Christmas with the Smiths (AKA the best Christmas present a husband could give)

I know we just set the Blog up today and it's probably not normal to post twice a day, but I am excited to share our Christmas photos with you all.  Plus Ron's going back to work tomorrow and I will likely not be able to post as often as I want when he is working.

By the way, I should also add the disclaimer that we have created this blog as a way to keep in touch with our friends and family who are now so very far away. You will mostly find pictures of the kids and updates as to what is going on in our lives.
It seems like everyone and their dog now has a blog, filled with witty observations about life and/or family, updates on their home-based business etc. I wish I had time to read everyone else's blog, but the daily routine doesn't always allow for that. I don't expect everyone to read our blog regularly, but since we are no longer on facebook, we decided that this would be the easiest way to keep in touch with our loved ones without sacrificing our privacy. If you are reading this, it is because you have been invited. Aren't you special?!!!

Christmas this year was a fairly quiet affair, our first ever with just the Smiths, not the Smiths and the Smiths and the other Smiths (you know who you are). We have traditionally celebrated with our extended families, trying to share our time equally with both sides of the family (luckily easy to do, since they all live in Drayton Valley, AB) But we were kind of excited to have Christmas with just the four of us, our little family, in our new home. Besides, we were not keen on flying to Alberta during the busiest flight time of the year.

The only Christmas photo that turned out. **Note to self, always clean the dirty finger prints from the camera lens before taking photos. All the other photos were kind of blurry because some little people like to play with the camera, not naming any names....

Adorable dinosaur sweaters from Grandma Anne

We had all the Christmas presents bought, the Christmas tree decorated when, in a bid for "best husband of the year" Ron decided that he should send me away to Cuba for the week before Christmas!! He won.
I won't bore you with the details of me sitting on the beach, drinking mojitos and working on my tan, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I am not usually the type of person who says I deserve a vacation (we all do, right?) but I really think I earned this vacation. And a big Thank You to Grandma Terry for helping to make this happen. We are so lucky to have such a generous family :D

I got back on Christmas eve, after the expected aircraft delays, too late to see the girls. But don't worry, Ember woke up at 5:30am, so I dove right back into the usual routine, like I had never left.

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner, and two days of hanging out doing nothing. I don't think I even got dressed for either day. By Dec 27, I forced the kids to go for a walk, since we were all suffering from cabin fever and turkey overload. All in all, I had a great vacation. I'm glad I got away for R&R and that Ron got time to bond with the girls. Although I did love my solo vacation, I hope next time I go somewhere tropical that my hubby can come with me!