Busy, busy holidays

We've been super busy enjoying the holiday season. We started things off with hosting a Christmas play date with a few families. It was quite a feat to get 5 couples, 3 toddlers, 1 baby and 2 infants all sitting at the table at the same time. Somehow we did, but in all the hullabaloo, we forgot to capture the moment on camera! We all helped out with putting together the turkey dinner and everything came together well. I was very happy that my first turkey turned out and I'm even surprised with how easy it was. (I'll have to come back and post a picture of the turkey, it's on the other camera). The girls played really well together and the adults had moments here and there to chat. It was a really fun evening and we're already looking forward to next year.

During the week, Josh's mom and dad came down from Revelstoke. Uncle Joe and Aunt Maria also made the trip up from Portland to join us for a little pre-holiday visit. Maddy always loves when Oma and Opa come to visit and she knew for sure they were coming when she saw the box of croissants ("pa-ssants") on the table.

On Tuesday night Josh went out to get our first real Christmas tree. We waited until Maddy went to bed so that she could see the whole thing already put together. I'm really excited to have a real tree and one that smells so good. The year that Maddy was born, we decided to start a family tradition where we each go to pick a new ornament for the tree that year. It was really fun to finally pull these ornaments out and hang them on a tree.



On Wednesday we took advantage of the dry weather and went to the Stanley Park Bright Nights Train. This is the first time we've gone with kids. The park was beautifully decorated and Maddy really enjoyed the train ride. It was super cold so we quickly went on the train, ran around to see the lights and packed back into the car. After that we stopped at the White Spot for a yummy dinner. It seems the whole restaurant was packed with other families who just went on the train too.



Last weekend we went to see Santa. Maddy was excited to see him this year and we had been rehearsing what she was going to say to him. In the line waiting to see him, she kept peering over at him and waving her little hand. It was priceless. When it was our turn she did very well talking to Santa. She asked him for a ball and some new stickers. I thought we were going to get lucky and that she'd sit for the photo with him. I guess talking with him is different from getting up on his lap. So again, Josh and I squeezed into the photo too. Looking at the picture from last year, it's really amazing to see how much she has change.



We hope everyone is enjoying the season so far.