Canadian Christmas

Even from the perspective of being wrapped up in a blanket at the dining room table while blowing my nose and simultaneously balancing a full hand of rook and a soggy tissue while intermittently sipping from a mug of steaming chamomile tea, Christmas looked pretty darn good.

It included all the usual suspects; christmas concert watching, gingerbread house decorating, badminton tournamenting, cookie baking & eating, excessive family youtube video watching (and re-watching), endless rounds of rook, bananagrams, blokus, & scotland yard playing, lethbridge traveling, 5-guys eating, & movie-theatre watching, and the limitless consumption of food, drinks, snacks, and treats.

It saw us huddled around the television watching christmas classics (and lesser known classics), and tossing rolls of toilet paper between us after we soon ran out of Kleenex. It was shuffling around in pajamas all day, boiling water for 10 and everyone concocting their hot drink of preference. It was mom simmering hot turkey noodle soup for all us sickies (she was the only one to escape without a sniffle - and good thing) and doling out magic pills, and drops, and vitamins like it was her job.

Being sick has never been so fun! And even though I am pretty sure there is nothing unusual or spectacular about how we spend the holidays, there is just something about being with your very own family, laughing at and finding rediculous all the very same things.

Some moments we were lucky enough to catch on film:
1. Sir Benjerson sizing up and sneaking a taste of the Christmas Eve feast
2. Matching Canada Christmas jams
3. The red pajama vs. white pajama tragedy of Christmas 2011
4. Elder Remington stealing first place for best missionary package ever!
5. The kidlets getting serious about reading (they remained like this for ages, we take reading very seriously in this family)
6. The fam skyping with missionary jon (true highlight, I just love him!)

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Some things that should have been documented on camera but were not:
1. The butt-loads of tissue overflowing from every single trash receptacle, and making appearances in some less-than-tissue-appropriate locations.
2. the boys attempting to maneuver the hot tub across the yard.
3. Ryan fixing the tub, the sink, the smoke detectors, the basement door, the bench, and probably some other stuff (he's amazingly handy & incredibly sweet)
4. Badminton/basketball tourney at the church gym.
5. And any one of our hundreds of card games and/or board games.
6. The hilarity that is 10 adults setting up christmas & filling stockings for the sum total of 3 children.

A very Merry Christmas indeed!