A Christmas visit

Christmas is funny for kids. This year, Max was on such high alert that the very first time he caught wind of the holiday season approaching (I think it was via a "Santa is coming to Carlingwood Shopping Center" poster in the mall mid-late November), he was all-in on Christmas right from the very start. "When are we getting our calendars?" "Will there be presents?" "I want to make a list for Santa." "Was I a good boy?" etc. As with Halloween, this was going to be Leo's first "absorb it all" Christmas and with Max stoking the fire whenever possible, Leo got pretty amped up. Henry? Well, he was kind of oblivious.

There were some cool firsts that made this Christmas special. First, Max had his first Christmas concert at school. For those of you who don't know about Max's body of work when it comes to performing in public, Max tend to go all shrinking violet and, sure enough, we've got some video evidence to share. Afterward, I asked him about how much singing he did and he was convinced that he was belting out the hits right along with everyone else. On a related note, this was the first year that Max was interested in Christmas carols. Leo really latched on to this and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" became the boys' good night song for weeks.

Most importantly, though, Max, Leo and Henry's Grandma from Winnipeg came to visit! This was possibly the one thing that the two older boys were looking forward to most throughout the month of December. Grandma came late on the 23rd and stayed right through the excitement, until the day after Boxing Day. Now, on the night of the 21st, Leo came down with croup and so we were in the throes of managing his wake-ups the night that Grandma came. Thankfully, Nana covered for us on the airport run and took Grandma back to her place for the night.

The next day, there wasn't much on the slate except for hanging out with Grandma. Lots of playing, reading and snacking. Our annual KFC feast sadly got rescheduled for the week following Christmas as a result of the croup, but we still tucked into some good ol' shepherd's pie.

Grandma helping assemble things from the pirate advent calendar.

Grandma gets some up-close time with Henry.
Christmas morning, the kids were understandably excited. Gifts under the tree. Santa had come and eaten the snack that had been left on the plate. (even the reindeer had chomped the carrots Max had left out). Snow was on the ground outside (it actually only arrived on the 22nd). Everything was in place...FOR PRESENT-OPENING MAYHEM!!!!! Somehow, the kids managed to open their two biggest gifts first this year: a Playmobil pirate ship from Santa and a Playmobil rescue vehicle set from Grandma. Both toys have been playtime staples ever since. What I didn't know about giant Playmobil toys is that they take a while to assemble; the bulk of the following couple of hours were spent putting the 300 or so pieces involved in the two toys together. A big thanks to Steven for pitching in so that the kids could play with the toys before sundown.

Playmobil madness. Not sure what's up with Leo's tongue.

The assembly party.

A Playmobil dude using the rescue set ultrasound machine to check on West.

Nana with the three goofballs.

Bon appetit.
We hosted a nice family breakfast and then, after a breather to collect ourselves, we headed over to Nana's to open the rest of our stockings and tuck into a wonderful Christmas dinner. It was nice to see Leo be a little more respectful of tree ornaments this year - as opposed to last year, when Leo dumped a couple of ornaments in the toilet in Winnipeg; this year, I think I was the only one to break an ornament.

(Sigh) So when is present time again? Waiting is boring.

SHOWTIME!!!! BLLARRARGAHGAHGAHGAA!

Seriously! I can stand still for a second. IMSOEXCITEDIHAVEPRESENTSMUSTOPENMOREMOREMOREMORE!!! OK fine so I can't stand still and this picture will be blurry...where are the presents??!?!

She said that if I put this hat on, I'd get a second helping of breast milk. So where's my Mom anyway?

[imitating Cliff Huxtable imitating Julia Child] First, you slice ever so gently along the grain, following the contour of the bird...

I love this Henry guy. Such a classy...what? Lasers? IN HIS EYES? Stay calm...
Boxing Day and the 27th featured more hanging out and visiting, although we did have one fun jaunt out to T&T Supermarket for dim-sum and treat shopping. The kids always have such a blast there and it was great to poke around with Grandma.
All in all, it was a wonderful visit. Leo fell asleep in the van on the way to the airport so he didn't actually see us drop Grandma off. As a result, he spent the next couple of days wandering around the house looking for her. It was very cute/sad. We're definitely all looking forward to our next visit. Thanks Grandma!