I didn’t do a great job of taking pictures this year.
Terrible, actually.
Except maybe of Reggie.
He really is my favourite child. HA!
But despite the lack of pictures (well you see there ARE pictures but I am missing some of my usual ones and forgot to take some of a few things we did too!) we had a fun house and lots going on!
Josh was the first to arrive home from Carleton, even though he still had a paper and an online exam to do. But he figured he might as well be home to do it. He had quite the schedule while he was home – I couldn’t keep track of what time he went to bed and what time he got up – but it was completely opposite to us. He was very happy that his first semester was done! We did a little shopping day and dinner (we’ve done it a few times over the years – but last year he was away so we missed it!
Zandra and Ilyah arrived next. She graduated from BYU-H and Ilyah left the military and they moved to San Francisco. So, they had a bit of whirlwind leaving Hawaii, dropping off their stuff (and their little cat Boo) and then heading home for the holidays. They headed back to San Fran on the 26th to get things set up in their apartment before Zandra started work as a preschool teacher and Ilyah starts Community College. We had a nice little graduation celebration dinner together. They also got things organized for their wedding celebration that they plan on having here in Toronto this coming August. Zandra now has her green card (hence why she was able to come home, and go back to the US to work ) so they now want to celebrate their marriage – so are planning a ring ceremony and a wedding reception with family and friends! Another CDF wedding event!
Zach and Rachael arrived a few days later with another successful semester under their belts. They split their time with us and her family in Cambridge (about 1.5 hours outside of Toronto).
Poor Sam had to go to school all the way until the 23rd while everyone else was staying up late and chilling!
Gabe and Shannon went to Denver for the holidays to be with her family but had one heck of a time getting there – they were stuck in Chicago for 2 nights! A combo of the storm and some poor planning of some airlines… but they managed to get there!
We waited to decorate the tree (but ended up getting a wee tree compared to previous years).
Decorated some cookies….(and the watched soccer too:)
Were able to have a nice Christmas dinner all together (a week early), some yummy breakfasts, lots of watching shows (love how Emily in Paris seasons come out around the holidays!).
Went to the Christmas market and then delivered cookies…
We played lots of games, ate wayyyyy too much , went for some nice walks, meals out etc
Hard to coordinate with everyone, but lots of Christmas was accomplished.
New Years was pretty quiet too – but certainly not complaining! We had Hakka from our favourite Danforth Dragon (a staple Chinese/Indian restaurant in our hood), and then the kids all went out and Rob and I just relaxed and watched the ball drop! Can’t believe another year has gone by!! (no pictures!)
After New Years we (us, Zach, Rachael, Josh and Sam) did a whirlwind trip to NYC to see Gabe and Shannon… will post about that and pictures in a separate post!
