Christmas 2007

Is anyone getting tired of seeing that picture of my scarred face every time they check out our site yet? I know I am, so let's get on with some posts.

Christmas officially ended in our house today as we dismantled our tree and packed away the decorations. It doesn't seem all that long ago that we were setting up the tree, but the Christmas season always seems to fly by.

Emma was very helpful when we set up the tree, now having a bit of a better understanding of what it's for. She likes to fixate on one particular branch (particularly the ones at the back that no one ever sees) and decorate it to capacity before moving on. We had some good chuckles after she had gone to bed, and we spent the better part of the rest of the evening spreading the decorations over the rest of the tree.

My cousin Malauney did a great job organizing the Bourne Christmas party this year over at the East Stake Center. There were some new faces, but a lot of missing faces as parts of the family have moved away or are serving missions. The food was great and we played the traditional games, but the fun is really in getting everyone together. Of course we did the pinata again this year (though the tradition seems odd as there is not even a drop of Mexican blood in our veins), and Malauney wisely selected one that was not made to look like a beloved children's cartoon character. We've had some traumatic reactions to that in the past.

The Bourne Christmas party was held the same time as our ward Christmas party, so Tammy took Emma to the Panorama ward Christmas party so she could get a chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted as far as gifts go. Every time we asked her what she wanted, the answer was always the same, "A blue present". When Santa (who was really Grampa Olsen, and the kids might have known) asked her, she didn't say much at all, she just gave him an uncomfortable stare.

I had a half day on the Friday before Christmas and then spent the afternoon at the Modus Christmas party. We actually had turkey this year, which was nice. In the raffle, I walked away with a gift certificate for $50 to Fas Gas. Not quite as fancy as the Keg gift certificate from last year, but appreciated nonetheless. They also handed out some pretty decent goodies in our gift baskets as well, though we did have to find a new home for the smoked oysters. After the party, I completely blocked work out of my mind and didn't go back until the day after New Years. It was a very nice break, and despite all the lurgy that was floating around the family, I actually spent the holidays feeling well.

After I started and finished my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, we spent the evening over at my parents house, but quickly rushed home to get cookies and eggnog out for Santa, and carrots out for Rudolph. Emma was asleep by the time we got home, so Tammy and I finished wrapping presents and settled in for a long winter's nap, hoping that Emma would give us the gift of sleeping in just a little bit. It was our first Christmas morning at home, as we've always slept over at Grandparents homes in the years before, so we were all pretty excited to get up and spend the day together.

Presents went by a lot faster since it was just the three of us, but we spent the rest of the morning making and eating a big breakfast and playing with Emma's new toys and games. That afternoon we went out to Carstairs and spent the rest of the day at Tammy's parents house, opening more gifts and visiting with everyone. The wives went out early the next morning to go Boxing Day shopping, and then we had a pot luck dinner and played games over at the Mason's for the remains of the day.

I was the 20min speaker at church the next Sunday, so sometime during the festivities I had to prepare a talk on "Enduring Well". I took almost all of Saturday to write it, and still didn't have enough to fill the time allotted to me, so I came up with a plan to fake an illness in the middle of my talk and then leave out the side door. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the youth speaker did. He stopped in the middle of his talk, turned around to the rest of us on the stand and said "I'm going to throw up." and ran out the side door, completely stealing my move. Fortunately, the other talk went a little longer, and we had a surprise musical number, so I ended up being OK for time.

We didn't get back to my parents house until New Years Eve, and we celebrated it as our Christmas eve as well. We opened gifts, played some games, ate tonnes of food, and went to bed far too late for people with 2 year old goonies. New Years Day was pretty cold, but we hit the rink in Citadel and the park across from it anyways. We didn't stay long because it was just too cold, and poor little Lucy ended up getting a touch of frostbite on her cheeks. We spent the rest of the day playing more games and eating more food and as the evening came to a close, the back to work blues set in, and it was time to head home.

After spending so much time with Tammy and Emma, I always wonder why I ever do anything else. We had a really great holiday, and we're all sad it's over, but we're all very excited about the baby coming in the next couple of weeks here, and I'm planning on taking some parental leave when it does, so we're all looking forward to that.