Julie in the Mac: Christmas 2011

Christmas this year started as usual in Camrose where we watched Mamma G whiz around her kitchen whipping up tasty delights which is an even nobler feat than usual since her radial nerve hasn't quite woken up in her right arm yet.

Christmas at Mamma G's house is all about the big kids (and the food).

There were toys:

toys...

And more toys!

The disappointment in Lars' face when he found out he had to wait 8 hours for the batteries to charge was heartbreaking.

Mamma G received a beautiful quilted lap blanket made by Bridget

And tried out a few of her new gifts.

(sorry Mamma G, I couldn't resist, these pictures are just too priceless)

Afterwards we had some Glogg and called it a night.

The next morning after Christmas meal no. 2, Lars came over bright and early to play.

After that, we headed down to Calgary.

Where, it's all about the little kids.

and the food.

After gift opening, Joyce worked furiously on a puzzle that she eventually was the first to solve (you can see her in the background)

After that, Roger would not rest until he solved the puzzle as well..here's the evidence.

And then we settled in for an intense, but keeping in the spirit of the holidays, a friendly game of Kadoo. Those kids are ruthless!

In our search for snow, we headed out to Kananaskis for a few days after, unfortunately we found it too warm too ski, and instead traded out skis for snowshoes.

We hiked into Rawson Lake

By the way, the bag I'm carrying was my gift from Roger. It's a cool camera bag that allows you to access your camera without even taking the pack off your back. You just unclip, sling it forward and voila, camera in your hands!

There wasn't a lot of sun that day, this glimpse of blue sky was about all we got.

And when we got back to our hotel, look what was waiting for us. We promptly moved them so that they had a good view of the TV.

We enjoyed our hike so much that the next day, we took our parents. We didn't head into Rawson Lake but did a hike around the Upper Kananaskis Lake which was just to my mom's liking. It was blustery that day, but once in the forest, we were as snug as bugs.