Christmas 2009 Recap

Christmas 2009 was a busy one, though I feel as if Dave and I actually got a little bit of time to ourselves this year, which was a nice change.

Our first Christmas event was back on the 12th at the NAC for the DST Christmas Party. It was a really nice event with great food. Everyone seemed to have a really good time, including Dave and myself. I took the little camera out for a field trip and it fared pretty well, for a point-and-shoot. We also apparently got a semi-decent photo of Dave and I, which is an added bonus as I think this is the only image of Dave and I for all of 2009 (the Dave and Steph folder on my computer seems to be empty).

The second Christmas event was on the 18th at Chris, Jerrica and Lindsay's house, lovingly called Die Hohle. The Christmas dinner was set up by Jerrica and was a really nice idea. We got another excuse to get dressed up (because I really do need reasons to wear something nicer than jeans out of the house) and ate some good, homemade food. Hats off to everyone who helped with the dinner. I plan on putting these photos up on Flickr once I get the ability to work on them back - I will let you know when that happens. For now, please enjoy a photo of the eggnog Dan made - I am told it was really good (I wouldn't know as I don't drink eggnog because it is weird).

I am considering the third Christmas event to be the weekend that Dave and I set up the tree and the proceeding weekend where we attempted to get all of our Christmas shopping done. I swear Christmas really creeped up on us this year. Normally I would have all my shopping done by November 30th at the latest, this year though Dave and I were buying the last of the gift cards on the 21st!

Fourth Christmas took place on the 23rd and 24th at Dave's parents' house. Some of his extended family from both sides were there and we again ate really some good food. We also played a lot of Wii and I of course took a ton of photos. Dave's family asked for a family portrait to be done this year, likely because it is the last time they will be in Canada for Christmas. We shot in three locations, but this was my favourite photo so far. I think it came out pretty well (though I am thinking it could use some lighting up in the back - I am not completely done with it yet).

Once Christmas in Peterborough was done, we headed to Prescott. We spent Christmas Day with my parents, brother and sister-in-law and my Mom's Dad. We ate our traditional Christmas dinner and opened our gifts, which were of course awesome. We also spent some not so traditional time in the hot tub which was a super nice treat - oh how I wish we had a hot tub here in Ottawa. Mom tried something new this year and put our Christmas money in little tiny gift bags which she then put on the tree. The plan was to tell us to go to the tree every once in awhile and let us get one. In reality, she kept forgetting about it until we reminded her and we ended up getting two each time. It was still a rather interesting way to get our Christmas money.

Thankfully the very dirty car had winter tires on and made it everywhere this year as it wasn't the greatest weather while we were driving around. To the right is a photo of the car (taken from the passenger seat). As you can see, it was very packed on the drive home and it took Dave and I a fair bit to get everything into the house. The process was sped up a bit by the fact that it was ice raining and neither of us wanted to be outside. To date, the only things that have been properly put away have been the gifts. All of the things we took with us, clothes, etc are going through the normal process of sitting in the luggage until they are needed.

I am still looking forward to exchanging gifts with a few friends, though I need to buy those gifts yet (this is not me procrastinating but rather something we do every year to ensure the things we needed to get for Christmas are received).

All in all, Christmas was really good. It was a little stressful at times due to the driving, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It would have been nice to spend more time with each family, but we only get a few days off for the holiday and needed some time to ourselves as well.