So, here I am at the end of our Christmas holidays. Brian is back to work. Most of the big family events are over, except for a few more fun things. And here am I relaxing over a cup of hot chocolate. I can hardly believe that it's almost over. This time of year goes too quickly. It's often such a busy time of year, and yet it's so nice to get together with family and friends.
So, what happened in our household this year? Well, Christmas Eve Brian, Abby, and I were asked to read the Advent liturgy and light the candles. Despite the realization that Abby was up past her bed time, she actually did quite well. Sure she was a little wiggly, but she remained in good spirits during the our part in the service. After we had finished the Advent liturgy, I quietly took Abby out to the overflow area where I could walk her and let her stretch her legs. It was a really great spot for her. During that time another little girl, who was 2 years older and with her mom, walked by. Of course Abby was quite intrigued by her and wanted to greet her. The other little girl was quite happy to see Abby as well, so she decided to visit with us. Well, no sooner did she come up to us when Abby decided to throw her arms around her to give her a hug. The little girl wasn't quite sure what to think about this, so she would step back a little and sure enough Abby would do the same thing over again. At one point Abby almost tackled the poor girl only in the pursuit of giving her a hug. It was rather cute.
Now most would retire their children to their beds and soon follow suit after the Christmas service when thinking of what would be coming the following day. Well, we chose to enjoy our evening a little more. Right after the service we made our way out to Brian's brother's house with his family for an eat-your-face-off party, other wise called a Reveillon. This is a French tradition that happens after the Christmas Eve service. Oh, in case you don't know, Brian's brother's wife is French. So, this tradition has been adopted by the MacDonald family. Anyway, the first plan of action, after arriving, was to set up the playpen that we brought with us, get Abby dressed for bed, give her a bottle and then send her off to bed. Sometime after we arrived we realized that sending her to bed was not going to be one of those things that would happen at this point. While changing Abby's diaper her cousin came in to see her. She was quite happy to see them and between the noise and her excitement, bed time was going to have to wait. So, along with her cousins, she stayed up, played, ate and enjoyed the evening with the rest of us. Eventually, she and her cousins made their way to their beds, while the rest of us stayed up and enjoyed some adult time before heading home. I was really quite amazed at how easily she was about going to sleep in her playpen, only to have to be woken up to get her coat on so that we could go home and then have to go to bed again. Abby handled it all extremely well. What a great girl she is.
Well, the fun never ends. Soon after Abby woke up on Christmas day, and after a good bottle, we made our way to the living room for our family Christmas devotional. After our devotional time we started to hand out presents to each other. And my, my didn't Abby do well this year.. Maybe a little too well. It was one of those times when you realize the downfall of shopping early. You start to forget what you bought only to find out that maybe they got a little more then they needed. So, with all the Little People stuff (ie. castle, mini-van mommy and baby, etc, and I mean etc.), books, Mega Blocks wagon, doll, stuffed animals, etc., her favorite thing this year seemed to be a Dora the Explorer ball. Go figure. There is a lesson to be learned here.
Well, after the fun of opening presents we made our way to Grammy and Grampy MacDonald's house for pretty much the rest of the day. There we ate a wonderful Christmas lunch and a great left over Christmas supper. Abby slept well and enjoyed another great day with family and lots of them.
Now, usually after Christmas lunch Brian, Abby, and I would be jumping in the car to make our way east to spend time with my family and eat another turkey dinner. This year my parents went to Nova Scotia to spend Christmas with my brother Dave, his wife Mary and their children Liam and Laura. They were also joined by my other brother Jon and his wife Leesa. They really had a great time together, which was wonderful. Now, I have to say, it did feel a little different for me this year not to be spending some part of Christmas with my parents and I did miss not having them around this year. However, we will be making our way soon to visit with them for New Years. This will be a nice treat, particularly since my sister Beth and her husband Paul will be joining us. We're looking forward to a great time with them.
Yesterday, after lunch, Abby and I made our way to Grammy and Grampy MacDonald's house. I dropped Abby off with them and ventured out to brave the Boxing Day sales fanatics. My goodness it can be a dangerous thing to travel out in those kind of conditions. To make it worse, it had snowed, so the roads were a little slippery. I've noticed that people generally don't think when all they have on the brain is to race from one place to another in order to get that deal on the item of their choice. Even on my way to Grammy and Grampy's with Abby I almost had a head on collision with a SUV who decided that they wanted to cut the corner, which forced me to make a quick escape off the shoulder of the road to avoid them. So, between the short time I was out I witnessed a car and bike collision (fortunately no one was hurt except for the bike), intensely long lines of traffic, loads of people precariously darting out in traffic and cars darting out in front of one another who obviously didn't take into account of the road conditions. Fortunately for me, I only made one stop into Staples, which wasn't too bad for traffic. Brian and I had decided to pick up a camera that was on sale. I went in with low expectations that there would actually be a camera left considering I was heading out in the afternoon. Amazingly enough there was one left. By the way, thanks Marko for your advice on the camera. I love it. I have to say that despite the chaos of Boxing Day sales, the people at Staples were quite friendly and more than helpful. The one guy that was helping me was almost acting as a personal slave to me in order to get me what I came for. He even gave me a discount for one of the items I purchased. Now that's service. What a big, big difference from Walmart. Not to say that there haven't been a few good employees there, but the majority are less than helpful. One day I had trouble even getting an employee to look at me while I was asking her a question. Huh, maybe I should put this rant on Marko's web site..ha ha ha.. Check it out. Anyway, to make a long story short, I made it back safe and sound.
Later on in the day Brian, Abby, and I made our way to make some more family visits. First we went to Brian's Aunt Heather and her husband David's house for an eat-your-face-off gathering which was referred to as a Comeallya. The food was so good, particulary a cheese ball that I just couldn't seem to get enough of. We even enjoyed some Mexican pop that Alex, Brian's cousin brought with him. One of the pops looked kind of like orange pop, but tasted like Cream Soda. Brian thought it reminded him of Irn-Bru, a Scottish pop. After that visit, we quickly headed home to get Abby fed and then out to visit Brian's Uncle Scott and his wife Cathy. We had a great time visiting them and Abby remained in great spirits. She just loves Scott and Cathy so she was easily amused by them. After that we made our way home to settle down for the night. What a fun day though, despite the scary Boxing Day crazy people.
So, here we are nearing the end of our holidays with one two big events left. This would be our New Years Eve gathering that we are having with some of our friends and New Years day with my family. So, for now I will enjoy what we have left of our holidays, relax and take it all in.
Now sit back and enjoy some scenes from a episode of another Friday with Abby and Sean.
So, what happened in our household this year? Well, Christmas Eve Brian, Abby, and I were asked to read the Advent liturgy and light the candles. Despite the realization that Abby was up past her bed time, she actually did quite well. Sure she was a little wiggly, but she remained in good spirits during the our part in the service. After we had finished the Advent liturgy, I quietly took Abby out to the overflow area where I could walk her and let her stretch her legs. It was a really great spot for her. During that time another little girl, who was 2 years older and with her mom, walked by. Of course Abby was quite intrigued by her and wanted to greet her. The other little girl was quite happy to see Abby as well, so she decided to visit with us. Well, no sooner did she come up to us when Abby decided to throw her arms around her to give her a hug. The little girl wasn't quite sure what to think about this, so she would step back a little and sure enough Abby would do the same thing over again. At one point Abby almost tackled the poor girl only in the pursuit of giving her a hug. It was rather cute.
Now most would retire their children to their beds and soon follow suit after the Christmas service when thinking of what would be coming the following day. Well, we chose to enjoy our evening a little more. Right after the service we made our way out to Brian's brother's house with his family for an eat-your-face-off party, other wise called a Reveillon. This is a French tradition that happens after the Christmas Eve service. Oh, in case you don't know, Brian's brother's wife is French. So, this tradition has been adopted by the MacDonald family. Anyway, the first plan of action, after arriving, was to set up the playpen that we brought with us, get Abby dressed for bed, give her a bottle and then send her off to bed. Sometime after we arrived we realized that sending her to bed was not going to be one of those things that would happen at this point. While changing Abby's diaper her cousin came in to see her. She was quite happy to see them and between the noise and her excitement, bed time was going to have to wait. So, along with her cousins, she stayed up, played, ate and enjoyed the evening with the rest of us. Eventually, she and her cousins made their way to their beds, while the rest of us stayed up and enjoyed some adult time before heading home. I was really quite amazed at how easily she was about going to sleep in her playpen, only to have to be woken up to get her coat on so that we could go home and then have to go to bed again. Abby handled it all extremely well. What a great girl she is.
Well, the fun never ends. Soon after Abby woke up on Christmas day, and after a good bottle, we made our way to the living room for our family Christmas devotional. After our devotional time we started to hand out presents to each other. And my, my didn't Abby do well this year.. Maybe a little too well. It was one of those times when you realize the downfall of shopping early. You start to forget what you bought only to find out that maybe they got a little more then they needed. So, with all the Little People stuff (ie. castle, mini-van mommy and baby, etc, and I mean etc.), books, Mega Blocks wagon, doll, stuffed animals, etc., her favorite thing this year seemed to be a Dora the Explorer ball. Go figure. There is a lesson to be learned here.
Well, after the fun of opening presents we made our way to Grammy and Grampy MacDonald's house for pretty much the rest of the day. There we ate a wonderful Christmas lunch and a great left over Christmas supper. Abby slept well and enjoyed another great day with family and lots of them.
Now, usually after Christmas lunch Brian, Abby, and I would be jumping in the car to make our way east to spend time with my family and eat another turkey dinner. This year my parents went to Nova Scotia to spend Christmas with my brother Dave, his wife Mary and their children Liam and Laura. They were also joined by my other brother Jon and his wife Leesa. They really had a great time together, which was wonderful. Now, I have to say, it did feel a little different for me this year not to be spending some part of Christmas with my parents and I did miss not having them around this year. However, we will be making our way soon to visit with them for New Years. This will be a nice treat, particularly since my sister Beth and her husband Paul will be joining us. We're looking forward to a great time with them.
Yesterday, after lunch, Abby and I made our way to Grammy and Grampy MacDonald's house. I dropped Abby off with them and ventured out to brave the Boxing Day sales fanatics. My goodness it can be a dangerous thing to travel out in those kind of conditions. To make it worse, it had snowed, so the roads were a little slippery. I've noticed that people generally don't think when all they have on the brain is to race from one place to another in order to get that deal on the item of their choice. Even on my way to Grammy and Grampy's with Abby I almost had a head on collision with a SUV who decided that they wanted to cut the corner, which forced me to make a quick escape off the shoulder of the road to avoid them. So, between the short time I was out I witnessed a car and bike collision (fortunately no one was hurt except for the bike), intensely long lines of traffic, loads of people precariously darting out in traffic and cars darting out in front of one another who obviously didn't take into account of the road conditions. Fortunately for me, I only made one stop into Staples, which wasn't too bad for traffic. Brian and I had decided to pick up a camera that was on sale. I went in with low expectations that there would actually be a camera left considering I was heading out in the afternoon. Amazingly enough there was one left. By the way, thanks Marko for your advice on the camera. I love it. I have to say that despite the chaos of Boxing Day sales, the people at Staples were quite friendly and more than helpful. The one guy that was helping me was almost acting as a personal slave to me in order to get me what I came for. He even gave me a discount for one of the items I purchased. Now that's service. What a big, big difference from Walmart. Not to say that there haven't been a few good employees there, but the majority are less than helpful. One day I had trouble even getting an employee to look at me while I was asking her a question. Huh, maybe I should put this rant on Marko's web site..ha ha ha.. Check it out. Anyway, to make a long story short, I made it back safe and sound.
Later on in the day Brian, Abby, and I made our way to make some more family visits. First we went to Brian's Aunt Heather and her husband David's house for an eat-your-face-off gathering which was referred to as a Comeallya. The food was so good, particulary a cheese ball that I just couldn't seem to get enough of. We even enjoyed some Mexican pop that Alex, Brian's cousin brought with him. One of the pops looked kind of like orange pop, but tasted like Cream Soda. Brian thought it reminded him of Irn-Bru, a Scottish pop. After that visit, we quickly headed home to get Abby fed and then out to visit Brian's Uncle Scott and his wife Cathy. We had a great time visiting them and Abby remained in great spirits. She just loves Scott and Cathy so she was easily amused by them. After that we made our way home to settle down for the night. What a fun day though, despite the scary Boxing Day crazy people.
So, here we are nearing the end of our holidays with one two big events left. This would be our New Years Eve gathering that we are having with some of our friends and New Years day with my family. So, for now I will enjoy what we have left of our holidays, relax and take it all in.
Now sit back and enjoy some scenes from a episode of another Friday with Abby and Sean.
Fortunately the manger protected baby Jesus from more than just the elements.
On the other hand, the wise man just wasn't wise enough. He never stood a chance.
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Abby and Sean present: A Christmas Special about the Shepherds meeting with the Angels
The Shepherd was out in the field tending her sheep when all of a sudden and angel of the Lord appeared unto her saying, "Hey, I look like a bowl with arms and legs."
The Shepherd replied, "Sean, I've got my dish towel hat thingy and my sheep. Couldn't you come up with a better costume then that? You do realize that if you had only been slightly willing to keep your dish towel on your head you too would have been an shepherd?"
The Shepherd replied, "Sean, I've got my dish towel hat thingy and my sheep. Couldn't you come up with a better costume then that? You do realize that if you had only been slightly willing to keep your dish towel on your head you too would have been an shepherd?"
Frightened, the shepherd quickly covered her face from the gleaming smile given through a hazy covering.
Then the angel of the Lord cried out in a loud voice saying, "Fear not, for I am Sean!"
The shepherd replied, "That's not your line, but hey it will do. Did you leave lip marks on my bowl?"
THE END!
Now, for the real story check out Luke 2:8-20.
