Christmas 2016

For me, the Christmas season started on December 2nd when I went to see the Nutcracker ballet with some friends of mine from work. We started the evening off with drinks and dinner and good conversation.

And then we went across the street to the National Arts Centre to watch the Alberta Ballet perform the Nutcracker with the NAC symphony. It was the most beautiful stage production I have ever seen.

A few weeks later I baked 102 ginger snaps in order to participate in a cookie exchange at work. It’s always so much fun to see what your get in return!

That same week we received a parcel from the Tarzwells with the annual Christmas cookie delivery. So let’s just say, we ate a lot of cookies in December.

On December 24th, we drove to Montreal for the traditional Christmas Eve event with Bill and Sylvie, and Sylvie’s sister Isabelle, her son David and his girlfriend Sandrine.

We opened presents, ate a delicious turkey dinner that Sylvie prepared, then opened more presents.

Everyone was quite spoiled this year.

We even all made it to midnight this year! We wished everyone a merry Christmas and then promptly went to bed (well, most of us). The next morning, Sylvie continued the feasting with an amazing breakfast with traditional baked beans.

After breakfast we were off to Magog to meet up with mom and Michael. Mom, Kirby and I headed off to Beorn and Sabrina’s house for some delicious food and drinks and time with the nephews.

Later that night mom and I got to work on the puzzle we started last year and didn’t finish.

I look forward to drinking tea, listening to soft music and working on our Christmas puzzle every year. This year however, we really left ourselves with the toughest part of the puzzle. There was a lot of deep concentration, and switching places and for a long while, we were absolutely convinced we were missing a piece (or two). But after two days of working on it (and a little help from my cousin Karine) we finished it!

And we will never do this puzzle again.

When we got home from the family Christmases, I had a few days at home on vacation while Kirby had to go to work. I wrapped myself in my new soft blanket and watched TV and read my book and played on my computer. Stanley was very glad we were home again and was also very glad I got a soft new blanket for Christmas. Below is the slow progression of a cat getting comfy on my lap.