Christmas time

Kaitlin, Sarah and I received an envelope with reindeer food....oats and sparkles to sprinkle on the snow. While Santa was busy delivering presents his reindeer had a treat to eat. The above pictures are of us shaking the treat out for Rudolph and all of Santa's other reindeer. A few weeks ago the girls and I were driving on a back road and we saw Santa's reindeer. Kaitlin was thrilled to bits that Santa's reindeer came all the way to check up on her ;).

This year we took a 4 and a half hour trip out to Wainwright to celebrate with my family. We arrived on thursday mid afternoon and got settled in. This year my Granny Halwas joined in on the holiday. The girls loved seeing their Great Granny Halwas. Before leaving our house Kaitlin came down from nap one day and said Great Granny come to Granny's house? My reply....Yes! Kaitlin says....SOooo excited!

We were soon joined by Sam, Janell and Gus and even later Jan, Mark and Bella. The celebration really began! With my mom and dad in Wainwright, Sam and Janell in Provost and Jan and Mark in Calgary we don't have the chance to ALL be together as often as we use too. It was so GREAT to finally be together as a family. However Sarah got sick Christmas Eve and was yaking (TMI) till 12:00pm when finally gravol took affect and she was able to sleep uneasily. Jemahl caught the bug about the same time as well and it quickly spreaded. By sunday afternoon this little flu had hit 10 out of 11. Although I think really it was all of us. I was the lucky one who wasn't leaning over the toilet, but I still felt pretty miserable. It wiped us out and really put a big damper on our time together and a big dissapointment to our christmas. We ate, had some laughs (best game The Things), some cries, hugs and kisses. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family, but gesh why did we have to get so sick. I want my family to know that we LOVE you ALL like crazy!

Making pie with Granny Morgan!I asked Kaitlin to smile for the camera and this is what I got! A cute little craft that Kaitlin and I made as Christmas gifts. All made out of HEARTS! Sarah's sick and cuddles with mommy

Not in proper order....but I really like this one below. Three generations peeling potatoes for Christmas dinner.What it looked like Christmas morning after Santa Clause came!Kaitlin's first glimpse of Christmas morning! Was Granny more excited then Kaitlin?!?Ringing Christmas bells to wake everyone up with Bella!Sarah is getting so good at standing and acually started WALKING on the 23rd! Such a BIG girl! See the book shelf and toy box behind Jemahl and Sarah?!? My dad made them! They look amazing! Such a handyman, dad! I love them and I know that Kaitlin and Sarah will get so much use out of them.So EXCITED about her christmas presents from Santa. Her reply: Oh I like it, and I like it so much. OPEN it!Santa brought all of us one gift on Christmas Eve....pajama's!
Kaitlin wearing some stockings. Hahaha, my funny little girl!

I am now sitting on the couch with the tree sitting in front of me, now bare of decorations and lights and other christmas decorations nicely packed up for next year, but I am not ready for christmas to be over. It always takes so long to come and then a blink of an eye and it is over. My countdown starts....the craziness of finding the perfect gift for everyone, trying to stay in budget and running around with my head chopped off. You'd think I should be okay that it is over, but I am going having christmas withdrawal already. I love christmas! I found a link on facebook....you will have to search for it, but it showed Mary and Joseph's status updates if they were on facebook long ago. And really it brought everything to perspective to me....Jesus is the reason! So Happy Belated Birthday! And can't wait till next year!