A Christmas to Remember

I have to say that I don't think I can recall ever having a Christmas such as the one we have just experienced.

We spent a busy, but great week with Steve's parents, Sherry & Dennis, as we moved in and got our new house in order. We had an evening of 'Christmas' with them with the turkey dinner and gift opening as well. The boys have had a blast playing with their remote control cars, digital cameras and tools. The boys also opened gifts from Auntie Jie, which included mini Tonka Trucks with haulers, beautiful hoodies and t-shirts and a book called 'Three Stories of Three - Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Three Little Pigs'.

A few days later, Ronan, Suzanne, Isabelle and Catriona arrived from Boston for the O'Hagan Family Christmas of 2007. Keegan, Josh & Connolly had a great time catching up with their big cousin after 18 months, and meeting their newest cousin, Catriona, for the first time. We went to the Christmas Eve service at my parent's church and then had the very traditional Christmas Eve dinner of pizza and wine!!

Christmas Day was not too hectic. My mum came over early to get things cooking and by 5:30pm, we were all sitting down to a very yummy Christmas dinner with turkey, ham and all the trimmings. We did our gift exchanges before and after dinner. Before dinner, the boys exchanged gifts with Mama Tricia & Papa Se. Keegan, Josh & Connolly each got their own Tonka Truck, the ones big enough to sit on and ride. After dinner, the boys gave Isabelle and Catriona their gifts - a digital camera for Isabelle and an alphabet drum for Catriona - and the boys were given beautiful sweaters from Uncle Ronan, Auntie Suzanne and the girls.

Unfortunately, despite the fun times being had on Christmas Day, it was the beginning of the holidays to remember. Around Noon on Christmas Day, Catriona began throwing up and by 8:30pm, I was leading Ronan & Suzanne to the Alberta Children's Hospital to have Catriona checked out at Emergency. There is a GI bug going around Calgary right now and many of the children brought into the ACH in the past month have been there because of it. But it's not only affecting children.

Not only was Catriona sick on Christmas Day, but so was my mum. Then on Boxing Day, it was Suzanne and Connolly's turn. December 27th, Ronan and I decided we would get in on the 'fun' and finally, today, December 28th, Isabelle and Josh would have a go. Out of the 11 of us, only 3 have escaped...so far!! Fingers crossed Steve, Keegan and my dad won't have to be huddled up to the toilet for 24 hours!

The worst part about all of us being sick was that we had to cancel our much anticipated trip to West Edmonton Mall for Friday and Saturday. We were really looking forward to taking the kids to the amusement park and most especially, taking them skating for the first time, but it was not meant to be this Christmas.

Despite the disappointment, we don't plan on it getting us down too much. We're going to make the best of the few days we have left with Ronan, Suzanne, Isabelle and Catriona here and get in as many family activities as we can. I believe a trip to Banff to soak in the hot springs is in the cards for Saturday or Sunday.

And as far as I'm concerned, who cares if we're in Edmonton, in Banff, or hanging out at our house listening to music, snacking on some food and sipping on some good wine, as long as we are all together.

For the pictures of our wonderful Christmas holidays...check them out HERE.

UPDATE: Within an hour of writing the blog above, Keegan felt it was his turn to enter the realm of the GI bug and was sick all over our bed. We bathed him and gave him some tylenol, which perked him up immediately. He even came swimming with us when we went with Ronan, Suzanne, Isabelle and Catriona.

When it was bedtime, Keegan seemed perfectly fine, but alas, I was up in the wee hours of the morning tending to him just seconds after he woke me by shouting 'bath, bath'. I knew immediately he had been or was going to be sick, so I raced across the hall to get him. He made it to just outside the bathroom door and hit the carpet perfectly, not an ounce of throw-up on the easy-to-clean linolium!! LOL A quick change of pj's, a spoonful of tylenol, milk replaced with apple juice/water and he was back in bed to sleep until 8:00am.

At 10:00am, we were on our way to Banff for the day with Ronan, Suzanne and the girls. We spent some time soaking in the hot springs and then we went to mum & dad's (who were spending the day by themselves at home) favourite restaurant 'Melissa's' for a yummy lunch. It was a fun, but tiring day for all.

Don't forget to check the picutres from our Christmas 2007 (minus Banff pics, cause we didn't take any!!) - the link is in the original blog above...