The holidays are finally over

We had a great holiday season but like everyone it was busy.

We started on Christmas Eve driving out to Rob's sister's place in Huntsville which is about 2 hours north of the city. We left a little later than planned since we (Rob) had to shovel us out. The weather for the drive up wasn't bad so that was good.

That evening the kids got to open one present which was new pjs and then they put out their stockings along with milk and cookies for Santa. Lilo has been excited for the past few weeks that Santa was coming - I was just hoping she wasn't going to be disappointed that he wasn't actually there in the morning - but I guess all the presents made up for it.

The next morning was filled with excitement as we opened part of the gifts. We had a take a breakfast break part way through since there were so many presents. And we needed to get the turkey in and a couple naps. So we started up again in the afternoon for round 2. Everyone of course was nicely spoiled.

From Santa Lilo got a big teddy bear (which is what she was asking for) and an easel and Isla got a ball popper toy. They got a bunch of clothes, stuffed animals, books, puzzles and playdough. Almost all were played with right away. Isla's favorite thing was the paper - she loves to eat paper. So we had to make sure she wasn't eating too much of it.

On boxing day we bundled up and went tubing. There is a tubing hill in Huntsville and it was so much fun. Lilo had a blast, even though she was a little under the weather she still enjoyed it. And all of us did too. It was a perfect day for it and great to get outside and enjoy winter.

The following day, Rob and I left the girls and went into the city for a stag and stagette. The fog that day was horrible but we made it in one piece. Both us of had a great time and enjoyed our night away. The next day we drove back up to pick up the girls and this time it was the winds that were horrible. They were so bad that Janet had lost the power that afternoon and didn't get it back for another 2 days.
So back finally we were all back in Toronto on the Monday and just relaxed that day and tried to re-group.

For New Year's we went to a friends place for a Top Chef appetizers competition. It was a lot of fun. Everyone was to come up with their best appetizers which we presented 2 at a time and everyone judged. We had lots of great food - too much of course since there were 10 of us and therefore 10 different appetizers. The winner was Kelly with deconstructed chicken Parmesan served in a martini glass with homemade marinara sauce.

Then to end the holiday season we went to Kingston on the weekend for a wedding. It was beautiful and lots of fun. Great way to end the holidays.

We are finally back in the city. Rob's back to work today and I'm trying to get the house organized and decorations down.
Hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season.