Coswan Christmas

2009 Christmas Family Picture

How better to spend your Christmas season that relaxing with family and friends.....and driving almost 2500kms in the process? That was our 2009 season, starting with an Oilers hockey game in Edmonton on the 19th, then continuing onto Calgary where we stayed at our friends the Omichinski's (aka. hangover central). From Calgary I headed to Banff for knee surgery on the 22nd, Andrea and the girls spent the day with their friends Janice, Jayme, and Jada, and then it was off to Medicine Hat to be with Andrea's family for a few days.

Kate & her friend Jada

After arriving in Medicine Hat, we set up camp for 4 days...good thing, as we were all getting tired with the packing/loading routine of 3 houses in 4 days. The Christmas excitement was building within Kate - she definitely understood what was going on this year. On Christmas eve, she put out some cookies and milk for Santa, and even remembered to put out a carrot for the reindeer.

On Christmas morning, the girls let us sleep till around 8, when Kate was more than ready to see what had taken place overnight. She headed to the fireplace to confirm that the cookies/milk had been consumed, and then noticed her stocking was quite full. Once her cousins woke up, it was time to get at the gifts - as usual, WAY TOO much stuff!!! Kate had asked Santa for three things - a pink camera, a "happy box" and a "tool centre" - not sure where she got the tool centre idea from (honest, I said NOTHING!), but she was happy to have some tools like her buddy Daniel. Lauren was very happy with her train set, as well as the Learning Farm which she now stands up on. Granny even bought Kate a beanbag chair, in an attempt to complete fill our van and make it tough on me, but Jim, Cory, and I were able to wedge everything into the van with a bit of room to spare for our stop in Waskatenau. Speaking of Cory - he was involved in buying Kate an electric guitar......laughing as she opened up her noisy toy of the year. I already have the rebuttal gift planned, as Kallen is now 14, and I'm almost certain that I can come up with something that Kallen would love to have in his new basement bedroom.

The girls & their cousins

Lauren and cousin Kaleigh

Kate opening her "happy box"

Kate dressed up for dinner @ Poppa Russ

& Grandma Lynne's

From Medicine Hat, we headed to Waskatenau to spend a few days with my family. We got in a couple games of poker, and more than a few games of crib. Kate even got to go tobogganing with her cousins and Aunty Brenda.

Aunty Brenda & Kate on the hill

Guess which one got fixed??