Merry Christmas!!!

'Merry Christmas Baby' and a kiss on the forehead was what I woke up to this morning. That made my day already. This is mine and Keith' first Xmas together. Can you believe it? We've been together for 6 years or so and have never spent Xmas together. And out first Xmas together is as a married couple!

So far this doesn't seem so bad. Went down stairs as everyone was just getting up (around 9:30am or so). Olivia started the gift opening and she made Xmas! Xmas is not the same without kids. It reminded me of Matthew and Graham when they were young and how excited they'd get and the piles of gifts they would open. We took awhile to get through all our gifts and I didn't even fill up as I was opening my gifts. I kept my mind off the thought that it is Xmas and I'm normally opening these with my parents, brothers and grandparents. Whew, made it through!

After we opened our gifts we decided to meet Lauren's family for a walk in Eggsford forest where there's a nice walking trail. It's a really nice day out, mild and of course no snow because that's rare here. We slapped on our rubber boots as it's a bit muddy and headed out. Spent an hour or so walking and it was really nice for us all to be out.

Not long after our walk we all headed to Jane & Terry's (Lauren's parents) for Christmas appetizers and eventually Christmas dinner. Jane & Terry had a fantastic spread as always and we enjoyed smoked salmon, herring (I think) and even some caviar! Later we had Christmas dinner with turkey and ham and more fixings than I ever thought possible. It was amazing. Once gifts were exchanged and we were all stuffed, we headed back to Lauren and Dale's.

I called home before we went for our walk, then again when I got back from Jane's. It was weird to wish everyone Merry Christmas over the phone and to ask what they got for Xmas and tell them what I got. This was also Matthew's first time away for Xmas. He spent the day with our cousin Dawn who is also living in Calgary so I was relieved he wasn't spending it alone. I wasn't able to have much of a conversation with Mom as the first time we were kinda running out the door, there was no time during the day and then later the connection was so bad we couldn't talk so I was really disappointed about that. The same when I called Dad, Nan & Gampie, Matthew and Nanny Neil. I wasn't very impressed as it was my only way to spend some time with them today. But we (me & them) all made it through the day so I was very happy about that. And spending Christmas with Keith was excellent.