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Christmas 2010

This was our first Christmas away from home in many years, and our final destination was Calgary. We decided to drive as far as Vancouver so that we could personally deliver our parcels to Christy and her family. I had a bit of shopping to do so before we headed to Port Coquitlam we visited a fabric store and I picked up my last Christmas gift.

We gave Dylan this toy for his birthday about three years ago and it was nice to see that he is still enjoying it, and that Taylor has also become a fan. There was a lot of jamming going on – and Grandpa fit right in.

We were all very surprised when the mail was delivered and Dylan had his own personal letter from Santa.

We appreciated that they waited until our visit to decorate their Christmas tree. Dylan was a big help in untangling the lights and adding the decorations – some of which were a bit odd, but somehow seemed to work. And the final result was beautiful. Because they purchased a full tree we hope to see it in their yard next year.

Christy and Rick went out for a quiet dinner and Grandpa and I were left in charge. Dylan gave us a recap of his recent Christmas concert, and Grandpa was in charge of Taylor’s dinner.

Was it all the excitement that had Taylor napping twice in one morning?

We had an evening flight to Calgary and it was close to midnight before we got settled in at the hotel. I had a gift certificate from a quilt store in Calgary so before we headed out to Elizabeth's the next morning we visited Traditional Pastimes. It took me quite some time, but I finally settled on a kit that I hope won't be too difficult for me. When it came down to choosing between two different patterns I was persuaded to try something I hadn’t done before – some hand appliqué. Don't look for this to show up on my quilting page any time soon though.

As soon as we got to the Burton’s we had work to do. Madison had found a great recipe book for cookies and the Santa Claus cookies were first on the list.

Then it was Grandpa’s turn to try out a recipe.

Madison showed us how their new X-Box Kinect works. The system is very similar to the Wii except there are no controllers, just sensors that show your movement. We did some bowling and then Madison and I did some Track and Field events.

Christmas Eve finally arrived, and to help pass the time we made another batch of cookies. This was a recipe that my Mum made and, although we couldn’t find the right kind of toffee, they turned out just fine.

At last it was time to put the gifts under their beautifully decorated tree.

Gavin had to crawl into the box to get all the presents out.

Christmas morning finally arrived, and all the adults were waiting for the kids to wake up. Once Madison was up, she and I managed to wake up Gavin and Emma. It was wonderful to see the kids opening up their gifts, and they had such fun playing with them as the day progressed.

Dylan cooked up a pancake breakfast, and Ray rewired the house so the internet connection to the laptop would be more reliable.

Elizabeth cooked a wonderful turkey dinner. It was just a great day.

Elizabeth and Ray headed out to do some Boxing Day shopping while we spent some time with the kids. They were all so busy with their Christmas gifts that there really wasn’t much for us to do. Grandpa and Madison brought home some McDonald lunches for everyone – we were planning the turkey leftovers for dinner.

Elizabeth, Ray and Pat were all involved in setting up the new electronic gear.

Once everything was set up Madison, Pat and I tried out the new Dance Central game for their Kinect system. Gavin and Emma had received a new Splaster game for Christmas so they had a turn at that; and then Madison tried out a new animal game for Kinect.

But there was absolutely no question that Pat was the star on the dance floor.

Everyone was tired so the kids were to bed early and the adults settled in to watch the Canucks hockey game.

On our last morning we met our friends Jim and Vicki for breakfast and a visit. We were a bit late checking out of our hotel and then headed off to the Burton's. Madison had one more cookie recipe she wanted to try, so we made some Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies. The original recipe didn't call for us to roll and cut the dough into shapes, but it was more fun that way. My camera was packed so I can't show you all the stars, moons, trees, dogs and other shapes they created.