Christmas Vacation(s) 2006

With immediate family in both Belleville Ontario and Bonnyville Alberta, Kirsten and I got to enjoy two full Christmas celebrations. Two Christmas trees, two gift openings and two turkey dinners. How can you go wrong ;-)

First we headed out to Toronto. We flew out Dec 14. Darryl picked us up at the airport and we all drove out to Belleville. It was funny because although we knew we were a week early, it really felt like Christmas. The house was all decorated and ready to go. We had a great time. Tons of wonderful food, great desserts, and new wines to try. Good times. We were able to visit with Grandma Wilson throughout the stay. She’s hanging in there amazingly well for someone about to turn a spry 97 years old.

On the last day we drove back to Toronto and spent the day roaming the Kensington Market and U of T campus. The weather was amazing, sunny and warm. It was a strange contrast to back here in Edmonton. Instead of record snowfall, Ontario had no snow, green grass, blooming flowers and open outdoor markets. Who knows what Mother Nature is up to these days.

The next week, for actual Christmas we set out for Bonnyville. This was a bit weird because K and I felt like Christmas was already over. But, once we were there it didn’t take us long to get into things. With Megan back from Sheffield, and Nicole yet to leave for India the whole family was there, which was great. Once again, there was tons of food, amazing desserts and seemingly endless holiday treats. Yumm yumm…

We passed the time playing board games, watching movies, eating, playing in the snow, soaking in the hot tub and there was even a little Karaoke ;-) Though, I didn’t quite make it to the stage hehe… Maybe next year.

We've got lots of photos up on our Flickr site if you want to check them out.