Welcome Christmas

Have you seen "A Christmas Story"? You know the part at the end where Ralphie is in bed on Christmas night, holding tightly to his Red Rider BB Gun and the narrator says "and all was right with the world?" I have that feeling right now - and nary a weapon in sight :) We had a wonderful day and since it's not quite over, I thought I would share the photos while I still have that lovely, glowy feeling...

Liliane and I spent Christmas Eve at home together in our pajamas. I tried to get as much done as I could, but I didn't sweat it too much. It snowed on and off all day - this was the view outside our back window:

We played around with my sparkly Santa hat:

And the Elmo scarf:

We watched a few Christmas specials on DVD and that's about it. Stéphane came home from work around 2 and I snuck out to have a quick visit with my friend Isabelle. We ordered sushi for dinner as a special Christmas Eve treat and Liliane went to bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in her head. (OK, I made that up.)

This morning Liliane had breakfast as usual (bananas and oatmeal) although we had my Mom's homemade raisin bread as a very special Christmas treat. I popped a breakfast casserole in the oven and while we were waiting for that we got right to the good stuff!

Our cute little tree. It's a fake one that I agree to put up every other year so Stéphane's head doesn't explode from the messiness of a real tree. I am allowed a very real wreath on the front door from which I inhale fresh pine scent everytime I come inside so that helps.


See the little giraffe poking out of the top of her stocking?

She was completely captivated. Kinda made us regret getting her a bunch of other stuff because she sure was happy with her one toy. She got over that pretty quick though...

It didn't take her long to catch on to the stocking concept.

Or the present-opening concept either...

Her new thing is to put stuff on her head. Her father thinks it's hilarious so she's taken to doing it all the time...

Is this my colour?

Uncle Matthew and Auntie Bari sent her this wooden toy that's like a cooler version of the lawnmower that blows bubbles. It's a challenge for her to walk with it and not try and grab the swinging beads at the same time. Oh well, she loves banging it on the floor almost as much.

Cool hat from Eric and Tina who are with Tina's family in California right now. They are our dear friends so we are trying not to hate them for being warm today...

A noisy pop-up book from Grandma - the perfect combination. She was a little obsessed with it.

We got her this stroller for her baby that she got for her birthday. She's trying to get used to the idea of walking AND pushing something, but she'll get the hang of it.

Note her new shoes from Auntie Jaime.

NOT PICTURED: adorable outfits received from my Dad and my Aunt - all the right size! Thank you so much! Also, her very first Christmas present was actually a pair of PJs from her Auntie Jaime that we videotaped her opening. She's actually wearing them right now so I'll get a picture or two in the morning and hopefully put up the clip as well.

We headed out to Stéphane's sister Danielle's house this afternoon to spend the rest of the day with the family. Liliane wore her Christmas dress which was as cute as I hoped it would be on her. Right?

(Sparkly red shoes courtesy of the Baby Guru.)

Liliane got another stocking at Aunt Danielle's plus some more great clothes AND a gift certificate to get some good "just learning how to walk" shoes.

We didn't take the camera out much tonight, but here is a picture of Liliane with Mathieu who is engaged to Stéphane's niece, Mélanie. They are only 7 years apart so it's funny to say that she's our niece, but there you go. Mathieu and Mélanie are both doctors doing their residency so we don't get to see them much. Mélanie is super cute (people used to think that she and Stéphane were brother and sister) but you'll have to take my word for it since I didn't take a picture! Doh.

We got a couple of other family photos as well:

Just for fun, here is the family photo we took LAST year:

Is it me or is our baby is way smaller? Oh, hello multiple chins! Hope you had a good time hanging around my face because you're not welcome anymore. You heard me. Same for you, long hair. I have a NEW 'do now.

Phewf. We look way less tired in this photo.

Merry Christmas everybody!