on the twenty-seventh day of december...
PART I: CHRISTMAS MORNING
just as we have for a few years now, we all gathered at paul and sharon’s house on christmas morning – not too early, mind you! 9 a.m.-ish is a sane and reasonable hour to meet-up!
the cousins! (L to R) (andrea), joel, alex, kate, (pete)
oh no! am i grouped in with "the older generation?!" (L to R) sharon, mom, paul, me, dad
while we awaited the arrival of santa the torontonians, we caught up on family news! as of ten days ago, andrea and joel are back from australia! kate regaled us with the tale of her justin bieber concert outing this past week – she was chaperone to eight giggling girls! alex is applying to universities for next fall – where does the time go? and we gave thanks that mom does not have the flu like last christmas!
we varied the combos for some more photos!
soon enough, the little ones arrived – in new christmas finery…
note the christmas vest and skirt - sil ana's mom is quite the seamstress!
…and bearing new christmas toys!
a new baby doll!
bring on breakfast!!!
i appreciate sharon's xmas touches!
a delicious fresh fruit platter, and some more nibbles
NOW I CAN FINALLY SHOW YOU OUR BUNS!!! [sidenote: on saturday, after she finished baking the sticky buns, mom sent me an email entitled “my buns are beautiful!” see, there is no hope for our family].
raisin in the front, pecan in the back
a close-up of the nuts
new this year – kate manned a belgian waffle station!
a fabulous addition!
my proof to you that uncle paul does indeed butter his (sticky) buns!
it was truly a stellar year for the sticky buns – mom said it’s because the air was so light on saturday, she only need the minimum amount of flour.
thanks, mom!
with full tummies and nary a sticky bun crumb in sight, we convened to the living room for our gift exchange:
the best presents! (presence?!)
the outstanding gift of the year award this year (on the level of my abba box set from paul and sharon, a few years back) goes to little e’s pink computer – again, from paul, sharon and alex:
it actually works! and it even has a mouse and mouse pad!
i truly squealed in delight when i opened…
silver lame shorts! hey, they were on my list! you betcha i will wear them!
what a delightful time. the gift giving was wonderful (no repeat gifts or exchanges to be done, this year!), the laughs, jokes and bantering even better.
(sidenote: just to share – from my 100 item christmas list, i joyfully received…)
#38, a journal notebook and #51 MAC eyeshadow in pink!
#16 - crackle nail polish (silv-ah!) and #90 - silver lame (lam-EH not LAME!) - and i love the silver drawstring bag they came in!
then we broke for intermission. walking, napping, basting a turkey…we digested, rested and got ready for…
PART TWO: CHRISTMAS DINNER
we enjoyed some chill time while the turkey was finishing up doing its cooking thing. what better than to enjoy a viewing of the cartoon grinch?!
the young uns were enthralled...(and we are to note that uncle paul is watching an animated feature!)
...as were the older set!
grandma joined us!
g'ma enjoyed all the activity going on!
check out the bird!
...all 18.8 lbs of it!
and a buffet of side dishes:
front to back: swedish potatoes; stuffing; gravy; cran sauce; parmesan squash dish; corn
merry christmas!
and for dessert…
our sweet treats!
can you spot the balls and squares?!
what a wonderful christmas. the warmth and love of family filled my heart with joy.
after the family all left (by 7:30 p.m. -> we’re a family of early birds), i stayed to help clean up. i’d much rather wash up than prep dishes!
ah - now, that hits the spot!
i think you know me better than that!
i hope that you, too, enjoyed your christmas day. just 364 days til we fest again!
what is a favourite gift you gave or received this year? funny: i picked out the MAC eyeshadow for us to give to kate, and kate chose the MAC eyeshadow that i received from all the cousins! (different colours, at least!)
do you still have more christmas festivities to enjoy this year? we are celebrating immediate-family christmas on thursday!
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Comments
What a fabulous Christmas! Always fun to have the little ones around. And all of food looks delicious. Hilarious about your mom’s beautiful buns! haha. She is so cute and photogenic – and you look so much like her! 🙂 I got to give some lululemon gifts to my family this year which made me very happy. And we got gift cards to Whole Foods and to our favorite Italian restaurant in our neighborhood. Work was crazy today! So many shoppers with returns and exchanges…
oh, thanks for your comments, dorry! i bet your family was very happy to receive the lululemon gifts, as well! you will have fun at whole foods, deciding how to spend your GC! we were lucky at the store – not too many returns…but the weather was a bit nasty so i bet we see a lot more in the coming days. days with high SALES are more fun, aren’t they!?!
Hahah–that last photo is classic 🙂 Happy holidays to you and your fam! Good times!
thanks, j! we thought we were being pretty funny! 🙂 so glad you enjoyed a joyous christmas eve with your extended family, too! i enjoyed your recap!
My favorite present was a nice frame with a picture of Ivan sitting on Santa’s lap. The frame has the words: “Grandkids are the sunshine of life” across the top. Just being with my daughter and Ivan were gift enough though. No more Christmas this year but the decorations will stay up til Jan 6, 2012. Tradition!
oh, that photo is a perfect gift for a grandma. you can never have too many photos of the grandchildren! haha – yes! stick to your decoration tradition and enjoy them until january 6th! good for you!
That looks like such a fun Christmas. Is it wrong that despite stuffing my face for the last several days and enjoying every bite, I am looking longingly at your food?
I got a keurig coffee maker from mr. sc that tops the list! I hadn’t asked for it, but he knows my coffee addiction is pretty fierce (sorry, I know that’s not a happy topic for you…it also makes tea and hot chocolate…). We are also going to his sister’s later this week so there will indeed be more festivities (and presents)!
ah! that is so wonderful that you got that fab coffee maker AND that it was a surprise! i actually had a mug of coffee xmas morning – i am trying to make myself like it, i’ll explain more soon! so you can positively chat about coffee all you want! happy to hear you have more visiting to look forward to this week!
Merry Christmas (again)! I still haven’t exchange gifts with anyone but my lovely husband…who knows me very well and bought me flannel PJs. I bought him a video game. Yes, we are indeed 10-year-olds. The rest of our gift-giving will have to wait until January! I’m a bit worried, because I ordered my mom’s gift online in early December, and it still hasn’t arrived yet. It has exactly 2 more days to get here! Love your buns. Ha! Oh, and I’m so terribly sorry that you don’t get to sit at the kids’ table anymore. It’s the circle of life, my friend.
i am going to guess that you wore your new pj’s for sloth day yesterday?! fingers crossed that your mom’s gift arrives…talk about down to the wire! it made my day to be able to photograph spectacular buns! 🙂
Great re-cap!
I love the christmas skirt—I bet she felt so beautiful in that outfit!
The sticky buns look yummy (and just like ours!)…
I think my fav gift was a long zip-up hoodie that joe gave me. I already wore it twice 🙂
No more christmas here, although I had Matthew and Joe’s nephew (age 6) for a sleepover last night. We avoided any late night calls to go home (Kyle has never spent the night here before and has a tendency to be a little nervous).
I have no complaints about our weather….except it’s just a little too cold (and muddy) to play outside and boys do not like to sit still all day!
oh – glad to hear the sleepover went well. i bet the boys totally enjoyed their time with you and joe! hoodies are the best – i could live in them from november to march, i am sure. wear yours again today!! 🙂