Another Christmas has come and gone.  Things this year were not as chaotic as in years past... likely because we were home for a longer time this year and didn't feel the need to rush and see everyone as is usually the norm.

N arrived in Regina on the 21st and at that point I moved from my mom's to his mom's.   Grandma K had been trying to sell her house for the last 8 months and finally did just prior to N's arrival so we all got to spend Xmas in the new condo!

We spent Xmas Eve with N's family and Xmas day with my family.  Both days were low-key and relaxing.

Boxing day we got to visit with the Hoffman/Skolney's and on the 27th we saw the rest of the Maciag's.  On the 30th, N and I met up with some friends and on the 31st, we rang in the New Year with Kendra and Terry.  Before we left for Toronto we even had time to have dinner with N's aunt and uncle -- this year most of N's family had ventured to Grand Prairie to spend Christmas at his cousin Cindy's.  Again, everything was laid back and relaxing.  I might have to say this was one of the more enjoyable holiday trips home in a while.

There are a ton of pictures from Christmas this year so if you are interested, head to flickr... the link for Knecht Xmas is here and for Maciag Xmas is here!!  Also, there are pictures from the New Year here!!

Christmas was the usual insanity.

This year N and I were in Regina from Dec. 21st-28th.

Christmas with the Knecht's was early -- December 21st this year.  We had dinner and gift exchange at Kathy's.  Food was good.  Canasta was good -- the ladies did well and the gents managed to make it interesting in the end.  Ashley was super cute opening her gifts.  

We didn't actually meet with any of the extended family this year as everyone had their own travel plans, including us - Cuba!  All six of us Knecht's were spending the New Year in Varadero so the bulk of N's and my time was spent with my family over Christmas.

Knecht Xmas pictures: here!

Maciag family Christmas was busy! Tess, with a bit of help from my mom and I, managed to crank out two big meals: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I think this may have broken her spirit a wee bit -- it is just too much work to do that kind of cooking two days in a row.   Spending two days in the kitchen while others around you are watching movies and playing games is, I'm pretty sure, disheartening.   My guess, is that this is the first and last year of it.  

Christmas Eve we had supper and then some extended family came over for the rest of the evening.  The ladies enjoyed pleasant conversation and the gents played hour after hour of Madden 10 on the Xbox (definitely a theme of this xmas).

Christmas Day I needed to be a grown up and suck it up and not arrive at my mom's at 6:30AM to open presents like all people who LOVE presents.  This year the plan was to meet at noon for Xmas brunch.  This is a funny tale as Tess and Geoff were delayed due to a vehicle malfunction and by the time they got to Mom and Dad's, Harry was ready to open presents... so we did.  Thus we had brunch at 4PM setting back Christmas turkey supper to almost 9PM that night.  Insane, I know -- but hey, that is how we roll.  After supper, we played some Catan: Traders and Barbarians... it was a lot of fun... Catan rules!

Maciag Xmas pictures: here!

Well, another year bit the dust!  Hope everyone had a happy, fun, and safe Christmas and New Year!

We are back from Regina.  Got back around 1AM on January 2.   Spent yesterday getting reaquainted with my laptop.  Inbox - full.  Google Reader - full.  Spam - overloaded.

This is just a bit of a teaser... I am still working on my year-in-review post.  It will be up later today.  Still, to feel I've accomplished something this morning, I wanted to get a short post up to announce that my Christmas pictures are up and can be found here.

Also, scroll down as I also quickly banged out a post highlighting the fun I had at my Dad's expense this holiday season!!  He got a letter from Santa!!

My dad and I have this funny and on-going joke about Toronto.  Dad claims he doesn't understand why anyone would live here in the centre of the universe.  I proclaim that my Dad has big city envy; that he just doesn't want people to know about his undying love for all things Toronto.  I mean how can you not love smog and traffic jams??  So naturally, I appealed to St. Nick to help my Dad embrace his love for this home of mine. Let me tell you, Santa really came through for me. He left my dad a letter in his stocking.  It was on official North Pole letterhead and it looked like this - (you'll need a pdf reader to see it).

Santa and I had been in contact prior to Christmas and he had asked me
to make Poppa Joe a slideshow of good times had in Toronto  (you know -
to aid him with that old age memory loss stuff) and so I did. It was
the perfect thing to load on the new digital picture frame we had
bought Dad for Christmas!!  Without further adieu, here's a truthful
account (in pictures) of good times had in TO - Poppa Joe style.

Make a Smilebox photobook