Another Christmas is officially in the books. For the most part, it’s been a very good year. I had my amazing family around me, plans to see most of my friends in the coming weeks and we got to see a Star Wars movie. How is that for a good holiday season?
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without some drama. 11pm December 23rd, Shannon was busy wrapping gifts while we watched Christmas vacation and she asked “Where are the kids Xmas Eve Jammies?!”. I thought she was kidding. She was not. I spent the next hour flying through the house trying to find them. Failed. Panic now set in that we would have to find a special pair for each kid – on Christmas eve. They both wanted these funky onsies that are only really available in a couple places. Went to bed, got up early the next morning and started calling around. Thankfully two places had them. A shop in Barrie and one in Niagara Falls. Off to the falls I went, as Barrie sounded like a bad idea Mission accomplished, catastrophe averted, and two happy kids later that night.
Shannon and the kids headed to her moms while I did the running around and had a nice visit before we all met back up at home for Pj opening and some pictures around the tree. Loaded up the Jeep and then headed out to the Shoups for an evening of laughter and comfort food. Still one of my favorite traditions is the Christmas eve get together with my aunts/uncles/siblings and as many cousins as we can fit! After a few hours we headed home for bed.
Christmas morning was no shortage of magic. Kids came downstairs to a tree bursting with presents and smiles as big as our tree. Few more pics and we loaded all the presents up in the jeep and headed over to my parents place to meet up with my immediate family and begin the present opening bonanza. Everyone seems to get what they wanted and then some! Lots of lucky little people with big smiles and giggles. Once that finished up, most of us sat down for a huge breakfast complete with fancy table settings and cinabons 🙂 Probably could have finished eating for the weekend at this point, but where is the fun in that?!
Hugs and headed home to get cleaned up and ready to go. Next stop Dave and Mary Janes for more gifts and Christmas spirit! Kids were spoiled even more! Joe is a lean, mean present opening machine! We loaded the Jeep up once more and headed across the mountain.
Next stop was Jeff and Cathys for yet another present opening event. At this point I’m really starting to wonder where we are going to put everything. Kids spent some time playing with their cousin Cory while Shannon and I chatted away with Jeff and Cathy and eventually loaded up – again – this time to head home to get ready for dinner.
Off to the Shoups for dinner! We alternate years between Shannons dads house and my Aunt/Uncles house for dinner. This year is my side. I think I ate my weight in stuffing and mash potatoes. Several hours of more laughter, playing with all the kids and reminiscing about my Grandpa who passed away and the family members who were sadly absent this year. All I know is those who were absent – were missed. Hopefully next year this can change, but we will see. Eventually we called it a night, and took our tired monkeys home and put them to bed before heading up ourselves.
Boxing day we finally slept in a tiny bit. Boy did we need that! Got up and unboxed a bunch of the kids stuff and cleaned up around the house. Showered up and headed to Jeff and Cathys for the Woodall Christmas dinner. Nothing like beef and yorkshire pudding to put the cap on a week of over eating. Shannon cousins were there along with some family friends. Very nice seeing them as we don’t all get together as often as my side given the distance that they live. Kids had fun beating up on Jake and Josh as always and of course, collected a couple more presents! As the night winded down we headed back to Hagersville and popped back out to my aunt and uncles as my cousins step-daughter was there and Abby really wanted to see her. It was a short visit followed by home for some much needed sleep.
Finally December 27th a handful of us headed to Ancaster for part of our now two-year-old tradition of going to see Star Wars! This year was Rogue One! Awesome movie, in my opinion. Very different feel from the other movies, but excellent in its own right. Kids loved it too! Afterwards most of us headed to the Works (kids choice) for dinner and to talk about the movie. This tradition is kind of a re-boot as Uncle Shoupie and Aunt Linda started me down my Star Wars craze 35 years ago by taking me to see Return of the Jedi in theatre, and renting the previous movies for me when I would go visit them when I was very little. Fast forward 35 years and now we all get together to bring in the latest from LucasFilm/Disney. From the sounds of things, new movies coming yearly so this will hopefully be a long-term tradition!
Now, to enjoy the remainder of our holidays with quiet time with the kids and some more adventures to be determined in the coming days.
To everyone who contributed to making our Christmas as bright as it was, thank you. It wouldn’t be Christmas without you!
And to my beautiful wife and children, I love you and thank you!