Christmas!

This year, luckily, there was no drama at the airport (in case you don't remember, last year my flight was cancelled on Christmas Eve because of all the snow). My flight was only delayed about half an hour and I landed in Calg.ary with no problems.

On Christmas, Eve my Dad wanted to take me to show me this new mall they have and this new store called B.ass Pro Sho.p. Yes, my Dad wanted to go to the mall on Christmas Eve. This didn't please me greatly, but one good thing about going shopping with my parents is that they have a handicapped sticker. I know that doesn't sound like something to be happy about, but my Mom broke her foot recently and my Dad's had both knees operated on, so if you have walking issues, believe me, I'm happy they have it. :) Don't worry, I would NEVER use it if one of my parents weren't with me. Can't stand when people do that. Anyway, that made it easier for me to think about battling the malls on this special day ... plus, my Dad wanted to spend some time with me and that made me happy in and of itself.

When I asked Mom why Dad wanted to take me out to the mall on Christmas Eve of all days, she said, "This store has a lot of nice stuffed animals that Dad wants to show you." I thought, "I'm 37 years old. Why do I need to see stuffed animals?" Well, let me tell you, these were no teddy bear stuffed animals as I was thinking. My jaw literally dropped when I walked into the store. It was an outdoor paradise ... INSIDE!!! My pictures will never do it justice, but here's a taste of what you can see.

These are REAL animals ... stuffed. I don't think I could ever shoot an animal, but I realize that people do it and hopefully they do it for the meat, not the sport of it, but they sure do make this store what it is.

Everywhere you look ... and I mean everywhere, you will see some sort of creature. I didn't take pics of the little weasels or marmots, but they go from big to small. Don't forget to look up ... waaaaay, up.

There is also a shooting range like at the fair and a couple of months ago my nephew bought a bow and arrow there (not something little like we grew up with ... this thing is serious ... and deadly) and he was allowed to use their practice room for 2 hours before he left. Pretty cool. I highly recommend stopping by just to see this place. It's just north of Cal.gary. Ok, enough free advertising.

That evening I went with my parents to their church for a lovely service. My Mom was in the choir so it was nice to watch her sing with the joy she has for singing. We lit candles and sang Silent Night and remembered the gift that God gave us in His Son. We were reminded to go out and be a light to this dark world. After the service we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. It was a nice night.

The next morning we took it easy, packed up the truck and drove to my sister's place. The roads were nice and clear and we stopped for a nice Christmas Day lunch at Den.ny's in Red De.er.

The first night we opened presents and I didn't take a single picture. Can you believe it? I don't know what I was thinking ... or obviously, NOT thinking. Sheesh! I got The God.father trilogy (yippee!!!) from my sis and bro-in-law, my niece gave me The Of.fice calendar and a bookmark of the Cu.llens. She was so sweet to buy me gifts with her own money. My Mom made me an afghan out of my favorite colour, purple! I love, love, LOVE it! I will treasure it forever.

The next day while we were waiting for the turkey to cook, my Dad brought out his slides. Maybe I'm a bad kid, but I used to really groan when my Dad pulled out his slides. I've been told by 2 of my blog readers that they've always loved looking at their Dad's slides so like I said, maybe I'm just a bad kid, but we used to have to sit through COUNTLESS pictures of all my Dad's construction projects ... most of which were from before I was born and were done in far off locations. Anyway, this year I was very excited to look at them. It was a lot of fun.

Here we are all set up in our own theatre.

We'll start off with the patriarch and matriarch of my Borne clan.

My Dad and his siblings. I don't think it was allowed to have small families back then. :)

My Dad in his young, handsome years.

My Mom in her young, teeny, tiny years.

I just LOVE this picture of my parents. If I'd seen it before, I didn't remember it and now I want a print on my wall. What does this picture remind you of? Sing it with me now, "The hills are alive, with the sound of muuuuuuusic ...." :)

I don't know how to put whistling down in print, but that's what I want to do for this next picture. :) Isn't that awesome? That's my Uncle Abe and Aunt Jess with their daughter Jan while walking around Harriso.n Lake. Oh, and my Dad isn't carrying a purse, those are binoculars which we still have somewhere.

Then came along my sister, Carolyn. Chunky monkey, hey? But I think chubby babies are WAY cuter then skinny babies, so it's ok, Care. :)

Then came my adorable brother, Donnie. Don't you just love that picture of him laughing? Can't wait to meet you some day in Heaven, Donnie. Oh, and Care and I figured that she must have done something bad for Mom to give her that nasty bowl cut on the right. haha! We've all been there, right?

Then came my sister, Jodi. In this first picture with the horses, my Mom is pregnant with her. See the maternity dress she's wearing? After Jodi was born, Mom made it into a dress for Care ... that she's wearing in the next picture. Always a true Mennonite. :)

Then came me and the invention of film, so luckily, there were only these 2 slides of me. :) What fun it was looking through these. I hope my Dad brings more next time and I can keep taking pics of them.

After we were finished the slides, the house smelled amazing and we had our turkey dinner ... which I also forgot to take pictures of. Crazy me. I'm slipping in my old age. But I did take a couple of pictures after supper.

Since this is the usual occurrence after supper (which is TOTALLY fine and well deserved),

Carolyn, Bailey and I headed outside for some fresh air and to feed the animals.

I wondered how close my new zoom could get me to actually seeing the man on the moon and I must say, I'm pretty impressed. Can't wait for the next full moon.

My beautiful niece, Bailey and I. I think I'll be framing this one.

Their fun, chocolate lab, Deano. I don't know if I've ever met another dog who loves to play fetch as much as him. The first picture is after he dug his toy out of the snow and the second picture is of him anticipating his toy being thrown again. Fun for hours ... or minutes as that's really all I could stand out in the -14 degree weather (which I know I shouldn't complain about seeing as it was -40 the week before I got there, but I'm a wimpy BC girl when it comes to the cold, ok?)

Walking in the winter wonderland.

The next day was all about the games. Ski.pBo, Gue.ss Who?, Croq.uenot and Dutch Bl.itz were the main winners ... oh, and Sor.ry as well. I really like board games, so this was totally fine with me.

After we were all gamed out, my nephew, Clay had to show us how good he's gotten with his bow and arrow. My Dad told him that if he could hit a grapefruit in 4 tries, he'd give him $10. I'm proud to say that he hit it on his first try. Way to go, Clay!

And while I was outside, might as well take some more pictures of the moon. :)

And no Christmas post would be complete without some tree decoration pictures.

This was my favorite picture I took and it really is what I wish for all of us in 2010.