From Our Home to Yours ...

wishing you and your family a very ...

2013 Christmas Card - designed by www.feitobytania.com



Christmas ...

 

As each year passes, it seems like people just keep forgetting what Christmas is about. 

 

Our Christmas Tree!

 

 

Hope everyone is beginning to enjoy their holiday season!

 



 

51/52 - Advent Calendar

At the beginning of December Louie brought the Lil Man a chocolate advent calendar from Santa.

 

It's his first year having an advent calendar and I was not sure if he was a little to young for one. I guess Santa knows what he is doing because he loves his advent calendar. Everyday he asks for his chocolate. He is really enjoying it. The odd day he needs a little reminder that he can only open one window per day.

Do you have an advent calendar or do you do something else?

Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!!
 

2013 Gingerbread House

It has been snowing here non-stop since early Friday morning. We have received quite a dumping that I have had to dig out my big Sorel boots early this year. It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas here.

Every year for the past 5 plus years one of our Christmas traditions is to decorate a gingerbread house at the beginning of December (when possible the first weekend). The tradition continued this year and it was the first year the Lil Man helped.

 

 

I usually just buy a pre-made house and then we construct it and decorate it. I have not felt adventurous enough yet to make it all from scratch. I find it is such a busy time of the year and I just don't have the time to bake the house myself. I always make a run to the Bulk Barn and grab extra candy because I find the kits don't come with enough.



We ran into a little problem with our new little helper. He took a bite of the Gingerbread man the instant he put his hand on it and said "Mmmmmm mmmm mmmm" and continued eating. It was gone in no time. Then he wanted to eat all the candy instead of putting it on the house. He just couldn't resist all the sweetness.

 

 

This was the finished product. We don't try to make the house pretty, our goal is to get as much candy on the house as possible.

 

 

Do you and your family decorate a Gingerbread house over Christmas?

 



50/52- Who Needs Christmas Ornaments

I can not believe we are this close to the end of the year! Where did 2013 honestly go ... especially November and December. I have kind of given up on trying to catch up. It just seems impossible at the moment. I am sure things will slow down come January and February which will hopefully allow me to catch up then as there are a few things I really want to blog about.

This year the Lil Man helped me decorate the Christmas tree. Like last year, I had to decorate it in stages which took a bit longer, but needless to say we finally finished it. When I told the Lil Man it was time to decorate the tree he decided to start decorating himself ...

 

Who needs ornaments when you have toys you can use?
 

49/52 - We have a Visitor!

Meet Louie the Elf, our visitor who is staying till Christmas ... a full month!! I hope he does not get into too much trouble.

Louie brought the Lil Man a book when he arrived on December 1st. There is a train on the back of the book so of course Hugo loved it! He wasn't too sure about Louie at first, but after watching the Elf on the Shelf Movie, he's slowly warming up to him.

Christmas is a time for Traditions both old and new. They help us make memories which we hold dear to our hearts for years to come!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!

2012 Christmas Recap

 

I can't believe Christmas was a month ago! It’s a little late, but better late than never. Here’s a recap of Christmas 2012.

 

For a couple years now, we spend Christmas Eve – the 24^thof December with my family & Christmas Day – December 25^th with Byron’s family. As of last year things changed slightly. Byron, Hugo, Roxy & I started spending Christmas morning at home & then we head to my in-laws once we are done. 

This year for Christmas Eve we headed down to the City to spend it with my family. The tradition since I was little is a family dinner with all my aunts, uncles & cousins, followed by opening presents.

Here's a look at our Christmas Eve.

 

 

Just before we headed down to the city.

 

Before dinner, we quickly took a couple photos while Hugo was still in a good mood.

 

 

 

Hugo with his Madrinha, saying cheese

 

 

 

 

Hugo was fascinated with my Grandma's bow on her shirt. He still makes strange when he hasn't seen someone in a while, but he was ok with my grandma, which was nice to see.

 

 

 I asked my cousin to take a quick picture of our little family.

 

After the  quick pictures, dinner was ready. The little girls (who are 10 & 11) did a great job folding the napkins into Elf Hats. We had to get Hugo to model it for us.

 

 

After dinner, we were off to open gifts. Usually the gift opening starts with the youngest person present followed by the next youngest, etc., etc., until everyone has opened all their gifts. This usually takes a couple hours.

  

 

At around 12:00 a.m. we started to pack up everything. Hugo received lots of wonderful gifts. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.

 

  

Hugo right before we headed home ...  wide awake at around 12:15 a.m.

 

  

We headed home and luckily this year only encountered a little bit of snow on the drive home. This  made for a decent drive home. When we got home we must have just missed Santa. 

 

 

Photo taken shortly after we were home - at around 3:00 a.m.

 

 

 Santa Left a Waggon filled with gifts for Hugo!!

Once we went to bed, Christmas morning came quick, as Hugo was awake early.



 

Hugo was extremely curious about all the gifts. Starting with the photo “1” moving to the right you can see the direction he took. He first checked out all the presents Santa had left for him. Then he went and checked out the big bone & gift Santa left for Roxy (Roxy spent the night at my in-laws). He then was trying to decide what gift to open first. He decided to open the gift bag first & made sure he read the tag first to ensure it was his gift I guess. He quickly got the hang of opening the gifts, but after a couple he had had enough and just wanted to play with the gifts he had opened.  

While Hugo was checking out all his gifts before he started to open them, I popped my cinnamon buns into the oven and baked them. That’s one Christmas tradition that I hope to carry on for many years to come. A couple years back we use to try and grab a Tim Horton’s coffee before we headed to my in-laws for Christmas day. There was one problem with this though. On Christmas day most Timmies are closed & often only 1 Timmies location was opened in the city. The location would change each year, which made it difficult to find the one that was opened and once we would find it, it was always extremely busy. We would end up waiting for an hour or longer to grab our coffees {insert sad face}. After doing this for 2 years I think we gave up on it and started a new tradition.  For the past 4 or 5 years I can’t remember now, I always bake fresh from scratch cinnamon buns on Christmas morning complete with cream cheese icing. It is the only time of the year I make them as they are supper unhealthy & pack filled with calories. They are a Christmas treat for us & any guests that are around. Byron & a couple of my cousins who have had cinnabon cinnamon buns have said that my cinnamon buns are better {makes me ecstatic}.

 



 

Once Hugo was done his nap we headed to my in-laws. This year I brought a Cesar salad & dessert ... cinnamon buns.

Once we got to my in-laws we opened gifts & checked out what was in our stockings. Hugo showing off his taai taai & his chocolate letter. My father in-law is Dutch so we always have Dutch treats in our stockings at Oma & Opa’s house.
 

 



 

 

 

I thought Hugo's facial expression was funny.

 

 

 

Roxy being a Good Girl

 

Hugo being silly while opening his gifts

 

Giving Grandma (aka Oma) a high five

 

 

Hugo saying Hi & checking on Oma in the Kitchen.

 

Hugo & Roxy checking his Elmo from his Aunt

 

Hugo enjoying some of Mommy's Caesar salad

 

Hugo testing out his new waggon.

 

Over the holidays we also had dinner at my parents & opened some more gifts.

Hugo sitting at the table ... he looks so small

 

 

 

 

Testing out his new chair.

 

Checking out all the colours on Tia's Whirly Pop

 

Being Crazy ... with a mouth full of teeth.

 

 

And that was our Christmas 2012!!.

 

 

 

Another New Tradition- Santa Clause Parade

This Past Saturday [December 1, 2012] was the Santa Clause parade in our small town. It snowed Friday which was perfect to get us into the Holiday Spirit.  This was Hugo’s 1^st time attending the parade. Hopefully it will be the start of a new family tradition for us. Before Hugo was born we use to go with my little sister.  Last year, however, Hugo was a wee bit too small (just over a month) to venture off with him into the frigid cold temperatures to see Santa. This year he was a little bigger and could see what was going on so we bundled him up in his snowsuit and nice warm blanket [one of his great aunts made it for him - Aunt Willy] and off we went walking to watch the Santa Clause Parade on the Main Street. 

As we were walking along I was telling Byron how I wanted to get a plastic cover to go over Hugo’s stroller to protect his face and super sensitive skin from the cold. I just couldn’t find anything in our area and we would have to look when we go to Barrie. Just then Byron had a brilliant idea ... {why we didn’t think of it before was beyond me because it would have been perfect for the parade} ... we can use our bike trailer’s stroller function. The trailer has a plastic enclosure!!  I guess when we put it away in storage for the winter, we also put the thought of it out of our minds.

Us at the parade.

 

All Bundled Up.

Our Little Family watching the Parade (Roxy stayed home)

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the parade, Hugo kept kicking off his warm fuzzy blanket, his poor little nose was all red from the cold and my legs & butt were frozen. The trailer would have been perfect for Hugo. The plastic cover would have blocked the wind and he wouldn’t be able to kick the blanket onto the ground.  Hopefully we remember for next year. I also realised I need to invest in some long johns to keep my legs warm for cold days.  Overall, Hugo had a good time and received a lot of goodies. He didn’t get startled when the loud fire truck sires went off and he even waved to Santa when he went by!!

 



 

Hugo waving to Santa

 

Once we were home Hugo did something he rarely ever does .... he had a long nap. Must have been the excitement of seeing Santa.  It was so long, I was able to assemble the tree and even decorate it (I had to keep the decorations high this year in case Hugo decides to grab them) and I still had some time to relax with Byron and Roxy before he woke up!!

Our Christmas Tree this Year!