Christmas Parties

Holy cow!
It's been almost a week since I posted anything... AND I missed Thankful Thursday last week!

Such a busy season, I completely forgot about blogging.

Here is a re-cap of the Christmas festivities the past week or so.

Wednesday, December 23 there was a Bible Study reunion/Christmas Party. I haven't seen some of these people in a long time, so it was great to catch up! 

Christmas Eve I took the day off from work. I went to Chiropractor in the morning, and then did some LAST MINUTE shopping during the day. Every Christmas Eve our church has a service filled with carols and celebration. This year was the first one in a few years that I wasn't a part of the worship team. I was asked to play, but I declined as I thought it would be nice to have a year off... I was right!

After the service, every year my family gathers at Mom & Dad's for some appetizers and gifts. We pick names with the 8 of us (including David and Aly) and then my parents get us some gifts as well. Oma De Jong often joins us this evening so we can all play some games and hang out together. 

This is the closest to a nice shot we could get of Sherlock with his antlers on! He kept shaking them off and then running around the house with them in his mouth.

A gift for Sherlock? He's so spoiled!

Scott picked this up for Sherlock from Costco. Something FUN to keep him occupied while we opened our presents and ate our snacks!

Jeff un-wrapping his super secret mystery present. His frying pan oddly wrapped like a stop sign!

Such a lovely evening to spend together!

We made a fancy little "Crazy Dice Game" kit for our grandparents, so after we were done with gifts we broke it out and played a round with Oma!

Christmas morning, David and I opened our presents just with the two of us at home. We both were spoiled this year. 

We had to drag Sherlock out of bed. He has been partied out! Too bad it's only just begun for him!

David was super excited to get his Bose Soundlink Mini II Bluetooth Speaker. He is just setting it up on our table behind the couch and testing out the great sound!

On Christmas Eve David gave me this gift so I could wear it to the church service. Isn't it beautiful?

After we were done our presents and enjoying our morning together, we packed up and went to my parents house for a little bit. They were planning to have brunch with Opa and Oma when they got there, but we were heading over to David's parents house for Christmas brunch so we didn't get to stay long. 

Scott got Settlers of Catan for Christmas from my mom, so a quick game (is there such a thing?) was in order!

At David's parents house, we had waffles for brunch, then cleaned up and all met up in the living room to open gifts! We gave Shelley her meat thermometer present a little earlier on so she could use it for the turkey. Again, we were all spoiled with thoughtful gifts. 

David is showing off Allana's new Deathly Hallows lamp that Kyle made for her. If you don't know what the Deathly Hallows is, you'll need to read Harry Potter!

Dinner time rolled around, and I found myself helping out in the kitchen. I had a blast with the chaos of it all. It's nice to feel useful and help to put delicious food on the table. We had turkey with all the trimmings of a classic Christmas feast!

Turkey!

After dinner we played some Scattergories and enjoyed each other's company!

All these sleepy pups!

Sherlock must have been exhausted. He hardly ever sleeps anywhere but at home! Too many parties!

Off to bed until Boxing Day! On Saturday, David and I slept in a little bit and then tidied up the house. It was a mess from all our wrapping shrapnel and dishes we didn't have the time to do. From here, we dropped Sherlock off at my parent's house for the day and we headed downtown to meet up with the brothers and Aly!

Please don't make me get out of bed again!!

The 6 of us had planned a while ago to try our hands at the EXIT on Broadway. We did the room themed Transylvania. We figured we'd be pretty well off considering how we all work fairly well together, and think differently. 

Adam and Aly seem happy to have failed.

We were right. We were working on the last piece of the last clue to escape from the room. Literally, if we had three more minutes we would have had it! So close!!! We definitely have to try another one in the new year! So much fun!

Sherlock at my parents house. So tired he curled up in Shadow's bed. 

After the EXIT room we picked up some groceries and beer and went to Jeff's place to make some food and hang out some more. 

"What responsible children you've raised! Salad for lunch."
"It warms a mother's heart"

"JUST KIDDING! Supplemented with beer, pizza and perogies! And a whole pack of bacon of course."

Some friendly competition with an old game

We went from Jeff's to Adam's for a bit, as we remembered he has Cards Against Humanity. Oh that game... not for the faint of heart! Haha

Adam and Aly have a Nespresso machine, so he made me a decaf espresso in his new cups! Delicious.

Aly was off to another Christmas party, so we went back to Jeff's place again for some darts and the hockey game! Another very full, but enjoyable day! 

There is more to come with regards to Christmas parties, but I think this is a good summary of the first few days! 

So much to be grateful for this wonderful season.