The Magic of Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It is so much fun enjoying Christmas with kids! Especially 2 1/2 year olds!! Blake really "got" Christmas this year, which made it even more fun :) We started some new traditions we hope to carry on with through the years! For 22 years I awoke on Christmas morning at my Grandma and Grandpa's house in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. It was hard to move on from that and I do miss those days, but as a married woman with a growing family, I am enjoying mixing those old traditions and customs with new ones and making new memories with my wonderful husband and children!!

On the 22nd Cal and I took Blake to Candy Cane Lane. We had an awesome time on the sleigh ride!! Blake was hesitant at first, but it didn't take long for him to relax! He was pointing out all the Santa's and the Frosty's (what he calls all snowmen!) and shouting Merry Christmas to people walking on the sidewalks!! It was great! Another highlight was the Thomas decoration on one home's lawn!! I'm so glad we got to do that! Thank you so much to my Mom for staying with Emerson! After Candy Cane Lane we also drove by the "Christmas House" on 97th street. Personally, I feel it's a bit over done! Some how, each year they add more lights. Not sure where they'll add more next year, but I'd sure hate to get that electrical bill!!

Cal's vacation began on the 24th and we did some last minute Christmas preparations that day. There seems to always be some last minute running around to do on Christmas Eve! Emerson put on her cute Christmas p.j.'s, we took some pictures and she went to bed. Blake had a long nap that afternoon, so I decided to take him to the children's service at our church at 7pm that evening. I am SO glad I did!! We had a living nativity and Blake was an angel. It was absolutely adorable and we had a very special time together. When we got in the truck after the service Blake asked, "Where's Jesus?" I told him that Jesus was in Heaven and he then asked, "Jesus not at home?" I told him that Heaven is Jesus' home and then thought boy oh boy, I'm sure I'm confusing him even more!! When we got home, Cal came out and we sprinkled our reindeer food on the front lawn! We then went inside and put out cookies (4) and "snowman milk" a.k.a. egg nog for Santa, as well as 3 carrots for the reindeer (Blake was very specific about the number of cookies and carrots)! Then he put on his Christmas p.j.'s, sat for more pictures! and headed to bed!

I'm not sure if it was the Christmas excitement or not, but both kids were up EXTREMELY early on Christmas morning!! We finally got out of bed at 6:30! Blake was thrilled to see all that Santa brought and loved both his and Emerson's presents!! Emerson also enjoyed her presents and Cal and I loved having Christmas morning with our kids in our home. We had lots of time to play and get ready to head to Stony, since we were up so early!! We got to my Mom and Dad's house around 10 am. We opened gifts and Blake was very helpful with opening Emerson's and a few other presents as well! I know Emerson is too young to understand Christmas and opening presents, but she truly enjoyed some of her gifts. She didn't really have any of her own "girly" toys yet, so it's nice she has some now! We had our traditional Christmas morning wife saver brunch, which was very yummy and spent the day playing and visiting! We stayed over that night as well as the 26th night.

On Boxing Day we went to Gerry and Lesley's for a visit and to open the Cameron gifts! It turned out that Bruce and Kourtney were able to come by as well, so it was very nice to spend some time with them!! We had a great visit and the boys had fun playing!

The morning of the 27th we headed to Beaumont to visit the Hrdlicka's! We hadn't met Presley yet, so I was very glad we were able to catch up with them while they were near Edmonton!! Presely is gorgeous! She looks a lot like Nicholas, but as I told Candace "in a very feminine way!!" As always, we had a great visit and I was left feeling sad that we don't live closer to each other :( Hopefully one day!! I was teasing Brandon and Candace that I was going to put a bug in the RCMP's ear to prevent them from moving any further away and hopefully nearer!! Just kidding of course ... We also got to meet Bosco, Brandon's 12 week old, German Shepard puppy, who he is training to be a police dog. Bosco is SO adorable! I'd have a tough time being strict with the little guy! Which I suppose is the reason they do what they do and I do what I do!! lol!! We also got to visit with Tina and Barb, which was great! Tina gave Emerson a Christmas birth stone ball with her name on it, just like Blake's. They are gorgeous and Emerson's is purple, my favorite color, and is so pretty in the sunlight!! We returned home that afternoon and my parents came in with the rest of our gifts and Heidi! We enjoyed a Chinese dinner and said good bye to my Mom and Dad, as they were off to Saskatchewan, with Lindsay, the morning of the 28th.

We hope Emerson enjoyed her 1st Christmas and Blake his 3rd! We certainly enjoyed spending lots of time with friends and family and watching the kids! We find it is often a struggle to keep the gift portion of Christmas under control. It's hard not to buy too much ... but I think we all did a good job this year!! Sometimes the true meaning of Christmas is often pushed aside for presents and Santa Claus. Not that these are bad things, but we really want our children to understand the real meaning of why we celebrate Christmas. This year we decided to talk to Blake about why Christmas exists. We hope to teach our kids that the true meaning of Christmas is not only about getting presents, but about giving to others and celebrating how much they mean to us. This year we also chose a gift from each of us to purchase through Plan Canada. We will continue this tradition each year. Hopefully this will encourage us all to remember the real "reason for the season!"

Cal is off work until January 4th, so we are enjoying lots of family time! Today we played outside and took Emerson for her 1st sleigh ride! She really enjoyed it! Blake walked and had fun kicking the snow and helping pull the sleigh!! We hope to go swimming one morning this week and other than that we're going with the flow and just enjoying life!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed time with loved ones wherever you were. If you still have travelling to do, wishing you safe travels! We'll be back with one more blog before 2010 ;)

Lots of love,
Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson