Literally Christmas

On Christmas Eve we take off and head to Innisfil.

Leaving the relaxed atmosphere, we enter the chaotic yet fun-filled Phase 2: Jer's parents place. With five kids running around there was always something happening so my memory is a little blurred.

Christmas Eve I remember spending a bunch of time wrapping presents for the aforementioned kids. We wrapped in the office by the kitchen so it was off limits, which of course meant there were frequent attempts of entry by the little ones, one of which ended up in a quasi-peek-a-boo session. I'd open the door and point at the youngin, he'd burst out laughing, I'd close the door and repeat.

In the evening it was opening presents time. The kids went first and it was a bit overwhelming. Lots of paper everywhere, so many toys, and so much noise! It was entertaining though. The most amusing part was when the peek-a-boo kid from above got two (toy) guns that lit up in multi-colours. He was incredibly amused by them and would shoot everyone and laugh hysterically when they twitched/played dead. He didn't quite understand how to actually shoot somebody though, the gun was pointed up at the ceiling i believe. Ohhh kids are stupid. haha? Anyway, once the kids went to bed the grown-ups ate dinner, then opened gifts in a more structured fashion.

Christmas morning everyone went to church, after which my comment was: thirdly is not a word. (Neither is firstly or secondly, etc). I remember being happy when he said finally. I thought yes, he's not going to say Ohhh noes, he went with 'Finally' pause, 'and Fourthly'. Anyway, leaving church was entertaining because Jeremy was a hot commodity. It felt like we were bombarded with people who haven't seen him in a while, excited to say hi.

There were appetizer type snacks for lunch, and dutch cake for Jer's dad's birthday at some point. Later we got to open stockings which again was chaotic but fun. We all played dominos which was amusing. I had never played dominos before and ended up doing horribly (3-4 doubles in your hand is badness), but I liked it. At one point I curled up on the couch and watched barbie a christmas story with a couple of the kids. I'm not sure why, but at some point one of the kids decided she wanted to sit with me and she happily lied there for a while. Worked for me, now I was being lazy while technically being helpful.

There was turkey dinner and dessert, and the inevitable cleaning up. Slowly it calmed down as the kids went to bed. A bit later we packed up our stuff and headed off for Phase 3.