On December 16, we celebrated the Pezzente Christmas at Leo & Kerri's. It was nice that everyone could make it. Probably helped that there were yummy appetizers and Christmas baking present ;-)
Then on the 23rd we travelled to Edmonton, to spend Christmas at my sister Cora & her husband Ted's house, along with the rest of my family. It was a great time and a nice change of scenery, since we usually go to the farm when it is the year for the "Oborowsky" Christmas. We got very spoiled by Cora's fabulous cooking and Cora & Ted's great hospitality, and of course, with gifts from all.
The morning of the 24th we drove out East of Edmonton about an hour and joined our collective families (the Oborowsky's, the Matsikas', the Ferry's) and many friends, for an old fashioned horse & sleigh ride. It was a bit brisk out because of a little wind, but we bundled under blankets and enjoyed the hour long ride (the babies were getting antsy by the end, but they did fairly well). Some homemade hot chocolate and Bailey's helped with the warming up! The drivers also had a few games/races planned for along the way to get the group moving.
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| Auntie Jess tuckering out the kids before bed |
After the morning outside, we headed back to Cora's for mom's homemade chicken noodle soup to warm up. Actually, the rest had soup, while I went in search of a walk-in clinic. It turns out that all the late nights and germs finally got to me and I woke up that morning with a hellish sickness in my lungs that had me almost crying every time I barked out a cough…so I knew it wasn't good and that I couldn't leave it go till after Christmas. Drugs were a requirement! I spent 3 hours waiting to see a Doc, but all was not lost as I was able to wait in the truck and have a much needed nap! The rest of the evening was prepping for Christmas Day dinner and bed!
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| reading "The Night Before Christmas" |
Christmas Day was chaos :-) It's a good thing Skye hasn't figured out yet that as soon as we wake up we COULD run to the tree and open presents. So we managed to get the little ones fed before we opened up some of the gifts. Skye's favourite gift from Santa was a huge carrier plane, "Cabbie" from the movie Planes, with 4 little smoke jumpers inside! :-) And Rhys got an adorable rocket ship, complete with astronauts, a space dog and an alien - all of which are CHEW friendly! From mommy & daddy, Skye got her very own homemade Doctor's kit (details to follow in a separate post) - which mommy is probably more excited over at the moment than Skye is. Actually it might be a little over her head for now (I may have went a TAD crazy with it…), but I KNOW she will love it in the near future! And Rhys got an adorable moose lunch kit & new sippy cup.
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what little darlings in their Christmas pjs ;-)
Rhys, Aviana & Skye - they all look like deer caught in the headlights! haha |
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| yum! a cupcake ornament |
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| yum! new shoes |
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| look Mama it flies |
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| Cabbie the Airplane! |
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Rhys "tasting" Aviana's new walker - just to make sure it's safe!
Anyone know how this thing works?! |
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I think I figured it out!
Now if I could just fit thru here... |
Grandma & Grandpa and Auntie Jess & crew came over for lunch and hauled over another truck full of presents to open. That was even more chaotic. Now there were 5 kids opening presents and they didn't know which way to turn - each present even more exciting than the others!
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each grandkid got their very own cool
Christmas wooden music box from G&G |
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| Grandpa & the kids playing Skye's new Dr. Seuss game |
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SIL (Ted's) Betsy & Kezia -
what a perfect little doll!! |
Turkey dinner, with all the fixings, was delicious! Ted's family joined us for dinner as well, and it was great to visit with them, as always! The kids had lots of fun playing together too.
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| G&G with grandkids - L to R: Veda, Aviana, Skye, Vann & Rhys |
By the 26th we were ready for a day to just relax somewhat. Even though it was still a bit chilly out, Grandpa & Grandpa were determined to take Skye & Vann out back to the hill on the green space and go sledding! So they bundled up warm and went out for some snow fun. Auntie Jess went out to - to supervise! :-) The rest of us were lazy…
My cousin Kim & her daughter came over for a visit, so we had an excuse to stay indoors.
The rest of the night was trying to organize all the new loot and pack up. And Saturday morning, the 27th, we left for home before lunch. We sure missed Cora's cooking once we got home though and remembered the fridge was empty :-(
For the remainder of the holidays we laid low. Skye went for a 2 day sleepover to my cousin Niki's before New Year's (and had a ton of fun as usual), which gave me a small window to race around the house and remove all signs of Christmas. I REALLY did not have the energy to do it, but knew that it would be 10x worse to have Skye "helping" me, so I guess that was my only motivation ;-)
(okay, I did feel a wee bit guilty about not letting her help me…just a bit though)
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| Oliver, Mateo & Skye |
We celebrated New Year's Eve by going out for Chinese food with Dino's family - his mom, his brother Leo & family, sister Claudia & the kids, and with our friends the Giorgi's. It was a nice dinner, and then we went back to Dino's moms for a little bit for more visiting. I did make it past midnight, if you count sitting up in bed and only half awake (with baby Rhys in my arms, and a husband snoring beside me). Cheers?!
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| Brooklyn, Matteo, Chris, Nicole, Rhys, Londyn & Ava |
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| Zia Claudia & Skye |
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| Dino, me, Leo, Kerri, Mom & Claudia |
