Christmas Time with Family

Amy made a wonderful punch - orange juice, cranberry juice and pop (like ginger ale) with frozen cranberries and freshly cut lemon - Martha Stewart would be impressed, if I say so myself. It was delicious - thank you Amy!!

Time to break the Christmas crackers!!! Grandma Char made sure all of her grandchildren were able to crack open a Christmas cracker. As you can see they all sat in a circle and with a giant pull - all the crackers were opened. Erin and Amy helped the kids figure out all their prizes.

This year, my mom celebrated Christmas with me. She started her week with my cousins Marjorie and Bob as I had to work those days (I am currently cross training 3 coworkers so there was no way I would be able to take time off work). As I had though - Marjorie, Bob and my mom had an awesome visit. I met up with them on Christmas Eve night - joined them for the late Christmas Eve service at their church downtown Calgary. After opening gifts and calling some family, I drove my mom up to Three Hills to celebrate with my other family - The James. Coming from a small family - I think being a part of a large family could be overwhelming when not used to it (Mom did well those). A new board game we are currently hooked on is Scrabble - Peter, Andy and Jon James are the ones to beat in this game. We actually had a tournament - Andy James is the reigning champion!!! (Congrats Andy).

Thank you for a wonderful time on Christmas Day - my mom and I loved celebrating the day with you all.

My Headboard

John P had spent 15 hours cutting and rounding out all those pieces for my headboard!!!

The headboard is so big that it had to come into the house in 4 pieces!!! Jon J primed and painted all these pieces

The masterpiece is now one!! I have plenty of storage for my knicknack now!! I absolutely love it!!

Family Photos

Taking advantage of the decorated lobby - I took family photos in front of the Christmas trees in the front lobby of the hotel



Garron and Amy with their children Solomon and Journey as well as Ren (the international student staying with them)

Amanda with her children Bradley (left) and Jon (right) and Ocean

David and Erin with their children Hudson, Emma and Josiah

Sara and John with their children Ethan, Sierra and Casendra

Brothers - Jon and Peter

Char and Andy with their sons - Peter and Jon

Amanda with nephew Ethan and nieces Casendra and Journey

Relaxing after dinner - David, Erin, Peter, Sara, Andy, Jon K, and Garron

Gathering in the lobby:
Above - Erin with daughter Emma and nieces Casendra and Journey

Bradley with his Uncle Jon, Aunt Amy and Uncle Garron

Hats and Dinner

The Christmas crackers were broken - the tissue paper hats came out with the little goodie or jokes inside the cracker. We enjoyed a wonderful family dinner celebration - great laughs, great times of sharing - just a wonderful time to relax and spend with family.
(Left to Right)



Char, Ocean, Andy, Jon K, Laura, Emma and Sierra

Bradley, Jon J, Peter and Ren

Josiah, Hudson, David, Sara, Casendra, John P, Ethan and Erin

Garron, Solomon, Amy, Amanda and Journey

Time for Smores

Garron along with John and Sara roasted the marshmellows for their kids smores over the open firepit

Sara your marshmellows are on fire!!!! No worries - I blew out the flames - now they are perfect - nice and crisp

John P putting the top graham cracker of his smore

Daddy this smore is so good - it is finger licking good!!! (Solomon with his dad Garron)

Solomon and Journey all bundled up to venture outside

Garron roasts the marshmellows with his children Journey and Solomon

Emma enjoying her hot chocolate and smore

Journey enjoying the smore her daddy made for her

It's Scrabble Time!!!

A few of us gathered in the hotel lobby to have a game of Scrabble - Peter, Andy, Char and myself. It was wonderfully warm with the sun beating through the window. My back was to the window so I was nice and toasty but didn't have the sun in my eyes. Either the sun is in Peter's eyes or he is really concentrating on what his next word would be - or it could be both. Peter was our big winner!!! Thanks for the game!! (I came in third)

(Side note - tonight I played Scrabble with John P and Jon J - Jon J was the huge winner!! We sure made use of the tiles making multiple words out of one initial word. Jon J has now beaten me twice in a row now - I think I will be up for some stiff competition if I played both Jon and Peter - I am sure that will occur someday soon.)

Grandpa Andy with his girls

Granddaughter Ocean

Granddaughter Emma

Granddaughter Casendra

Relaxing afternoon continues...

Sierra, Amy and Sara made platters of goodies for all the rooms with all the different munchies and goodies people brough

As Solomon enjoyed his cookie, his Grandpa Andy caught up with the latest news reading the Global Mail.

Sara's platter - it looks so yummy!!!

I wish there was a video nearby - After Amy gave her son Solomon some mandrin oranges he did this cute dance about oranges. He does enjoy his oranges - he ate a half of one with no problem.