Our Christmas started on the 25th when we booted 'er to Carstairs for Lowell's family Christmas. Lots of gifts and lots of fun for everyone!
Kids add a whole new dimension to Christmas and I love it. Here Carmen is showing off her Christmas dress from Grandma & Grandpa:
Now the nieces are showing off their aprons from Lowell and I, and their instruments from Auntie Julie Anne:
The next day we had the extended Taylor gathering which was also a hoot, toot, and a holler.On the 27th we headed down to Lethbridge for our rather small family Christmas. Marc & Kylie were in Jerusalem, and Craig was in the States with his basketball team. *sniff sniff* We missed them a lot, but Craig phoned (and I have a picture of him in a santa hat, and you pretty much don't get any more Christmassy than that!)
And we skyped with Marc & Kylie. Lowell was, of course, in charge of the technology and we had a good conversation and lots of laughs for almost 2 hours!
Our first morning at home, we took off to Waterton for a day of cross country skiing. First, we had a good brekky and lunch-making session:
Can you believe it....I nearly got stuck with these sunglasses. Mine were in Carstairs and Dad has had this trusty pair as a spare on the dashboard in the van for a good 12 years. I'm pretty sure they came out of a cereal box...
Skiing the beautiful trails:
Dan and Carlynne just hangin out:
Carlynne and I brought such KIDS (i.e., Lowell & Dan) into the family:
Boys will be boys... they're digging a trench of some sort:
All done skiing for the day!
So we headed to Kilmory Lodge for a tasty treat!
That night we went to New West theatre's Razzmatazz at the Yates. It was sooooo fun, but we weren't allowed to take any pictures. So you'll just have to take my word for it.The next night was Christmas time which began with a deeeelish Christmas dinner. Dad carved the turkey:
And finally we sat down to our yummy meal:
After the meal we went Christmas caroling (even though it was December 29), but for some odd reason no one had their camera there, so again: you're just going to have to take my word for it.Then we came home to prepare for GIFT TIME. Shareen sets the mood by whipping up a bunch of delectable lattes:
Carlynne is madly writing her poem before the gift opening begins:
Dan is showing off a Christmas present from his family: a remote control helicopter.
Dan was flying it around my Mom...
...who had to take cover from uncontrollable air craft:
We draw names, so we only got one gift, but it was a spankin good gift. Plus Shareen got us all stockings this year!!
I'm listening as Mom reads me her poem to go with my gift (she had my name, you see). Also, check out the wicked awesome earrings that were part of my stocking from Shareen. She's way too good to us! :
Dan & Lowell had each other's names and both had MARVELOUS poems. I guess that means they truly belong in the fam. Here they are sharing the brotherly love:
For some reason, the men (er, boys) had to partake in a post-gift-opening smoked oysters and herring out of CANS. GROSS! :
The next night we had a little hot tub party. Mom has those pictures, so, again, you'll have to trust me on this one (and hopefully Mama will send me the pictures).On New Year's Eve, it was a mad dash back to Edmonton for the impromptu party we (Dan, Clyn, Lowell, and I) were having. Kev, Leah, Duane, Karyn & Jenna all came up from Airdrie, and Trav, Lis, Luke, and Ashley also joined us. We had a blast playing boys vs girls Catch Phrase, talking, laughing, eating, taking the LRT to the fireworks, walking home with all 13 of us linking arms and circling people while singing "Happy New Year!!" at the top of our lungs. I'm SURE people thought we were intoxicated...but we WEREN'T! We were just a large group of rather excitable (and slightly hyper) people.
Lucky for us that we just happen to be good friends with PHOTOGRAPHERS! Kev brought his camera, and these were the result:
Dan trying to describe the "catch phrase":
Duane & Karyn! :
Dan, Carlynne, and Jenna:
Trav & Lis :
Trav being Trav in his fashionable tux shirt. The rest of us felt so under-dressed! :
Leah was bored? Excited? Exhausted? Slightly challenged? :
Leah and I:
Loweller:
These pictures are MY contribution. None of the other pictures had Kevan in them, so I HAD to include this one:
And I think that Leah looks so cute in this picture that I had to include it. She got pretty intense and giggly while playing Catch Phrase! Luke, you look cute too :) :
Yesterday Lowell went back to work AND school. He has now officially begun his Masters in Counseling Psychology. He's going to be a busy boy while I shall continue to be a lady of leisure until Monday! *sigh of contentment* :)
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