Although it wasn't perfect it sure was picture perfect

I'm a bit late with this post, however better late than never.  Time at home was spent in real time, rather than virtual :)

To steal from the wise words of a fellow blogger (hi Lara) our Christmas this year was 'a real Christmas'.  Real as in not perfect because as Lara stated, not even Norman Rockwell could have had a Norman Rockwell Christmas every year.

(One of the most perfect photos of our Christmas at home) 

For few days at my mom's there were ten people, two big labs and a cat.  In short it was crazy hectic at times.  We had loads of food and drink and as with any house with that many people crammed into it, some tantrums. Which were ironically not thrown by the charismatic three year old in our midst.

My husband wasn't feeling very well the first week out there and despite feeling this way in a full house, I believe he handled himself with decorum and tact and I was proud to have him with me.  At one point I did take him to a hotel for some rest and privacy, which he desperately needed and I headed back to my parents house for an afternoon of cookie decorating and other activities which were a lot of fun and really put us in the Christmas spirit:

Almost as many cookies were being consumed as decorated, as it should be.

Can you blame him? 

I'm just feeling so blessed that I was able to go home to my mother's house for Christmas with my husband; we had a white Christmas surrounded by the people I spend a lot of the year missing.

Here are a few bunch of pictures that were captured over the holidays

Uncle Reg fetching in the perfect tree :)

Sisters

Christmas Eve jigging

Cuddles

The Christmas Eve Feast 

(Christmas is about eating lots of food together in many homes, not just ours)

 Happy to see each other :) 

Mum and Uncle Reg trying out the pretty hair decorations 

Christmas morning walk in the snow

post Christmas dinner antics 

We enjoyed a couple of outdoor activities as well:

Stacy & Andy hitting the bunny hill at Ski Martock (this experience really necessitates it own post!)

(Me with my cousins Wayne and Jen)

And of course we had to try out the Oval, a free ice-skating rink in the centre of the city...

(Me, Stacy and Paula - baby it was cold outside that day!)

I'm going to again plagiarise someone else with a simplified version of a quote I recently read and choose to remember: 'Although life can be a series of disastrous and painful moments that can break your heart, in between those moments you savour, savour, savour.'  

Such as this moment, that I adored (I can't find the picture with my mother in it, but she was there):

And savour our time together is exactly what I did this Christmas past.  At times it was like something out of a Christmas film (both the good and not so good) and although it wasn't the perfect ending some had hoped for, me and my husband had a lot of fun at home with my family and I was so happy to be able to be with my mother and sister who have been waiting for a family Christmas for years.