Holiday fun

We left home on Christmas day, dropped Bill off at the airport so he could go visit his side of the family. After kissing him off, Maelie and I set off for my side of the family. It was a nice sunny 4 hour drive.

We visited my mom first and exchanged gifts. She was able to guess what was in her gift!



Maelie was also spoiled as usual. She got a few games, one of them being a Cranium game called Cadoo. It is so much fun! We played for quite a while!



We were invited to my dad's for supper. We were served a typical Quebec holiday meal! A cold buffet style meal including "Pain Russe". Yummy!




Maelie received more presents. Once of the games was Uno. She enjoyed playing it with Daphney. (my dad's girlfriend's daughter's boyfriend's daughter) Did that just make sense?



We had intended on returning home on boxing day. The weather was fine where we were, however it was freezing rain at home! So we decided to wait an extra day to be on the safe side. It started snowing at my dad's last night! I couldn't believe it when I looked out the window this morning. This is my car!!



This is the view from the porch.



The weather was just fine everywhere else! So i braved the roads and 20 minutes into my drive, the snow had disappeared and it was raining. Maelie stayed with grand-maman and will be coming home tomorrow! I have such a hard time when she is not with me!! I love when she is safe and sound in the same house as me. But she is enjoying herself and not missing her mama one bit!

We had a wonderful little Christmas. It is nice to visit family, but it is always nice to come home!!

Merry Christmas - Day 25

It's finally here! The day we've all been waiting for for so long!!

Maelie was up at 2 am last night, and I told her she was not allowed to go downstairs for her stocking before 5. I could feel her lean over me to look at the clock a few times during the night. Poor her! She was so excited!

At 6 am she woke up and ran downstairs to get her stocking. She brought it in bed and went though it. She loved her surprises from Santa!

Once she was done that, she woke up Bill and told both of us to hurry downstairs. She said when she went to get her stocking, she saw a desk for her room from the whole family!



She went through her gifts one by one and loved every one of them. Here is her new comforter that she wanted. Her room will be painted to match the teal color on the bed set.



The most wished for item from Santa.... her bowling balls!! She was so excited that they were purple. She can't wait to try them out! We will make sure we go during Christmas vacation.



These were also the long awaited Bendaroos! For some reason this was a popular toy this season.



Maelie was extremely spoiled by family , Santa and us. The day is also just starting!! We are dropping Bill off at the airport as he is going to spend a week with his Mom. Maelie and I will drive to visit my side of the family for an overnight stay and we will be back tomorrow. We don't have many plans during out Christmas vacation. Mainly we want to take it easy, relax and enjoy each other!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 24

Wow... this is it!! The advent calendar is complete!!



Maelie's last advent animal was a mama pig.



I am amazed at the amount of Christmas wishes we received this year!! Our card holder is full!!



Today Maelie came to work with me as there was a special visitor today!



Turns out Santa's helper came by dressed as Santa - since we all know Santa is just too busy on Christmas Eve!!



He brought Maelie a gift - a mouse trap game.



We tried it when we got back to my desk. It's hard to concentrate with all the excitement!



I was done work at noon so I had a few errands to run, and had a lot of wrapping to do! Maelie and Bill went out for a while for me to finish it all.

For supper, Maelie had a candlelight meal! :)



I spent all evening wrapping, wrapping and wrapping some more! Maelie was so exhausted she put herself to bed at 7:00 pm. As she now says : The sooner we go to bed, the sooner we will get up!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 23

Maelie got a lion today in her advent calendar! It completes the little family. Only one more advent animal to go!!



Maelie opened up one of her activity presents. It was a dot to dot coloring book. We didn't even sit down to work on it! She is very excited she can hardly sit still. She stated "Mom!! it's the eve of Christmas Eve!!"



Maelie has already left a cookie out for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. She is giving him an added bonus: a chocolate in the shape of Santa's head! Santa better be hungry tomorrow night!



I purchased a few more tins today as I am running out! I love filling up cute tins and giving them away! I currently have so many baked goods in my freezer that there is no room for anything else!



What is the answer to that problem? BAKE SOME MORE!! I HAD to bake... no choice. I bought some Andes chocolates so I wasn't NOT going to make my mint chocolate chip cookies!



Also for the lover of non-traditional cookies, these are lemon ones rolled into little sprinkles. I simply need to ice them once they cool down. The icing also has a taste of lemon.



If it were up to me, I would keep on baking for weeks before Christmas! But Christmas has snuck up on us and is just 2 days away!!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 22

Today Maelie opened up a mama lion. The days are going by too fast! It seems Maelie is always opening up an advent treat!!



When Maelie got home from school today, she insisted I open up this ornament that she made! I really love receiving personalized ornaments. They mean the world to me!



She also had an A to Z Holiday time poem. So cute how she tries so hard to rhyme all the time.



And finally a wonderful card/frame with her picture in it. Have I told anyone lately?? I love my baby girl!!



As I was working on supper, Maelie decided to make Natalie's chocolate krinkles. She made the whole recipe by herself.



She even insisted that she could break open the eggs. She certainly doesn't need my help!



Ta-Da!



After supper, we went to visit my friend Jacinthe as we had a few gifts to exchange. We also wanted to meet Peanut!



Here are the kids concentrating on their Christmas stuff!



Peanut did not enjoy being dressed up as a present! She is SOOOO cute!!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 21

After this little dude, we only have 3 advent items left! It flew by !



Today was pyjama day for the grade 2 kids, and they were having a pancake breakfast! How exciting! We had all the teacher treats packed up in a wide box ready to go. Maelie enjoys giving treats to all the staff she knows. So we have the teachers from the previous grades (whether she had them or not), the secretarial staff principal, daycare workers, and cleaning staff. Then on Tuesday we will have one for the bus driver as well. Today I drove her to school so she didn't see him.



After school Maelie opened an activity present.



It was a little packed up towel that opens up when you put it in water. She commented "Mom! I have one for all the special occasions!" She got one for Halloween as well... so I guess the pressure will be on for Valentine's and Easter! I hope I find some!



We were invited to Tristan's house for supper. Tristan is leaving for Christmas vacation so Maelie will surely miss him!



Once we returned home, Natalie called and came over with Ryan, Merrick and Myran.



Maelie got so excited! She received another present! The spoiling starts!! (I was very spoiled too today!!) Maelie couldn't wait a few extra days 'til Christmas....



We are surrounded by so many kind, loving and generous friends. What a blessing. I wish all of you as many, or more blessings (if that is even possible) !!

Countdown to Christmas - Day 20

Ah! Day 20! Not many left. I must say Maelie will have a beautiful Schleich collection after this December!!



Maelie opened up an activity present earlier on in the day. I had been telling her she could only open this one on a weekend day. It was a gingerbread house!



We laid out the pieces on the table...



...and then set to work on the icing!



Maelie is assembling it piece by piece.



Once we had the 4 walls up we set the timer for half an hour for the icing to dry a little before putting the roof on. To my amazement, it made it much easier than prior years! It's amazing what following instructions will do !!



Ta da! Voila the final results of the gingerbread house :). With the icing we used, and following directions, it was actually easier than usual!



While Maelie worked on the house, I also worked on the cookies for the class. I made simple little sugar cookies in the shape of Christmas trees, added some of the icing from the house, and sprinkled some Wilton sprinkles in top. They didn't look super professional, but they were cute!



This is one of my favorite Christmas items. Michelle made this for me years ago! I cherish it and smile every time I take it out from the Christmas boxes. It's actually a cookie jar, but I couldn't put cookies in it becaus I wouldn't want anyone to touch it and risk breaking it! So he sits high up on display in the kitchen!



Once we were done, I brought the boxes from our air exchanger upstairs. Maelie was ECSTATIC! It's amazing what a box can do to your child!!



She spent a while going in and out. Not an easy task when it is taller than your legs!



After she played for a bit, we went out for some errands. I had a few things I needed to pick up to finish up my Christmas gifts. We had to go to Michael's of course! I had some 50% coupons, so when Maelie is with me, she pays for 1 item so I can use 1 coupons. Since it was beside Winners and Homesense, I thought it would be fun to just stop by. WOW... the line up was at least 50 people! and of course, I found something so I ended up in line with everyone else. I ended up finding a few cute things while waiting in line.... they know how to market their stuff! (nothing outrageous... just Christmas sprinkles!! and some more hand sanitizer).

So Maelie and I had quite the afternoon shopping around! We came home pooped! But then I had to work on the teacher & school staff gifts. Every year, Maelie's list gets longer. She writes down the names on tags and I arrange the packages. At one point, she wrote down the name of a teacher and I asked "oh, what does this teacher teach you?" She responded " Oh, nothing. But I know her."
So if she starts giving presents to everyone she knows, by grade 6 I will have to prepare months ahead of time! We don't give huge gifts, just a little handmade chocolate treat for every person on her list. The actual homeroom teacher gets the bigger arrangement and other things.

We are going to bed pretty late!! Tomorrow is pyjama day at school... Maelie is just overly excited now!!