Merry Christmas!!

Here we are Christmas afternoon - I can't believe it's already come and half-way gone already! The boys are each enjoying their gifts - Josh on his PSP with a new game and Ian and Brian are working on Ian's new Lego Star Wars X-Wing. Ellie is napping although I may hear her waking up as I type. It has truly been a wonderful couple of days. Brian has taken the week to be off and accomplish some last minute Christmas stuff as well as just enjoy some down-time with the family.
Monday both he and I went shopping (separately) in the morning but had the afternoon to relax and do some gift wrapping. That night we had some friends over for dinner and enjoyed a couple of hours to get to know them a little better. Josh, however, was out having a movie marathon with friends! Tuesday he and Josh went had had some much needed "guy time" while I did some cooking and other activities. That evening we enjoyed a family dinner all together at the table - with the busy season it's been a while since that has happened and it was nice. We then were enjoying a family game of Rummikub when the doorbell rang and it was a group of carolers - all the Commanders and their spouses! What a lovely surprise!
Christmas Eve I spent some time in the kitchen and then realized I needed a couple of last-minute ingredients so we headed into town a little early for our Christmas Eve service so I could stop by the store before the service. What that meant for our family was having to get ready for church at 3pm! Not quite used to that! We had to wake Ellie up from her nap and although I had a beautiful Christmas dress ready for her to put on because we woke her up she was in no mood to change so we left her in the outfit she was wearing (thankfully it was a Christmas-y outfit). After a stop at Target we realized we were pretty early for church so Brian actually offered to stop and get us all coffee/cocoa - something that's never his suggestion! So, we went through the drive-thru at Cariboo Coffee and then headed to church. It was a lovely service but, unfortunately, it wasn't the candlelight service and we really enjoy that service but it was still nice. Once the service was over we headed home to some heavy appetizers - something we did last year on Christmas Eve and really liked. We'd invited some folks over but most had plans or just wanted to be home (which we can totally understand). We did end up with Josh's friend Chris and his mom (who works for Brian) and then a stop-by visitor, Colleen, who dropped by with gifts for us. Chris and Colleen are both in Josh's Calculus study group that meets in our home every Sunday afternoon and usually concludes with me feeding them all dinner. There's more of a story with that that I'll have to share another time or this post will be longer then it already looks to be! Anyway, it was kinda fun to have the group here and they all started playing games. It was a lovely way to spend the evening. Oh, our food was cheese fondue with bread and green apples, sweet and sour meatball, port-wine cheese with wheat thins and Christmas "wreaths" (similar to Rice-krispy treats but made from corn flakes and dyed green).
This morning the boys were happy to see that Santa had, indeed, come to visit and I don't think they were disappointed! Josh got a laptop, Ian got a Star Wars Xwing (mentioned earlier), Clone Trooper gun (nerf type) and a light up/sound purple light saber (we have termed this Ian's Star Wars Christmas), and Ellie got a travel magna doodle, lady bug tea set, cloth manger scene, and a cute dinnerware set she can eat on/with. They immediately noticed, though, that their stockings were not hanging with care! Turns out Santa sent them on a scavenger hunt to find them! I'll post later the hints and all that he left. It was a fun twist on our Christmas morning. We then opened our stockings, gifts from friends and family (THANK YOU EVERYONE!), and then gifts from each other. Brian's big/little present - I tricked him by telling him it was just a "little" something - was an Ipod Nano. I got some clothes (I wanted) and cool socks and pretty earrings. Plus, a hair straightener I wanted. So, it's been a wonderful Christmas for all of us! I hope it has been for you as well! I hope through all the gifts, food and good times together you take a moment to remember the baby born in Bethelem who gives us a reason for this season as well as hope for all year long! Merry Christmas to you All!

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