Christmas, at last!!!

To say this has been a very busy start to 2011 would be an understatement.  So many happenings at our place, which have to still make it onto the blog... but I'm still in catch-up mode.  As soon as I complete 2010, I can work on getting our year book done and published.

So, without further ado...

Christmas Eve:

Depak got a "gingerman" (as Nat calls it) kit at his work gift exchange.  He spent Christmas eve morning making the gingerman house with Natalie.  Chelsea and I were busy making cookies.  It was a nice morning at home with my family. 

In the evening, as is tradition for our family, we dressed up in our Christmas best and went to the candlelight service at church.  The service was a great reflection of Christ at Christmas, with a lot of amazing talent displayed by the ladies, teens and kids.  Afterward, we spent some time with our Cornwall/Lusty family, opening gifts, eating yummy food, enjoying wonderful people. 

Christmas:

We have created a routine for Christmas morning that I look forward to every year.  First thing... STOCKINGS!!!  We only buy gifts for the kids at Christmas, but we do try to put a lot of effort into our stockings.  The highlights this year... well, I got a pack of Justin Bieber cards... not sure what to do with them.  The usuals show up annually: socks, toothpaste, chocolate.  The girls got a couple of movies.  Depak and Walt got some very stylish scarves.  And I got some oranges (along with some other nice things).  I will have to remember to put oranges in everyone else's stockings next year.

Depak's parents and Parveen, BJ and Arjun joined us for breakfast and gift opening.  We do a simple breakfast... fruit, crescants, muffins, coffee.  Simple, but enjoyable.

The gift opening was chaos.  Although we didn't go crazy with gifts, they still add up when the kids get a gift from everyone.  It was a bit overwhelming for Natalie, who wants to play with one thing and not just open up boxes.  Anna loved the colors and the noise, and was having a blast sitting in all the mess.  Chelsea, like always, gets some pretty awesome stuff.

I tried to finish Anna's Christmas present by that morning, but wasn't successful.  Here's a photo of Anna with her blanket as it was that morning.  I did finish, and she does like it, which makes me happy.

We took a group photo of everyone that morning.  Its amazing how its easy to miss someone in the photos, so I love doing the group shots.  Everyone is great about letting me have that.  It did take six tries to get a good one.

We definitely missed Phua Ji this Christmas morning... just wasn't quite the same.  We got to spend the evening with Gurpreet, her new husband Mukesh, and their family.  I forgot my camera (go figure), so I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time chatting and eating with family.  Natalie and Pierre had a special time together, especially at the end of the night with both in their PJ's.

Christmas with the Zseders:

We didn't get to spend Christmas with the Zseders until the 27th this year, a Monday.  We got there for noon, ate leftovers for lunch (they had turkey/ham dinner the night before), and spent the afternoon hanging out, playing games.  We had a great steak dinner that evening, and then packed up for home.  We look forward to the relaxing day each year.