SANTA CAME
TO BRING JOY & GOOD WISHES ...
Christmas Canada Eve Dinner Another visit with Santa has come and gone but the great thing about Christmas is, if you believe, if you truly believe, then he will never really be gone. The magic & spirit of the season - can and will - last throughout the year! It's everywhere for anyone who cares to seek it out ...
Mike & I
After the pass being closed for several days Katy & Cory finally
made it home and we were very grateful for that! Cory usually takes
SR84 home from school which traces the Columbia Gorge along the
Washington / Oregon border but it was still closed when they
left Pullman due to extreme weather conditions and so he followed Katy
home over Snoqualmie Pass.

Katy, Cory & Mike
Cory really wanted to get home and see his Mom and so he decided that he was going to try and head down to Portland after dinner with us. We had a yummy prime rib dinner [Surprise - I made it] and then Cory left and we began our traditional Christmas Canada Eve.
Christmas Canada Eve is a tradition we started about 5
years ago. Crossing the border has become so much stickier and
dragging all our gifts for each other all the way to Canada and then
back seemed silly ... so now we celebrate Christmas Canada Eve at home
the night before we leave for Canada with dinner & our gift opening.
Christmas Wish Jar
Another Christmas Canada Eve tradition that we started is our Christmas Wish Jar (above). Before dinner we read aloud the Gratefuls, Wishes & Goals we each made last year at our Christmas Canada Eve dinner and then we all write one thing we were Grateful for this year, one Wish for the each other, one Goal for ourselves for next year . Cory actually took part in our Wish Jar this year. We had a good laugh when Mike said it was a good thing Katy didn't wish for a new Boyfriend last year ... Ha!
About an hour after Cory had opened his gifts and left to head down to Portland - just as we'd finished cleaning up the dishes and settled down to open our presents - he called and said he would had to come back because of the extremely icy roads - they were like a sheet of glass! Unable to drive home he
ended up sleeping over and leaving early the next morning. I know he was disappointed to not make it home ... but better safe than sorry and HEY 'the more the merrier' RIGHT!
Katy & her new Kitchen Aid
Katy's favorite gift this year - her Blue Kitchen-Aid from Grandma Stetar! Kate enjoys cooking and so she was so excited to receive this SURPRISE from Grandma! She also got the Ice Cream attachment with it and was REALLY excited about that. She was really anxious to use it and so she used the next morning to make scrambled eggs for Cory before he left ...
SANTA CAME AGAIN
TO BRING MORE JOY & GOOD WISHES ...
The next morning after Cory had left we packed up and headed up to Canada. With all the snow that had been falling for days both in Seattle and all the way up to Chilliwack we were worried but the drive proved not too bad.
Cathy, Me, Mom & Sandra
With this Christmas being one of the snowiest of my lifetime Christmasw inside felt much like Chrismtas outside - insulated, cozy, quiet & very serene! On Christmas Eve day at Mom & Dad's we were supposed to have a family get together
but it snowed and it snowed and it snowed and it snowed ... until it had snowed us out of our get
together. Sarah, Todd and the kids and Jenny & Jay and the kids were all housebound due to the snow but Cathy, Wayne, Sandra, Brent & the kids all lived close enough to make it over. We had a very nice time albeit quieter than we had expected!
Dad & Aidan
Still, the day was fun & full of Merry! The kids played , opened parcels and everyone visited. Over the years I have found Christmas doesn't need to be big, noisy or grand to be overflowing with Good Cheer and Love - it just need to spent with people who bring you joy & good wishes -

Aidan and Claire spreading laughter & joy
Later in the evening we laid out the traditional SANTA & REINDEER FEAST before heading off to bed.
AND AGAIN ... SANTA CAME
BRINGING JOY & GOOD WISHES ...

Stocking were filled with fun ...
Aidan, Me, Mom & Kate
I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as I did ..
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"
- Longfellow -