dinner at my Uncles’ house. There was a fun present exchange (where I won a lottery ticket) and more Christmas carols sung around the piano. It’s a family tradition that I look forward to every year!
If you’ve made it to the end of this post, then you have to know that this is only a sampling of the Christmas chaos at my place. I’m still recovering, even though I had two weeks off over the holidays!
How was your Christmas holidays?
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