Christmas Recap Part 2

You can check out Part 1 of our Christmas holidays here.

On Boxing Day Dave's sister finally flew in.  He picked her up from her red eye flight that morning.  Meanwhile the rest of us started our day nice and slowly.  Q really caught onto crokinole this year.

Then we went downtown to go to the movies.  We picked the theatre at Yonge-Dundas Square so we could see the lights at City Hall and maybe fit in some skating. 

We met up with some friends for Avatar 2.

It was a pretty good movie and even Q made it through the 3+ hours!

Then we walked through the mall and back over to City Hall.

This little area is so pretty.

We had parked under City Hall so it was easy to go down to get our skates for a few turns around the rink. We have always wanted to do this when we've come downtown to see the Christmas lights but never had time, I'm glad we fit it in this year.

Then we came home and made our own "moules and frites" or mussels and French fries for a late supper.

Finally on the 27th I had some time to do nothing in the morning and watched The Grinch with Q when we got up.

Trying out E's new chess set (Wizard's Chess from Harry Potter).

Our snowman had had enough...girl, same.

In the afternoon we went down to the ROM to see the Harry Potter Fantastic Beasts special exhibit and the dinosaurs of course.

Trying out the microscope.

We had leftover prime rib sandwiches for supper and then all tried some bowling.

The next day started with some crafts that Dave's sister and mom did with the kids.

And then we decided to go skiing (along with everyone else in Southern Ontario!). It was set to warm up the following day so this was going to be the best day of the week, so it was busy!  But we had a great time, and stayed for night skiing. Meanwhile Dave's parents and sister went shopping and ordered sushi for their supper.

On Thursday morning the kids went to the Science Centre with our neighbours.  

We had a nice dinner at Pizzeria Libretto in the Junction.  I had forgotten to bring out the Christmas crackers for actual Christmas dinner, and Dave's sister wasn't with us yet then anyway, so we brought them along to the restaurant and donned our paper crowns there.

We hate pizza, haha.

Quick family photo when we got back as Dave's parents were leaving the next day.

On Friday morning we went to the church to help prepare some food for the Out of the Cold dinner and food bank. We made soup.

More crafts!

Getting to the end of our gingerbread house finally.

I had a big morning as I finally finished our puzzle!

The boys chilled with friends in the afternoon.

And that night Dave's sister took E to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child show.  We had gone in October but she hadn't seen it and E didn't mind going again. 

She went home the next morning, which was New Year's Day.  We tidied up a few things, did some Peloton rides, and played games.  This is the Great British Bake Off game which is pretty good!

Packed up for a New Year's Eve party across the street.   Oysters, gin and tonics, and bubbly.

The kids watching the countdown on the Google Home.

Happy New Year!

A bit of a dance party.

And then some crokinole and euchre to round out the night.

I had thought about going out for brunch on New Year's Day but decided to buy everything to make our own brunch and it was the right decision! 

We were tired but we powered through and I took down all of the Christmas decorations, including our crispy dried out tree, and Dave rebuilt the shelves in our storage room. 

I made Jamie Oliver's recipe for pasta using up leftover Christmas cheese and other things (including some walnuts and the whipping cream). It was a great way to end the day.

We finished up our holiday with another day on the slopes.  We met up with two other families and got some good runs in despite the warm temperatures and soft snow. 

Resting while waiting for others to get off the lift.

Just a quarter of our group.

Dave and I are back at work although the kids still have this week off of school, but Q is going to the YMCA.

The holidays are always hectic so I'm glad to reflect back in this post on all of the fun we did have. These are the days my friends.