Christmas 2014

Ah Christmas . . . the most wonderful hectic time of the year. As if in a repeat performance, the Christmas season caught me completely off guard. Once again I was busy planning, dreaming and preparing for our pre-Christmas trip to warmer places. Thoughts of the holiday season barely entered my mind. When we got back home on Dec 11th though, I found myself in a panic to get a tree, send Christmas cards, decorate the house, buy presents, prepare for company coming, plan a party, put up Christmas lights etc, etc, etc.
Due to a lack of planning on my part, poor Brandon may have missed out on a few seasonal activities this year. Because of the timing of Hawaii, we missed taking him to either of our companies kids Christmas parties. We didn't visit the Calgary Zoolights (his favourite) or go on any sleigh rides. There was actually a lack of snow on the ground this year so we didn't even do any sledding over by the Confederation Park Christmas light display. If Brandon was upset by this though, he didn't mention it. He was actually very delightfull this year. He believed whole-heartedly in Santa Claus, the reindeer, the sleigh . . . everything. For him the magic of Christmas was very real and the innocence in his belief was enough to melt your heart. The reality is that he may never experience Christmas the same way again so I'm pleased he had so much fun this year.

It's rare we have family visit us at Christmastime so we were excited to be hosting Jamie's mom, youngest sister and her little boy for the holidays. Jamie's mom arrived just in time for the Annual Fontaine Christmas Bash on Dec 20th. This year we celebrated with friends in our new home and it worked out quite well. As usual we supplied a delicious ham feast while our friends brought the wine to help keep the party going.
Julie and Kallum arrived early the next morning and Brandon enjoyed showing his little cousin all of his cool toys. We really didn't do too much in the days leading up to Christmas. There was last minute shopping and wrapping and baking to get done but mostly we visited and played with the kids. On Christmas Eve morning we discovered our fridge was no longer working. Given all the food we had for the holidays, this was cause for panic. Luckily we were able to borrow a huge cooler from a friend and we spent two days our on our back deck trying to find what we needed in the freezing cold (not good!) At least nothing was ruined - not even our festive spirits ;-)

That night we walked over to Confederation Park and enjoyed the lights and the music - trying to make the most of our evening. We got back home around 8pm where Brandon was happy to write out his list for Santa ("a huge dino and a garbage truck excavator with garbage men and Transformers") and put out the milk and cookies. He went to bed at a decent hour but every time I went to check on him, I could tell he was still awake. Around 4am he crawled into our bed and asked if it was time to see if Santa had come. I told him it was still too early but I would be sure to wake him up when it was time. He accepted that and promptly passed out. I ended up waking him around 7:30am. He ran downstairs to find his "Dino" and "Garbage Truck" in front of the fireplace. He kissed them and hugged them while they were still in their boxes.

The rest of the morning was spent opening gifts and feasting on French Toast. Christmas Day consisted of Brandon and Kallum playing with their new toys while the adults prepared Christmas dinner. It all worked out perfectly and I'd say it was a very nice Christmas overall.

First thing on Dec 26th, Jamie and I hit the appliance store to buy a fridge. Lucky for us we bought a beautiful fridge on sale and it was delivered and installed that day! I couldn't believe it - a real Christmas miracle ;-) While we were waiting for the fridge to arrive, I took the opportunity to take the tree down and put most of my Christmas decorations away. After our fridge was installed Jamie, Brandon and I jumped in the car and drove over to the Rawlycks for another fantastic turkey leftover feast. Brandon got to play with his little buddy Ben and we all enjoyed our evening out.
In the days following we said good-bye to our company and spent the rest of our time shopping, sledding, and hanging out with friends.
For New Year's we were once again invited over to Jen and Steve's house for a party and hot tubbing fun. Jen did a great job of decorating the house and inventing games for us to play. The hot tub was tons of fun and we toasted each other over the jets and under-water disco lights when the clock struck midnight. Jamie, Brandon and I spent the night and made our way back home just after noon.
And that was it. Our first holiday season in the new house. I'm so glad we could share it with family. A house full of kids, food and laughter is the best way to spend any Christmas in my book!