Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

There are always ups and downs over Christmas, unfortunately most of the downs have to do with the kid's behaviour. It's a difficult time of year to be dealing with all the outbursts, tantrums and downright disrespectful behaviour during the holidays. We'd like to think that the threat of Santa not visiting is enough to curb their behaviour, but it's not. Perhaps it's all the excitement and build-up over the holidays as well. The holidays are always filled with lots of events, we try to do lots of things to keep up with tradition. Tracey and I hope that one day the kids will appreciate all our effort. This year we added to more things to the Christmas bucket list including Canyon Lights at the Capilano Suspension Bridge and the Peak of Vancouver at Grouse Mountain.

Christmas concerts

We had to split the Christmas concert viewing this year into two, as Melody did the primary one and Malcolm now being in grade 4 was in the intermediate one. It's always such a frenzy at the primary concert with parents jockeying for position to get their best shots with their phones and tablets! Both kids did really well, it's hard to imagine next year that Malcolm will be leading the school as a fifth grader because next year his school will be moving to a middle school system. The kids did well in their performances. Grandma even continued the tradition and went to both concerts!

Burnaby Village Museum with the Lees.

As part of the annual bucket list we made it to the Burnaby Village museum with the Lee family. The rain cleared just in time for us to enjoy our visit there. Even though we have gone to the museum a number of times, we saw an exhibit that we haven't seen before. Thankful to the hospitality of the Lee family as they hosted pizza dinner afterwards.

Christmas Day

The kids woke up a little past 7am, it's really all we could ask for. Malcolm actually waited another 40 minutes for Melody to wake up to open their stockings. I have to say the kids were both really good this year. They savored the moment and seemed thankful for the gifts they received. Santa was very generous this year, despite Tracey and Roger's move to more of a scaled back Christmas. Here are some pictures:

Christmas et al...

It has been a great Christmas holiday so far. The kids have been very good and everyone has been in good spirits. We've had a few outings and parties to celebrate the holiday season.

 Here are some pictures: Auntie Jen's 40th. Burnaby Village Museum Htan family Christmas Eve

Christmas activities...

The family had a very nice time at the Stanley Park Train, it is certainly a well-established Christmas tradition now. They went with Auntie Shannon, Uncle Calvin, Jalyn, Jada, Wes, Claire, Noah, Candace and Mike. It's probably been the busiest they've ever seen, by the time they got there after dinner at White Spot, the line was already forming. They had a bit of a scare once they got to the trains too. I guess that Melody's cold was affecting her tummy and lucky that they got to a bathroom in time. In fact, she had to go again just before they boarded, so Roger ran her to the toilet in a hurry. Poor little thing, as you can see from the pictures she wasn't feeling all that great, but she toughed it out. The kids also had their Christmas concert last night. They both did very well. Lots of cute songs to put you in the Christmas spirit. Anyway here are some pics: