{personal} home for christmas

the day arrived with great anticipation. i had busied myself the weeks prior, working overtime to get all my edits and paperwork done so i could start off with a clean desk. i made sure all my laundry was done packing would be easy, and doubled check that all my camera gear was organized in my new lowepro roller camera case. everything was ready, all i needed to do was load everything in the car and start out at 3am towards the airport. i was flying home for christmas!!!

i was last home this past june, and before that i spent six weeks in the vancouver are last january and fenruary, but it had been two years since i had been home for christmas. two years doesn't seem like a long time, really i only missed on christmas, but a lot had changed in the lives of my family since we last celebrated christmas together, most specifically, our family home was sold and my brother marshall and his wife welcomed their first son to the world [my first nephew, my parent's first grandchild!!]. last year i spent christmas in st. stephen in the company of friends, my parent's were in california, and my brother and sister-in-law enjoyed a low-key christmas as they anticipated the arrival of their babe!

this year, christmas was being celebrated at our family cottage in point roberts, washington; though the cottage has been in our family for more than twenty-five years, we have never spent a christmas there!! though the bulk of our familiar decorations remained packed away in storage, though the tree was artificial [another first], and the christmas village my dad and i collected together stay snug in their boxes, there was familiarity all around as i spent time basking in the magic of the season amongst my family and best friends.

here are a few photos from my time at home.

grandpa gives maxwell a bath [my parents were babysitting my nephew when i first arrived home!!].

maxwell playing with aunty shannon-may's shoes, before aunty shannon-may uses maxwell's curiosity for here photographic gain!!

grandpa puts together maxwell's christmas present from santa!!

my beautiful friend cathy as we enjoyed a fireside chat in her lovely home, and reflected on ann voskamps wise words of gratitude.

i attended my cousin's children's christmas pageant. the theme was "on our way to bethlehem" and it had the children singing different carols and songs associated with places the sheperds visited on their way to bethleham to visit the baby Jesus. neither ella nor ben were too happy to participate. every parent had a camera... and on their way to bethleham, the shepeards stop in, las vegas?

breakfast with sam and megan at cafe medina. lavender lattes, la sante breakfast and great conversation. the best morning ever!

a parade of christmas trees and gingerbread lane: a couple of traditional christmas displays in vancouver hotels.

my beautiful mother!

christmas morning was a lot of firsts for wee maxwell. first christmas presents, first french toast [the adults had french toast made with cinnamon buns!!!], first red fire truck, first chocolate chip cookie...

i gave my brothers an east coast treat of lobster for christmas [along with the traditional months worth of my chocolate chip cookies!]. yes, i lugged across the country more than ten pounds of lobster across the country. it was caught, cooked and frozen right before i packed it into a cooler and carried it onto the plane with me!! i love the expression on my brother marshall's face when he realized what was what!!

my parents are headed to australia for the month of march. a first for them! as a gift to my dad, i put together a little "australia preparedness" package for him, complete with all three crocodile dundee movies, a collection of figurines of popular australian animals and snakes [so he could become familiar with the beasts to avoid], a book on the language and culture of australia, some self tanning lotion so that his winter-white canadian skin wouldn't stand out too much, and a package of tim tams and a promise to teach him how to tim tam slam!! here are may parents attempting to slam some tim tams!!

i took my mom to see the vancouver art club's production of "blood brothers" performing at the grandville island theatre. i had seen the london production of this musical when i was sixteen and visiting england. i fell in love with the music and brought a tape home with me. when i heard that the arts club was performing this i knew i had to take my mom, who shared my love for the music!!! we came home and dug out the old tape!!