Here's
Carys sleeping on Christmas Eve. It was almost 1 am before she went to bed. She was convinced that if she stayed up late enough, she'd see Santa. I had to wake her up at 8 am on Christmas Day so she could open her presents and be ready to go when Gram and
Gramps got here. They had to pick up Valerie by 11, so it was cutting it close. Staying up so late on Christmas Eve almost made her a little beast by dinner time on Christmas Day. She is adorable when she's asleep though.
Carys and Randy decorating our Christmas tree. She
hijacked Randy's job of putting the angel on top of the tree, and then she promptly replaced his angel with a star. She's the boss of us. :$
Here's my Mom and me. I can hardly wait to shake the pneumonia and get back to the gym. If I had known I was going to look so
blobby in all the pictures I would have wore a
burkka.
Carys loves Aunt Laura's idea of just handing the whipped cream over when no more is needed for the
recipe. Three cheers for Aunt Laura. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip.....you get the picture.
This is my sister in law Laura. She hosted Christmas again this year, and I don't blame her for wanting to take a mini vacation for next Christmas. I don't have the nerve to attempt to host Christmas yet. She's opening a spa gift certificate, and from the look on her face when she opened it, it was pretty much exactly what she wanted. Thanks for hosting us all, Laura. You're the best and everything was beautiful.
I think this is a picture that should be saved for special
occasions. Like Val's prom........wedding day, that kinda thing. Laura made the whipped cream for the trifle, and just put the bowl in front of Valerie and
Carys and said "here ya go". Gotta love Laura. I wish she had been my Aunt. I must admit, it's not a bad picture of Randy either. Maybe I'll get it framed.
Here's my niece Valerie wearing the funky hat Bill & Laura got for her in Quebec. I think that's a wad of gum in her cheek. I love the hat though, and Val is such a ham when it comes to the camera.
Carys didn't ask for the camera, although it's rapidly becoming her favourite Christmas present. I have the preschool paparazzi following me everywhere I go now. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the bathroom and had to say "Get that camera outta here". She loves it, and now Jenny-Meg (
Carys' cat) is getting all the pictures taken of her that she feels she so richly deserves (being the only well behaved cat in the house and all).
This is my brother Bill, opening the classic movie Slap Shot. Gotta love the Hansen Brothers. I think they even made an appearance in the Slap Shot 3 movie. I don't have too many pics of Bill without his beard. I need to get my camera out more.
This is my Dad. It's nice to have him around more, but it's a pity that his sobriety came 30 years too late to do me any good. Oh well, better late than never.
Our family on Christmas Day at Bill & Laura's.
Carys and Valerie at Bill and Laura's in the middle of gift opening.
Carys, as usual has her face stuffed with goodies. Shout outs to Aunt Laura and Uncle Bill for not forgetting the shrimp and battered mushrooms.
This arcade claw game was a real hit. Valerie and
Carys played with it for hours. Love Valerie's hat, and
Carys' hair is in its usual mess. You'd never know that before bed Christmas Eve, she and I spent an hour curling and brushing and spraying it to perfection.
This is Bill & Laura's downstairs Christmas tree, with all the presents under it on Christmas Day. Beautiful. Next year, I would really like to have a real tree.
I always like it when a Christmas tree looks like a solar flare. The coloured lights were
Carys' idea. I had always just had clear lights on it before. I like the combination. This was after Santa came, but before
Carys woke up, and before the cats realized they had high octane catnip toys in their stockings. Notice the angel in the upper part of the tree. It always has perched atop our tree, but this year,
Carys had it in her head that stars should top the tree. Randy wasn't going to completely give up his angel, so we compromised.
Our first attempt at a gingerbread house went surprisingly well. She decorated, as you can tell, and we had a slight problem with the trees in front of the house staying upright, but other than that, all went well.
Loki likes whipped cream. It's even worth a beating (no pun intended) to steal some.
Here's Carys sleeping on Christmas Eve. It was almost 1 am before she went to bed. She was convinced that if she stayed up late enough, she'd see Santa. I had to wake her up at 8 am on Christmas Day so she could open her presents and be ready to go when Gram and Gramps got here. They had to pick up Valerie by 11, so it was cutting it close. Staying up so late on Christmas Eve almost made her a little beast by dinner time on Christmas Day. She is adorable when she's asleep though.
Carys and Randy decorating our Christmas tree. She hijacked Randy's job of putting the angel on top of the tree, and then she promptly replaced his angel with a star. She's the boss of us. :$
Here's my Mom and me. I can hardly wait to shake the pneumonia and get back to the gym. If I had known I was going to look so blobby in all the pictures I would have wore a burkka.
Carys loves Aunt Laura's idea of just handing the whipped cream over when no more is needed for the recipe. Three cheers for Aunt Laura. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip.....you get the picture.
This is my sister in law Laura. She hosted Christmas again this year, and I don't blame her for wanting to take a mini vacation for next Christmas. I don't have the nerve to attempt to host Christmas yet. She's opening a spa gift certificate, and from the look on her face when she opened it, it was pretty much exactly what she wanted. Thanks for hosting us all, Laura. You're the best and everything was beautiful.
I think this is a picture that should be saved for special occasions. Like Val's prom........wedding day, that kinda thing. Laura made the whipped cream for the trifle, and just put the bowl in front of Valerie and Carys and said "here ya go". Gotta love Laura. I wish she had been my Aunt. I must admit, it's not a bad picture of Randy either. Maybe I'll get it framed.
Here's my niece Valerie wearing the funky hat Bill & Laura got for her in Quebec. I think that's a wad of gum in her cheek. I love the hat though, and Val is such a ham when it comes to the camera.
Carys didn't ask for the camera, although it's rapidly becoming her favourite Christmas present. I have the preschool paparazzi following me everywhere I go now. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the bathroom and had to say "Get that camera outta here". She loves it, and now Jenny-Meg (Carys' cat) is getting all the pictures taken of her that she feels she so richly deserves (being the only well behaved cat in the house and all).
This is my brother Bill, opening the classic movie Slap Shot. Gotta love the Hansen Brothers. I think they even made an appearance in the Slap Shot 3 movie. I don't have too many pics of Bill without his beard. I need to get my camera out more.
This is my Dad. It's nice to have him around more, but it's a pity that his sobriety came 30 years too late to do me any good. Oh well, better late than never.
Our family on Christmas Day at Bill & Laura's. 
Carys and Valerie at Bill and Laura's in the middle of gift opening. Carys, as usual has her face stuffed with goodies. Shout outs to Aunt Laura and Uncle Bill for not forgetting the shrimp and battered mushrooms.
This arcade claw game was a real hit. Valerie and Carys played with it for hours. Love Valerie's hat, and Carys' hair is in its usual mess. You'd never know that before bed Christmas Eve, she and I spent an hour curling and brushing and spraying it to perfection.
This is Bill & Laura's downstairs Christmas tree, with all the presents under it on Christmas Day. Beautiful. Next year, I would really like to have a real tree.
I always like it when a Christmas tree looks like a solar flare. The coloured lights were Carys' idea. I had always just had clear lights on it before. I like the combination. This was after Santa came, but before Carys woke up, and before the cats realized they had high octane catnip toys in their stockings. Notice the angel in the upper part of the tree. It always has perched atop our tree, but this year, Carys had it in her head that stars should top the tree. Randy wasn't going to completely give up his angel, so we compromised.
Our first attempt at a gingerbread house went surprisingly well. She decorated, as you can tell, and we had a slight problem with the trees in front of the house staying upright, but other than that, all went well.
Loki likes whipped cream. It's even worth a beating (no pun intended) to steal some.