Tales From the Minivan

Happy Holidays to everyone that has followed along in our journeys throughout 2007! It’s been a very memorable year and a lot of fun, thanks again for following along, and I appreciate all of those comments!

I can’t believe the Holiday Season has passed us by again so quickly! It was nice to catch up with family members we don’t see as often, and spend time home together without school or work distractions. We didn’t do too much travelling as I came down with a cold leading up to Christmas, then a bad bout of the FLU leading up to New Year’s. Why do I always get sick close to the Holidays or Vacations? I know why, I’m running around like a mad woman trying to get everything ready ,and not eating properly, not sleeping enough, and just not taking care of myself! This is going to change, I’ll talk more about this later on.

So after my Cookie Exchange, the next day my BIL, SIL and two nephews arrived from Nova Scotia to stay the weekend at Andrew’s parent’s house. It was great to see them, and get the boys together to play. Their sons, Zack and Josh are 6 months younger than Liam and Ciaran, needless to say that there was a lot of energy filling the house! On Sunday, I decided to do a Christmas Dinner at our place for everyone, we had a total of 15! (9 adults and 6 kids) including Andrew’s Sister Colleen, her fiance Ben who were also home from NS, and Andrew’s older brother Peter.That afternoon, the littler boys Josh and Ciaran wanted to go out in the backyard to play in the snow, so Mackenzie graciously offered to take them out. They had an absolute blast! Josh and Mackenzie stayed out the longest and when they returned, Sean asked Josh who is favorite cousin was (none of the other boys were around at this point only Mackenzie), he had a huge grin on his face and whipped around to point at Mackenzie with a huge, “HIM!”. It was priceless, and I know Mackenzie loved it! I did a full turkey dinner and the spiral ham I picked up in Maine a few days before. Of course since I was busy cooking and normally I’m one to take all of the photos I don’t have very many from our dinner. If any of you have any feel free to email them to me and I’ll add them!

Zack!

Joshua!

Mackenzie and Josh playing!

On Christmas Eve, Sean Tracey and the boys headed back to NS, and I got things prepped for our annual Christmas Eve tradition of Seafood Chowder and Lobster Rolls. We actually got out the door on time too! Actually it was funny, we lost the power that morning around 11am for a few minutes. I arrived home just after the power returned. For some reason I thought it was an hour later than it was, so I set a few of the clocks for 12pm instead of 11am! Well normally I would have been upset at myself for doing this, but it actually worked in our favour. We got to church with plenty of time to spare, ad not scrambling last minute to get a seat, like usual. The service was really nice, Andrew’s Parent’s actually sing in the church’s Folk Choir, and even though we could not see them as they choir loft is up and above the congregation, Mackenzie kept mentioning she could hear “Papa”! I thought that was funny, he has a very unique bass sound! After church we all headed over to our house where my Mom and Stepdad were waiting for us. The chowder turned out great, if I must toot my own horn and if you’re interested in my recipe you can find it here: Christmas Eve Seafood Chowder
After the chowder and lobster rolls, we got the kids dressed in their matching snowflake jammies,and attempted to get some photos in from of the tree. This was easier said than done, between my Mom, Andrew’s Mom and myself here are the better ones and a few others candid shots from the night. Bedtime went relatively well which left time for wrapping, filling the stockings and getting everything under the tree!

Andrew and Liam trying to find Nanny and Papa in the choir loft at church. I din’t notice this until now, but it looks like the man in the background is aghast that I’m taking photos in church, remember we were almost an hour early!

Ciaran waiting for the service to begin.

My mom holding Finn and Andrew’s dad, waiting for the chowder to heat.

The two “Nannie’s” helping with the “jammies”

My less than successful attempt at getting a group “jammies” shot.

The gifts getting settled in!

Mine and Andrew’s new stockings, I made them myself. They look a little distorted from the over stuffing!

Christmas Day was a little different than other years. Since my dad was working Christmas Day,and my little brothers (Nathan 12, and Jonathan 10) were visiting extended family in Ontario with their mom, we stayed home that morning instead of having our usual Christmas Morning Brunch at my dad’s house. The kids were up at about 7:45am, (I know not that bad) but I was up quite late finishing off the last of the wrapping. I was a little upset as we asked Mackenzie to not wake the boys if she woke first. This lasted about 15 minutes, the excitement got the best of her! Just as I picked up the phone to call Andrew’s Parents (they come over every Christmas morning to watch the kids open their gifts) they pulled into the driveway, so it was all-around good timing! The gift opening went well, we had a lot of excitement and a few surprises (I got Andrew a Zoombox, he got me some Home Design Magazines…..more about this later), the kids were really pleased with their gifts, Mackenzie especially with her new 3 bin laundry sorter, Ciaran with his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Liam with his new Planet Heroes figure. After the gift opening wrapped up, we headed to the kitchen for a delicious breakfast and I decided to try something new: Helen’s Egg Nog French Toast, it was a big hit! At the same time, I put the turkey in the oven and extra stuffing in the crockpot, yes you did read this correctly, this is the second turkey I’m cooking in 48 hours! After breakfast we packed up the van and headed over to my mom’s for the afternoon, where my brother Curtis was waiting for us. The kids barely recognized him, it seems since he bought his first place out on the country has has taken on a new lumberjack look. Alright Curt…give it up it’s time to shave…LOL! We ended off the day with another turkey dinner at my place. Yes it was a lot of work, but I didn’t have the heart to refuse my dad. With the boys being away,and him having to work, I just thought it would be a nice end to the day for him. His “lady friend” Linda came over as well, and we have a really nice meal.

Liam digging into his stocking!

Ciaran posing with his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

Kenz sitting pretty under the tree!

Finn sporting his new iPoo’d shirt from Mackenzie over at my mom’s.

My brother Curtis with his new “lumberjack” look!

Catching my stepdad Gearry by surprise!

I’m almost finished…just one more thing…Boxing Day! Andrew’s Mom’s side of the family has an annual get together on boxing day, it’s really nice to have this tradition and I hope it lives on for years to come! living in the city , on his mother’s side of the family he has 7 cousin’s and they all bring their kids, and it’s a great gathering potluck style. A big thanks to Kim and Mark for hosting again this year!

Andrew’s mom with Finn at the Boxing Day Bash!

Andrew and Liam- the three boys had on matching shirts that said “I’m One of a Kind” with a plaid snowflake on them. Everyone got a kick out of them!

Andrew’s Uncle Ralph!