A Very Canadian Christmas

A few weeks ago we squeezed into our green truck, and headed towards The Great White North. Our trip to Canada was for two reasons. One, to deliver a beautiful vanity Jim built for Ross and Judy, and two, to hang out with family and have a Canadian Christmas.

Our adventure began early Wednesday morning almost two weeks ago. We debated which car to drive, and I'm glad we decided to take the truck since it has four-wheel-drive and newer tires. Lucy (our vehicle sans 4WD and in need of new tires) probably wouldn't have made it through some of the roads we traveled. Most of the roads were good, but the closer we got to Canada, the rougher the conditions were. The good news is, with Jim's wonderful driving expertise we made it to Mountain View, Canada alive and well. However, I don't think I've ever been happier to get out of a vehicle in all my life. Our travels took longer than expected since the weather was a bit naughty. Being cooped up in a truck with little leg room, and two impatient children for fifteen hours wasn't my idea of fun. But we made it safely, and I'm grateful for that.

Night one we hung out for a bit and went to bed.

Our first full day we hung out, and watched Jim build the vanity. He did all the cutting and staining at his shop, and then assembled it up in Canada. It's always fun to watch him in his element. Tralee had fun playing in Grandpa Ross and Grandma Judy's garage. Hunter fell asleep while Grandpa Ross was holding him. As you can see from the photo below, Corky came along too.

Here are a few pictures of the finished product. Beautiful if I do say so myself.

Jim's sisters, Nikki, Cammi, and Channing (or as Tralee calls her, Auntie Tranny) all showed up on Friday. We played games, ate food, worked on puzzles, watched movies, and had a grand ol' time together. Jim's sisters are a lot of fun.
I love the picture below. Tralee REALLY loves Grandma Judy or as she calls her Mama Return. Return is Judy's nickname from Ross, and since Tralee can't say Judy too well, she calls her Grandma (Mama) Return. Tralee crawled up by Grandma Return, handed her a book, and they read for a while together.

Hunter and Auntie Cammi

Nikki has a black cat that lives with Ross and Judy. Her name is Misty, or as some affectionately call her, Fleabag. Tralee LOVES Misty. We waited as long as we could to show Misty to Tralee, because we knew as soon as we did Tralee would be obsessed. It took about a day before the cat was out of the bag (pun intended). After that all Tralee wanted to do was find the "titty." This was a bit problematic since Misty sleeps in Ross and Judy's room, and Tralee gets up around 6am. Every morning, as soon as she woke up, she wanted to go see Titty. We held her off as long as we could.
Grandma Judy found a whole bunch of toys for Tralee to play with while we were there. Tralee's favorite was a Beauty and the Beast tea set. Mrs. Potts made bubbly sounds and talked to you when you pushed on her lid. Tralee had to push the lid every time she poured us a drink into one of the Chip cups. Tralee really loved playing tea party with Grandma Return. She would pour a drink, wait for Grandma to take a sip, and then say, "It's too hot!" Then Judy would pretend to spit the hot drink out. Tralee got a big kick out of it. She really loved that tea set. She loved it so much, one night she fell asleep holding onto Mrs. Potts. Even more incredible is HOW Tralee fell asleep. Look below.

She wedged herself between the ottoman and the couch. Silly girl. Daddy came to the rescue and carried her to bed.
Saturday morning was our Christmas in Canada. We were all super excited. I was just happy Tralee was feeling better, because she had a rough night the night before. She woke up coughing, crying, tugging on her ear, and saying "ow!" Poor thing had an earache and a virus. She passed it onto Hunter who cried almost the whole way home from Canada. As soon as we were home I took them both to the doctor and got them on antibiotics. I'm glad I did. Hunter ended up having a double ear infection. Both kids are on the mend now. Ok. . . back to Christmas.

We had THE BEST Christmas morning up in Canada. We were SOOOO spoiled by our family up there. I'm so grateful for their generosity! Judy, Ross, Nikki, and Channing made sure our kids had lots of fun presents to open and full stockings. Jim and I also had stockings and presents as well. I wasn't really expecting anything, so it was a big surprise to see all the gifts for us. We all love our presents, so THANK YOU Ross, Judy, Nikki, and Channing!!!

Here we are waiting for the madness to begin

Grandpa Ross was the presents hander-outer.
Tralee had to be reminded on how to open gifts. She figured it out, and became an expert before all was said and done.

Hunter was just happy to be there
Tralee made sure that everyone had bows on their heads.
It might be really "fat girl" of me, but I was SUPER excited to see that one of my gifts was Hawkins Cheezies. I LOVE these things. You can only get them in Canada, and I crave them all the time. It might have only been eight am, but I broke into those babies right away. I just couldn't seem to help myself.
Below are a few pictures of Tralee and Hunter playing with one of Tralee's cool Christmas presents. Sadly, this gift was dropped and it broke the next day. Too bad. We'll have to find another one, because it was a big hit.

Jim built Judy a crown molding shelf for Christmas. He and Ross wrapped it, can you tell?
The most fun thing to do after all the presents are unwrapped is play with your new toys.
Saturday night we ate a delicious dinner that Judy and the girls prepared for us. Grammy Jacobs came over, and of course we played cribbage that night. It's so fun to play crib with Grammy.

We stayed inside the whole time enjoying each other's company. We would have gone outside, but it was always -15 to -30 degrees. That's some CRAZY weather. We had a lot of fun inside though.

I just want to thank Ross and Judy again for being such great hosts. The food was delish, the gifts were perfect, your hospitality was wonderful. Thanks to Nikki and Channing to for all the yummy food you put together, and for the gifts! Maybe next year Jim will have to build something for you again so we can make the trip up there. :)

So, that was our Canadian Christmas. Just a few more days and we'll be celebrating Christmas in the US!