Christmas in Calgary with the McAllister Clan!

Despite the 10 hour drive up to Calgary with 3 small children, I am still so glad that we were able to be together with the whole group. And looking on the bright side of things, we didn't have to be there for the whole month of December to feel like it was worth the flight money, didn't have to deal with a 3 hour time change or airports at all and the roads were amazing!!! So I'll take the 10hr drive for sure.

Both Parker and Leo were sick before we arrived and my kids were super healthy. Here are the boys that are all just a few months apart all hanging out. Oh the things they will do!

Here are the kiddos ready in their Christmas Jammies for the long drive up to Mema and Papa's. I had my ugly Christmas sweater on that Mike bought me and santa socks and Mike had his ugly Christmas jersey on. We were ready with Christmas movies, music and games. (It was still a loooong drive)

The weather was super warm. Here we are on Christmas Eve Day!

A Christmas Eve bonfire...what?

A Christmas Eve family hot tub

Our nativity story cast...we're missing a few members, but we need older grandkids. 2years from now. lol.

A delicious Christmas dinner with poppers, table confetti and this year we did rotisserie chickens instead of turkey and it was a hit!!! Plus much easier.

The tradition of Christmas Eve Jammies...I tried to get the kids bums, but it didn't work so well and I tried to get all the cousins together and Parker was not into it because Vienna was making him sit with her. We tried.

Luckily for Mema's story of "Teach the Children" the kids really quieted down and listened...I love this story and will always tell it on Christmas Eve. Everett was being Mema's "helper"

Auntie Lanae doing a reindeer hand Christmas craft, she is such a great Auntie!

Some of the Christmas morning events. We had a great morning!

My mom squirted the whipcream all over herself, it was pretty hilarious!

Here is what we woke up to. Santa was very good to us this year.

Uncle Trevor taking the time to read one of Lincoln's new books to him. Thanks uncle Trev!

 We each take a dinner night and this time we did auntie Cindy's sloppy Joe's, a coconut coleslaw and brussel sprouts. My husband basically did it all. Here is this sexy man putting those muscles to work.

Auntie Nae's last craft...the snowflakes. This one is so cute and such a keeper. 

All in all, even though the nights got progressively more sleepless as each child got more and more sick and Lincoln got more and more homesick, it was still worth the memories, the game nights, the bustle of family photos, kids exploring outside, Vienna's walk with Papa that she still talks about and having adult time at night. Despite all the work and the fact that everyone has gotten sick, I hope everyone else feels the same way we do...it was more than worth it and looking forward to another gathering!

Good Intentions, but simply ran out of time...

I really wanted to get all our pre-Christmas activities posted and recorded before Christmas, but alas, it did not happen. And so I am doing it now as its own entry and then I will do Christmas up in Calgary at Mema and Papa's.

Each night starting on December 1st we had a Christmas devotional, which included a Christmas carol, a scripture about Christ's birth and an activity; sometimes being a craft, a video etc. Making gingerbread houses became one of our activities when Peg sent us home with all the stuff. We were lucky to have Amanda (Vienna's primary teacher) over with us. 

Peg was so cute this year, she had a Christmas party for all of us and even sent invites in the mail with a cute little poem she wrote. This was a fun filled night, complete with dinner of all kinds of seasonal snacks, crafts for the kids, pin the nose on the reindeer, snowman toss and a scavenger hunt. She also wanted to decorate gingerbread houses but had no time. (We crammed in a ton in that short time so Im so glad we didn't try) It was a blast!

Having that space upstairs makes all the difference in the world and it is completely dedicated to their Grandkids, as you can see all the Disney characters behind Mike and Lincs.

Eating out "dinner"

We stayed for a few minutes after the Davis #2 family left to give Peg her B-day present and it was nice to have her read them some stories and quiet too :)

watching the snowman tossers

Grandma handing out their goody bags so they could collect their loot! and let me tell you there was a ton!

Lincoln making his homemade snow...it was fun!

Peggy put together a Santa apron just like mine for Vienna but Lincoln was home and got to it first so he got to be my helper and boy does he love doing that.

We were hanging out in the car while Everett slept and everyone else shopped, so we did selfies.

With the elves!

Vienna and I making sugar cookies with Vienna for Mom date. She loves to be in the kitchen with me.

The final result...I did these after she went to bed. The ones they decorated got eaten right away.

Vienna's preschool had a little party and the family was invited and it was lots of fun to be apart of.

These two are sitting on the chair together having a great time!

This little man loving the 2 steps, just going up and down, standing, walking.

At the little table with my boys. Love them!

Bree was so thoughtful last year and got me these Christmas Jammies to match hers and so this year we had a girls "movie" night, creme brulee and did our gift exchange, it was such fun...I love my Bree. I also love that Bryson totally photo bombed us. Hilarious!

Those are some of our pre-Christmas highlights and next will be Christmas. yay!

Our Trip to Leavenworth

This was such an amazing 2 days! For his 30th Birthday, Mike wanted to spend a night in the small little Bavarian Town of Leavenworth up in the mountains of north central Washington. Peggy and Alan were wonderful to take Vienna and Lincoln for us so our 3rd wheel was Everett and he was a doll. It still would have been much easier without him but he slept well and drew tons of attention by smiling and waving at everyone. It was so cute to watch him.

Our hotel was absolutely amazing and the weather was all foggy and perfect for the season. We really had nothing we were looking for in particular, we just needed a Dad and Mom break. 

 This cute little guy was so good. This is upstairs in the big breakfast room (which was SO delicious). This is also where our Alp horn was played.

 Our hotel lobby had a gorgeous tree that went through both floors. It was real too.

 This was our fun Bavarian bed.

 Our bathtub was huge and you could see the whole room, even the fireplace.

 Our fire was so cozy and was so nice to fall asleep to.

 This town is so quaint and the lights on all the trees and hotels was just gorgeous.

 We had an amazing time window shopping, eating out, and most of all relaxing. Awww!

 Every evening our hotel has an hour and a half of caroling with cider. It was So much fun! We were probably the only ones under 65 years of age, but it was great! The old people loved us!

 This is where we sat to carol and the piano was right behind us.

Here was the Alp horn man. Its the same man who has been doing it for over 40 years. He was SO cute and literally stood on the very edge of the balcony railing, over the roof tops, up into the mountains he played a few songs. It was so incredible, and look at the misty clouds. It was spectacular! 

Thanks Mike for wanting to go on a little getaway.

December is so fun!

Having little ones in your home, but not too little where they don't know what Christmas is, has been so much fun. Every night we have done a short Christmas devotional that includes a song, a scripture, and an activity. It has been so nice to do and it is helping keep the focus of Christmas on Christ's birth and that the gifts of self are so much more valuable and any money that can be spent. 

We have also enjoyed having Walter (our elf) join our family and the kids love waking up looking for him and seeing if he has brought notes or a little treat or gift. 

We have so much more to go, but just trying to keep up with it all...

 decorating our home has been so much fun! They love window decals

 This Nativity just for kids has been so popular, I'm so glad we got it this year and every family with a toddler needs one, without a doubt!

 Last year Mike got me this advent calendar for Christmas, so this year is my first year and Mike has done such a great job so far. Little notes inside, lead me to a hidden gift. He is so sweet to do this, so thoughtful! I love it!

 My nativities are somewhat safe up on the piano

 Our magnet door is covered in a variety of advent calendars and giant snowman magnets.

 We absolutely l-o-v-e our personalized stockings!

 somehow we have ended up with trees everywhere and I love it!

 Vienna working on her Christmas homework. She loves her homework!

 One night I noticed that my baby Jesus from my moosetivity  was missing and so I asked Vienna, "Do you know where my baby Jesus is?" she looked at me a bit sheepishly and said, "follow me". She lead me to my advent and pointed to the 25th. She said "He is in there because that is His Birthday" It was so priceless and adorable, but I still had to ask her not to touch my breakable Nativities. I just love her sensitivity.

 Walter brought all the kids Christmas socks today and Vienna wanted everyone to wear them to church and so she put them on top of her nylons...what a girl! It wasn't a big deal for the boys.

 Here is Walter, he is so much fun to have around.

 Well Home Depot is the place to go for Santa pics. Not only is it free but it's not busy, they give you a print out of the picture they take and the give out a full size candy cane afterward. Wow! Santa did great as well.

 On December 4th, our little Everett turned 11 Months. Oh boy! He is such a boy and wants to be right in the middle of all the things Vienna and Lincoln are doing. It is so cute to watch. He appreciates their company and is lonely without them. He doesn't mind the attention as long as its not excessive (which happens more often than I'd like). He is moving all over and will be walking any day now as he is already taking 2-3 steps all on his own, just in time to add to the Christmas madness. LOL. We sure love our happy, sweet, inquisitive little boy.

So I decided to take pics by the Christmas tree in our church clothes, holy cow...I took 12 pictures and none of them are that "perfect' one, but here are some of them...and yes, I bribed them with cough drops.

We sure love these little people and all that they teach...especially about patience.