December 24th: The Maurices and The Markets

We continued our tradition of visiting both the Maurice (my dad's) and Market (Rod's mom's)family on Christmas Eve.

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This year, the Maurice gathering was at Aunt Angie and Uncle Rick's house. It's nice, because they live in the same town as Gram Market, so we didn't have much extra travelling. We arrived there a bit before 4 pm, and had a nice (albeit quick--we arrived later than planned, and they had to leave for Church by 4:30) visit. We did get one bad scare upon arrival--Andrea helped herself to a peanut dish the instant we arrived. We think she only got one peanut, and by some Christmas miracle, nothing happened. Thank God! We watched her like a hawk for about half an hour, but she was absolutely fine. She was busy playing with some toys (Aunt Angie has two girl grandchildren), and soon the girls and Brigitte arrived, so she had some playmates. Kevin was content to be passed around and admired by the Maurice family members.

Kevin was highly entertained by Aunt Angie's penguin!

Daddy, Andrea, and Tayla at the bar (Chris and Jen in background)

Kevin snuggled up with Grandpa Vic (a Leafs fan--who forgave us the Wings bib--because Kevin's "so darn cute!")

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Soon, we were off to Gram (Great-Gram to our little ones) Market's for the big family dinner and gift exchange. We always have such happy times there--excellent food and lots of fun!

Umm . . . what am I supposed to do with this?

Ooo . . . ooo . . . I know . . . I know . . . Raise the roof for PRESENTS!

Yep, Andrea's a pro now.

I still don't get it.

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Here's Andrea, modeling her new Dora pajamas from Gram and Grandpa, and some Disney Princess accessories from the kids' gift exchange.

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She also got some sparkly smiley-face stickers from Great Gram, with which she proceeded to decorate herself, as well as others. She also popped on Great-Gram's slippers and started to shuffle about. It was quite the ensemble!

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Kevin found Aunt Claire to be good company, and spent most of the evening cuddled up in her lap. (And yes, Andrea put that sticker on Kevin's head! She always gives him one, too.)

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As the evening closed, I found Kevin stretched out on Aunt Claire, watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. He liked the singing in "Who-ville." He also laughed every time Aunt Claire said, "Mr. Gri-inch!" to him, like it does in the song. :))