Christmas Chaos

Zoe at her daycare (Eager Beaver's and Tiny Tots combined) Christmas party. The kids were singing songs to the moms and dads while waiting for Santa to arrive. Zoe was so proud of herself sitting up there with her friends, she is 3rd from left in the blue shirt. It was a fun day.

Off to Abbotsford for Christmas!

It's Christmas eve afternoon, and we had a lovely turkey lunch put on by my mom. My brother, Randy, wife Deita, and 3 kids (Gennelle, Jayden, Jordan) were there as well for lunch, and we shared our presents with them afterwards as we wouldn't be seeing them on Christmas day. Zoe obviously loved her Princess dish set. It was a perfect that she received it because when we put on her red "gorgeous" outfit, Zoe told us she was going to be Jasmine all day...Princess dinnerware for Princess Jasmine.
Zoe and her cousin, Jordan, had a great time dancing while Uncle Al/Daddy played Christmas songs on the organ.
Off to mom and dad Penner's household for Christmas Eve gift opening after the church service. It was a little chaotic, which is hard to avoid with this many people, and 4 kids opening gifts. Zoe continued to open gifts in Princess fashion, and her Oma gave her this furry vest which Zoe wanted to wear right away. She was meowing after that for awhile and rubbing the vest because "it's so soft, like a cat, mommy".

After a long Christmas eve day filled with lots of family, and presents, we headed back to my mom and dad's for bed. We put out cookies for Santa, and put our Princess Jasmine, who said we could call her Zoe by that point as Santa was bringing gifts for Zoe not Jasmine, to bed.

It was 10:30pm, and our girl was so tired, and thankfully fell asleep right away.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

SANTA delivers...

considering Zoe's letter to Santa requested 2 things, ice cream and a mighty machines with trains dvd, it wouldn't have been good if Santa didn't follow through. Of course, Santa brought much more than that. What fun it was to watch Zoe's delight on Christmas morning, especially this year, seeing all the presents in the stockings, and under the tree...knowing that Santa and his reindeer had been there while she was sleeping, ate the cookies, and left her presents. Pretty cool. We all jolted out of bed the minute we knew Zoe was awake, so we wouldn't miss the moment she entered the room where Santa had been. Cameras in hand, we tried to capture it all. Even though we do have lots of memories to look back on and see in the pictures & videos, the camera can't quite hold the magic that fills the air during all that time.

The gifts are great, and can be appreciated later on...but the don't let a good box to stand in go unappreciated...only Zoe! Such an imagination.

Boxing day was a little more relaxed, so Zoe fed the birds with Papa. Al, Zoe and I went to Wonderland which is basically a big and little kids fun place.

Zoe was pooped though, she fell asleep mid afternoon in the van (highly unusual) and did have a sniffly cold that started pretty much when our holiday did (great). We were enroute to a Penner extended family gathering, so needless to say Zoe was not happy when we arrived somewhere yet again to visit, and this time she only knew a handful of them. It was the 4th day, she was T-i-r-e-d of it all and kept asking to go home (like PR home, not back to Gramma and Papa's home, poor girl).

Day 5, we headed home, making a few pit stops to shop alittle in the big cities, before getting back to PR that has limited choices and poor ones at that alot of the time. I'm not bitter about it :0) The ferries were just a tad busy (more like insane), and thankfully we arrived very early and just barely made it on...leaving people behind. Check out all the cars waiting to get on the ferries, long waits for the island I heard. Zoe is practicing her driving skills in "park".

BRAGGING RIGHTS!!

My nephew, Jayden, is 6. He is a super jock all ready, and everything he does is over and above average. He was selected to be the 7th man for the Chilliwack Bruins, which is quite the honour. There is he is, obviously the little one, but I am sure it won't be long before he is one of the big guys. Maybe not playing hockey, it doesn't really matter, he's good at it all. Jayden said the players "spanked" him on the bum with their sticks as they went on the ice one by one. We missed seeing this in person since we were on the road going home. I am a proud Auntie anyway, but this time I got a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, hearing how his big day went. Had to brag, and share.