Christmas 2022

The kids had 2.5 weeks off for Christmas break. I had 5 things on my bucket list. Go see Christmas lights, skating, sledding, swimming, and do our gingerbread house. The kids also had the trampoline park on their must do list. The first week of break we took it nice and easy. We took the kids to the drive through lights at the Northern Spirit Lights show, and thank goodness it was drive-through with temperatures in the -40s, close to -50 with windchill. This was our second time doing a drive through light show, and since we had popcorn the first time, obviously we couldn’t go without each kid having a little brown paper bag of popcorn this time. Plus it kept Lily content for most of the drive, until she ran out haha.

It was weird only having two days off before Christmas, I also had to work the 23rd, so I felt a little unprepared for Christmas Eve. I thought I had all my party food purchased, but somehow managed to fill the grocery cart with last minute things that morning. Then the kids made their “gingerbread house”, except this year I bought them a kit kat house. I can’t stand throwing out the store bought gingerbread houses every year, but am also not ambitious enough to make my own, so a kit kat house it was. PSA it was INFINITELY easier than the gingerbread house. I also took the kiddos for their first skate of the year. It took us 4 attempts to find a rink that wasn't crowded with hockey players and also somewhat shoveled.

We did charcuterie for dinner (aka kids eat crackers and fruit), and then put on a movie while I prepped the cinnamon buns for breakfast and then barricaded myself in the guest bedroom to wrap. I procrastinated my gift wrapping a little more than I thought. Or maybe I just underestimated the amount of presents to wrap, but after two hours it was clear I was going to be up very late. Isaac and Mia also decided they were going to catch Santa after several years of failed attempts, and set up their “watch post” in the family room by the tree. This made it impossible for me to put presents out, so Gordon set his alarm for 3 am to get up and put the presents out. I was busy wrapping until 1 am, then set my alarm for 5 to take the cinnamon buns out of the fridge. Thankfully Gordon had managed to get Isaac and Mia to abandon their stakeout, so I could bring some of the gifts up. 

When I got up at 5, Gordon had indeed put the presents out and to my surprise hauled the two trampoline boxes in from the garage. Why he needed to bring both still remains a mystery to me, as each box was about 100lbs. I know, because I had to move them from our front door into the garage before the kids got home from school. And I checked the boxes for the weights so I could send bragging rights to Gordon haha. We wanted the kids to open that present last, but it was pretty clear what it was since he had positioned the box with the picture of the trampoline visible. So there I was at 5 am wrapping parts of the trampoline box to cover the picture, and then threw a sheet over top, and went back to bed at 530. 

We had told our kids that we weren’t opening presents until after church (only stockings) and that it wasn’t until 11, so no point in getting up at the crack of dawn. 6 am rolls around and the sound of 4 girls kills my chances of sleep. I told them to stay in their rooms until 7 and then we all got up and opened stockings. We played board games and watched a movie with popcorn to pass the time before church. This year I was much more strict with being the one to hand out presents, because I wanted to enjoy watching the kids open them, as opposed to the normal chaos that ensues. The kids really loved everything they got, and even Lily was very excited about opening the gifts from “Ho ho”. The family room was in absolute chaos after. Paper everywhere, boxes everywhere. Unfortunately my initial instincts to clean everything in sight had to be curbed. Gordon wasn’t feeling too well, so he ended up having a nap for the entire afternoon, while I tried to open gifts, read instructions, play new games, and make Christmas dinner. I would have been perfectly happy not making a big dinner on Christmas. However, the same person who insists on a real tree, also insisted on Christmas dinner. Too bad he was so unwell he could barely manage a small plateful. We pretty much ate ham for the entire week and cut up several cups to freeze for meals…

We went over to friends for boxing day dinner with a few other families we go to church with who were also spending Christmas away from loved ones. Our kids had a blast with their friends and it was nice to get together and share a meal. Gordon had to sit that one out unfortunately as he was still feeling rather unwell.

The next few days were slow and lazy while Gordon recovered and I worked a couple days at the clinic. We took the kids swimming on Friday, and then I took the older 3 skating with their newly sharpened skates on Saturday. We stayed up on NYE playing board games, nintendo, and watching a movie. Lily was the only one who didn’t make it until midnight, and I think the kids would have kept partying if we let them.

I ended up having to work New Year’s Day, but besides church it was fairly uneventful for us. My 2 week old nephew, who was born with a rare genetic condition, had his first of 3 planned heart surgeries that day, and it was gratefully successful. He was a Christmas miracle.

The following day we went out to a friend’s farm and were able to do more skating, rode on snowmobile pulled GTs, sledded, and just enjoyed being in the company of friends. It was really nice that the cold snap was over and we could enjoy being outside in “warm” winter weather. 

I took the kids to the Reach Centre on Wednesday where they spent the morning expending some pent up energy on the climbing structure and inflatables. I hadn’t told them my mum was coming up for a visit later that afternoon, so when the doorbell rang they all yelled “AMAZON” (I have a problem) and ran to the door to find Granny there. She wasted no time getting to work and had my Christmas tree chopped up and out the door within a few hours of being here. Gordon and I have had 13 Christmases together and 13 real trees. This one was straight from the forest. Even though I watered it diligently, it rained pine needles. I would vacuum 3 times a day. When I was taking it down, every time I would take an ornament off the tree, I was positively showered with needles. My housecoat was filled with pine needles. They were literally everywhere. I nearly killed two vacuums trying to clean up the carnage.

Thursday Gordon took the 3 older kids to the jump yard. I have had kids in recovery with broken bones from that place, so I wasn’t super enthused. But they all loved it. 

On Friday we took the kids sledding. Lily spent the entire time riding on Isaac’s GT with whoever would take her down, and then enjoy the ride back up. Scarlett, who is normally my cautious child, had no fear and was up and down as fast as she could. She didn’t even want to leave when it was time to go.

 

Mia had her first piano recital on the 8th (I’ll save details for her bday post), and we were treated to a random bout of fireworks that we watched from our front window on Sunday evening.

There was also plenty of movie watching, family mario party, late nights, board games, and snacking. Oh and baking. I think we did 11 dozen cookies, 4 dozen turtles, and a batch of almond roca. I’m always a little relieved when school starts back up after an extended break, but I have to say we had a lot of fun with our kids this Christmas holiday. Compared to last year’s Christmas season which was filled with packing, goodbyes, our whole family being sick, and driving for many hours on awful roads to move to a new city, this Christmas was tough to beat!