Christmas 08 - part 3

December 26th we shovelled and ice-picked our way out of our driveway,* heading north to Tsawwassen, BC for part 3 of our annual Christmas celebration. Just outside of Bellingham a blizzard hit and road conditions significantly worsened. After watching a car spin itself across the two lane highway barely missing a major collision, we began to feel like the fellowship of the ring on the snowy slopes of Caradhras -- maybe we aren't supposed to go...

In the end we made it there in one piece and in time to have a few hours with both of Brian's siblings' families, his parents and grandmother.

Cousins: Noah Bryerton, Magnolia Rush, Jamie Rush, Ella Bryerton

I thought the blurriness of this next picture was fitting. It was a frenzy of activity as presents were opened, played with, and traded in a matter of minutes. I missed most of what happened during that period trying to keep Magnolia from eating discarded wrapping paper or opening someone else's gift.

The rest of the evening was filled with a yummy ham dinner with the traditional Ukrainian side dish of cabbage rolls, watching the Canucks' hockey game, playing Wii during intermissions, and Brian's favorite dessert, Mud Pie.

Saturday, my sister-in-law, Melanie and I headed to the mall for some kid-free shopping time. Brian and his brother Kevin, took care of the girls. Not quite a year apart, they are about the same size. They had a fun time exploring Grandma Rush's house and learning to share their Christmas toys. When Magnolia was down for a nap, Jamie would go around the house asking for Maggie ("Monnie?").

Grandma Rush provided some of the day's entertainment by building Jamie a snowman ("No-man!") just outside the family room window.

The visit ended with a fun game of Agricola followed by a discussion as to the truth about Brian's vibrating ears.

We did get a little payback for our generosity with the stomach flu; Magnolia came home with her cousin Jamie's cold.

*Footnote: our very steep driveway is heated and works very well. However, in order to avoid backing into our busy street we tried to turn around in an unheated portion. Bad idea.