The Christmas & New Year's Re-cap

Happy 2016, everyone!!

Back to work, back to reality... yesterday was my first day back in a routine, and I have to admit, I kind of liked it.  It wasn't as difficult to get my butt out of bed at 5:45 to work out as I thought it would be, and I spent the day at the office playing catch-up.  I felt very accomplished by the end of the day!

It is fond Christmas memories that keep me going in these early days of January, when the post-Christmas let-down starts to seep in and make me feel blue.  I'm still clinging to the holiday glow, as I'm apt to do... I hate letting it go.  My decorations are still up, and I just haven't yet been able to bring myself to take them down. I'm just not ready yet...

It was a good Christmas, although not one but TWO of my biggest Christmas fears came true.  The first, of course, was the whole green problem.  No snow, not a single flake.  Not only that, it was record-breaking warm on Christmas Eve.  I think we hit something like +17?!  It was nuts.  Depressing for a snow-lover like me... but kind of fun to see everyone posting Christmas Eve pictures of their families out biking, playing outside in t-shirts, on the beach, in bathing suits... I saw it all that day!

Took this pic of the kids on Christmas Day on Mom's front lawn... ridiculous!!!

Then, after church on Christmas Eve, we had plans to stop in at a few of our cousins', but at our first stop, Caden announced he wasn't feeling well.  Luckily, we were just next door to my mom's, so my sister rushed him home.  He had a headache, and he had turned ghastly pale... I was sure he was going to spew, and of course, that made me want to spew.  Ick.  My mom and brother-in-law decided to stay home with the kids while Kara & I went on to our next stop.  While we were gone, Caden did get sick, but only once and then went right off to bed.  I was sure it meant we'd all be hit with the flu, but he woke up the next morning literally bouncing with excitement and feeling just fine.  Luckily, no one else got sick.  Phewf!  We think maybe his headache was just so bad that it made his stomach turn.

 Before Caden got sick, we had fun with Patti & Randy's pup Alle showing some Christmas affection lol

It certainly didn't slow him down.  He was the first one up on Christmas morning (aside from me, of course), and after a short time of me trying to keep him quiet as he scouted all the presents under the tree, the rest of the famjam joined us and Christmas was ON!!

We opened our stockings one by one, enjoyed our traditional sticky bun breakfast, and then headed to the living room for present time.  It's so much fun to have two "believers" in the house at Christmas - I know our years of that are numbered, as Caden is 10 and Danica is 7, so I soaked up those special magical moments with them.

For the record, my family did a wonderful job of knocking a few items off the wishlist!  I got my adult colouring book and pencil crayons, I got one of the books I need for this year's book club (The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom), a really nice ceramic travel mug, a warm & cozy onesie (which has been getting plenty of use this week during our cold snap), two pairs of fleece-lined leggings, lots of great useful stuff in my stocking... and the best part is, the Breadmaker can still go on the Wishlist for next year.  Because as my blog pal Stacie said, "It wouldn't be Christmas without a Breadmaker on Jill's Wishlist!" ;)

My sister's family headed off to her husband's family Christmas after lunch time, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing - I napped, watched Christmas movies, read, and just enjoyed the quiet time.

Boxing Day was our family get-together, and it was wonderful!  Kids running around, the smells of turkey roasting in the oven, colourful pieces of wrapping paper flying through the air as kids opened gifts... so much fun!!

There was much-needed down-time between Christmas & New Year's, as well as a much-needed SNOW STORM!!!  Yes, folks.  I got my snow.  It wasn't a White Christmas, but on December 29th, the snow came down fast and furious, and I was one happy kid.  I shoveled, I went for a walk, I made macaroni, tomato soup & cheez whiz (a snow day comfort food from my childhood), I watched episodes of Seinfeld, I made a puzzle, I did some adult colouring, I made a pot of soup and a loaf of cheesy biscuit bread... it was bliss.  Pure BLISS!!

My sister's birthday falls on New Year's Eve, so as has become our tradition in recent years, we spent the evening hanging out at my mom's, watching TV, eating snacks, enjoying a few drinks, and just enjoying the company of family.  Caden decided to run a bar in the basement, which he called "Caden's Big Bar" and he made up a menu for his drinks on our old big chalkboard.  It was so funny - Diet Pepsi was 50 cents, but Diet Coke was a dollar... Bud Light was also a dollar, but Coors Light was two dollars.  Wine was only 40 cents.  We had lots of fun going down to order drinks, and he made a few bucks in the process... good times!

New Year's Day was spent sliding in our lovely fresh-fallen snow, and probably my most favourite meal of the year:  tourtiere, ham, hasbrown casserole, baked beans, coleslaw and buns.  YUM!  We had Dairy Queen ice cream log for dessert in honour of Kara's birthday.

The rest of my holidays wound down as we attended Chris's dad's surprise 70th birthday party on Saturday, church on Sunday, and then a day of  vegging on Monday.  It should have been take down the Christmas decs day, but as I've already said, I just couldn't get motivated...

Still can't.  Please, Christmas... don't leave me yet!!