Noël in good ol' Lanark County

Benjamin on the guitar

I can't believe how quickly Christmas flew by! I'm sure I say this at every major event or holiday :) but it's usually true.

Liz and I rented a car and drove home on the morning of the 24th. The weather was crazy- our street was barely plowed and we got stuck a few times, and the 401 for the first couple hours was kind of scary to drive on. However, we made it home in about 8 1/2 hours instead of the usual 6- just in time to turn around and drive to Ottawa for my dad's side of the family Christmas.

The flavour of the evening has changed in the last few kids because there aren't really any young children that come each year, just some years, so it's more adult-focused I think. My sentimental side was in its element, singing German Christmas songs- I requested one I thought everyone knew but they didn't-oops- with my dad on the guitar, and the aunts singing alto and the uncles singing tenor. We just don't sing together that much anymore, at least, not in my family, so Christmas is a welcome time for that. We had the Christmas story in German and English as in every year and, for the first time ever, I found I could follow somewhat the German version.

It was great to see everyone again, especially my cousins that live in Calgary; they're the only ones out west now and I like to gab about Alberta with them.

The next day was our own family Christmas; we don't do presents till the evening because I guess that's how the Kuehns always did it. We did some more singing as well, and the Christmas story. I got to give out my stuff from Europe, which was fun. We did an exchange with the older kids for the first time, which turned out great.

I got to do a bit of shopping with Ruth and Naomi while Liz took the three boys tubing, and I really enjoyed spending time with them. We of course hit up Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's in the mall- if you've never been, it's a great toy store with all kinds of cool stuff; we don't have one around here so we only go when we're in Ottawa.

Right before leaving town, Liz and I got to visit with two friends from growing up, Chant and Nat, in Ottawa. It turns out Nat lives next to my younger brother- who knew! :) It was great to catch up with them and see Nicky too.

Andrew on the exercise ball- working off the turkey?

(I will figure out how to get these flipped)

Timothy, showing off his situps maybe?

Ruth and I

Benjamin and I

Naomi and I, sporting our French scarves

Ruth, the artiste, with her present to Mom

I got Mom a comic book in France that she used to read as a teenager

Yes, we are all a little weird and wacky. And some of us look stunned in pictures.

This is an example of me trying to take photos like Rachel's :)

Samuel and I -how pale are we!

Jonathan being a ham

This is not related to Christmas- it's the Champs Elysées in Paris- I just like the view.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all have a grand time ushering in 2009.

Till next year! God be with you!