Christmas Morning

We woke up on 'our' Christmas morning to snow.....

 and Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk.....

and the carrots were gone....

 And... wait! What's this??!!

HUGE stockings were filled to overflowing!

 Gracie checked hers out. It seems Santa left his whole sack just for her!

 There were markers, 

 and Disney Princesses,

 and sooooo many treats for such a good little girl! 

(Who does Santa think he is, tucking a Flames jersey in her stocking??)

 Even dad got goodies!

 And Bailey!

 And mom!

 Now presents? Wow!

 A cash register! 

Wow!! We got spoiled this Christmas! Thanks Santa!

Getting Ready...

Santa is coming early to our house. We made special arrangements because we'll be away, so he's coming TONIGHT!!!!

Gracie got milk and cookies ready for him and set out carrots for the reindeer. 

She's excited!!

Day 16-Candy Cane Lane

I need to post which day these are for on the post, because I can't keep my days straight anymore.

We ventured out to Candy Cane Lane last night, which was fun, but Maizie's house is hands down, the big winner. Even though there were 8 blocks of houses decorated, Maizie's probably had more decorations jammed onto one yard. I like excess...

Here are some photos of our walk:

Is this sac religious?? The camel had a saddle....

and the sheep... well, I have no defence for the sheep....

This tree had to be forty feet tall, and was decorated so well, even though the picture doesn't really show it.

And this one was little, but beautiful! It looked like it was all made of ice. 

Gracie also mastered the BIG slide at strollersize. She's been a little too afraid to try this slide, and it's been months of looking at it, and slowly making her way up three steps, before  turning around and finding somewhere else to play. I'll admit it made me nervous, too. It's at the end of an obstacle course, so I can't help her, and it's about 5 feet up, which she has to climb, and then the same distance down (and it's not a gradual drop).

Yesterday, she did it!!

Her new friend Cadence was making the climb and Gracie kind of looked at her like, "Huh, if she can do it, I can do it." and she was off.

She went up and down about 8 times before I told her we had to go.

Fear vanquished!

These two girls were so cute. While we stretched, after class, they sat together on my mat and shared their snacks, pooling together to make a little picnic. Then, they played follow the leader (guess who was the leader) and jumped and played Ring around the Rosy in the jumpy castle together.

Gracie slept like a dream yesterday with the amount of giggling and running these two were doing. Merry Christmas to me!

Cuddling on the Couch

Some photos from dad's phone...

Just cuddling on the couch before bed. 

Bad parent??

Just to make you laugh, and Gracie cringe when she's older.....

Advent Calendar

Grams and Papa got Gracie this little Advent Calendar and filled it full of 25 days of goodies. 

It's been so much fun for her. She gets to practice her numbers, and we use it as incentive to finish her supper (since she opens it after supper), plus, she gets a new little treat or toy every day! 

So lucky!

Christmas Baking

This is my favourite treat of the year! It's quick and easy to make and sooooo delicious. 

Salted Chocolate Pretzel Bark

I've almost made myself sick on it a few times this year. I've learned to make a batch, box it up immediately, with only one piece left out to taste (quality control) and then get it out of the house, pronto!

I think this is batch number 6..... since October.....

Hot Chocolate

I've recently introduced Gracie to hot chocolate (warm milk with a bit of hot chocolate powder in it). She wanted to have some of my tea yesterday morning, so I made her a little mug of cocoa instead. 

She liked it!! 

Now, I just need to find a little plastic mug so she doesn't have to lift weights to drink it.

Putting up lights

I recruited some helpers to help me with the rest of the lights. This was my crew:

They were pretty productive until one of them had to go pee (the one with snowpants on) and the other one got cold fingers and started telling Gracie what to tell the cops when they arrived (after he fell to his death from the ladder - it was something along the lines of me being responsible). 

Anyhow, the lights are up. I had to return one string of walkway markers, but assuming I get them stuck in the ground this afternoon, we should be in full glow tonight. 

PS. Don't get your hopes up, it's really not that fancy. 

Low key Saturday

We did some shopping today, I put up some Christmas lights (half of which work) and now, I will be cozying up with this...

 a big steaming mug o' tea. 

(And, it's a new December tea from David's tea. Yum!)

I will also be contemplating whether I should rip out the lights or try and figure out why they don't work....

Happy Saturday to me!

Day 10

Maizie's Magical Christmas House

This is the best light show in town! If you're looking for a Christmas-y thing to do this holiday season, head over to 97 St and 144 Ave.  And Candy Cane lane is happening again this year, which is nearby. We haven't gone, yet, but it's on our to-do list. 

 Sorry these are blurry, but it's hard to take pictures of lights with a million people milling around, bumping into you. You get the idea, thousands of lights!

All of the windows looking into the house are even decorated with little scenes, train sets, and even a window with a wide screen tv playing Christmas movies, complete with speakers outside! I don't think anyone even lives in this house, it's just a giant Christmas decoration.

Gracie LOVED it! She kept whispering "beeetiful, beetiful""

A singing polar bear and dancing penguins distracted her for a long time...

And Santa even snuck up on us and gave G a candy cane! 

Oh Christmas Tree...

Day 8:

Our beautiful tree. 

Photos just don't do trees justice.... I love seeing it all lit up. Makes me smile and feel warm, cozy, Christmas thoughts. 

*Sigh* 

The Christmas spirit is high in our house this year. Gracie went from asleep, to singing "Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells!" this morning. A bit of a shocking wake up, but kind of nice. 

I sang Jingle Bells two nights ago when we were decorating and then again before she went to bed last night, so maybe it's indoctrination, but either way, I'm happy to hear it.