The day after...

Christmas was really nice this year, especially since there is a new member in our family. It was kinda different looking at things from a new set of eyes. All the magic and awe of this season I am sure makes for many wide eyed babies. They really have no idea what is going on. They can't unwrap presents, sing carols or eat turkey. They just sit back and take it all in. Makes you wonder what is going on in her little mind. Wouldn't we all like to know.

The day started with the early morning call to Michigan to Ken's family. We did present opening over the phone and silly us didn't see there were another 2 gifts under the tree until later. Doh! Then we did our stockings as a family. An hour later the rest of the family come by for brunch and presents. It will be a bit different now with Mike married. He has another family to add to the mix. So we figured the morning was our time, then he and Josee were off to her family's place and Dad and Rita were off to sleep as they were leaving for Mexico late last night.

Ken performed a puppet show for Ariel to the "I want a hippo for christmas" song, mostly because we actually bought her a HUGE hippo stuff toy. My brother filmed it while I held Ariel, hehe. She was pretty tired at that point and fell asleep shortly afterwards. Thus missing the presents. Oh well. It felt weird opening hers, but she really couldn't do it anyways. She loved her new play things, and thats all that matters right? I realized we ended up mostly with video footage, rather that pictures, but thats ok. Moving pictures are more fun to send to family.

We were to be going to dinner at Fran's place but sadly, she fell ill that morning, as were the extended family that was to come. Poo. We ended up going for turkey leftovers at Nana's, which in the end was good for Ariel, since the morning was sooooooooooo crazy.

Today was a big lazy day. Ken animated, I played with Ariel and we just enjoyed the quietness. Later we drove Nana and Papa to the ferries for their mini trip to Victoria to see other family. Following that, we took our car in (I still can't believe they were open today) to get the muffler looked at. Stupid thing needs to be replaced along with the tailpipe. Blah. We also will have to get a few other things done in the new year, makes me miss those car free days. But in the end, it was a gift we never had to pay for, so putting some cash into it now doesn't feel too bad.

We got our Victoria accommodations booked for our visit to see Mike, Trudy and the boys. Looking forward to seeing them. Whee! Tomorrow Dianne and her sister Karen are coming by for a visit in the morning. The car should be ready after that and we may go out for an adventure. Time will tell. As for now, some other cute pictures from the past few days, including our matching dress dress picture with church friend Nicole, funny bib with Uncle Mike, a full stocking and a picture with Daddy. Enjoy!