Virgil's 1st Christmas

We decided this year we would have our Turkey dinner on Christmas Eve. Mary and Wayne were up for the holidays and we had Deanna join us as well.

We let Juliette open one present before bed.

Virgil was so excited to get his first hockey jersey from Oma and Grandpa Mark.


Juliette didn't notice her big present from Santa with the red bow, she went straight to the animal farm she got for her birthday. When we started handing her presents to open, she was on a roll and kept saying open, open!


Virgil was kicked back in his swing watching all the excitement. He loves presents!


We finally had to take the blanket off of her present to reveal the little kitchen. She went straight to work and started cooking for us.

It took her a while before she turned around so i could get a picture of her wearing her beautiful new designer dress from Grandpa Dave.

You can't say we Never give Juliette Chocolate!

We brought Virgil out of the room wearing his little Santa suit and Juliette got all excited and kept saying Santa, Santa. she wanted to put her Santa dress on.

We had a nice Christmas. we went next door to Angie's place for a big turkey luncheon . In the evening we went to Aunt Deanna's for a visit and crib game. By the end of the night Juliette didn't want to open any more presents!!

Sterling family Christmas dinner

Every year Darren's moms side of the family(about 80 relatives) rent the hall and we all get together for for dinner and gift exchange. Here is Mary with her brothers and sisters.


Santa always makes an appearance and brings all the kids a present.


Juliette luckily was the last one to receive her present from Santa, it gave her a chance to see everyone else getting presents so it wasn't soooo scary.

Virgil had no problem sitting on Santa's lap, he just hung out and chewed his fingers.

this is a picture of the youngest generation of boy cousins (excluding wolf). the future hockey dream team.

Christmas gathering at Mel & Dave's

Mel and Dave had us over for a pre-Christmas dinner while we were in Vancouver. It was nice for all of us to get together.

Your never too young to be a fan!

sisterly love

Mel and Dave put on quite the feast; they served Chicken, Ham, and all the trimmings. They even had crackers with the little hats and prizes in them.

The boys got hockey skate stockings with hand warmers for skiing. They helped Juliette open her giant drawing board, she's quite the little artist!

We all enjoyed one of Mel's fancy latte's while opening gifts. Dad got some under armour for his skiing excursions.

Juliette and Uncle Dave share a snuggle.

While we were in town we went for a little christmas visit with Grandma Juliette. we brought her a box of her favorite cheese straws. She was happy to see the kids and luckily they were on their best behavour.

Juliette's 2nd Birthday

We went down to Vancouver for Juliette's 2nd birthday party. Mom drove down with me a couple days before to help get things ready. Darren hoped on the greyhound later in the week to join us. Juliette was so excited on her birthday, we had been telling her about the party all week. when she finally saw her balloons, she would not let go of them for anything! She walked around all day with them trailing behind her.

She loved wearing her sparkly dress and would dance around putting on a show.

Joan is famous for holiday decorating, their house was perfect for entertaining. It was wonderful to have the grandparents, family and friends together for this special day.

It was nice to see Heidi, Allen, Deven and Lola looked so cute with her little Dora hair cut.

Juliette just loved playing with her big cousins.

Danny even showed us some of her cool gymnastic moves. Juliette thought it was so great she tried doing a head stand herself.

Grandpa Joe holding Virgil. It was great we had a chance to see him between trips up north.

Little Sara just loved playing with the hanging ornaments.

Juliette opened so many great presents from everyone, Including all the 2010 Olympic mascots, an animal farm that she just loves, books, clothes, a little shopping cart and a beautiful blue satin designer dress.

In between presents she patiently waited for the next one to be handed to her, balloons in lap of course.

cousins Justin and Danny reading one of her new Dora books.

Juliette had a butterfly theme party this year. Her cake was butter pecan. It took 7 hours to make, Iam getting quicker. Mom, Dad and Joan were great consultants in the construction process.

Its hard to believe that 2 years has gone by already. Juliette was happy to have a little brother to share her special day with.

Virgil passed out with all the excitement of the day.

If Juliette could have 2 wishes it would be balloons and blueberries!!

Christmas Spirit

We all went up the mountain with Bob and Doris's family to pick out our Christmas trees. It was a cold day but this didn't stop the kids from having a great time on their sleds. Virgil and i waited in the vehicle most of the time as he did not like the cold.

Getting in the Christmas spirit, I did a little baking. This gingerbread Santa's sleigh is an advent cookie calendar counting down the days till Christmas. I hope Justin and Dawson's braces hold up with these hard cookies!

Juliette couldn't wait to get in on this excitement. she decorated this beautiful snowman all by herself.

I had fun with the cookie exchange this year. There were 5 of us participating. this is such a great idea, you get all your holiday baking done and gives you an excuse to get together with friends.

Virgil's baby shower

At almost 2 months old, Virgil was the man of the hour at his shower. He showed up at Rona's ready to be snuggled by all the oowing and awing women.
It was so nice to see Haike and Wolf, who when he wasn't sleeping had a huge smile from ear to ear.

Mary Jane had a couple of thinking games prepared for us. Her teaching skills kicked in immediately! It was alot of fun and there were prizes to be won.

The kids had a blast playing together, while Virgil slept most of the time.

There were so many great gifts for Virgil, including his own Santa suit. It will make a cute picture for Christmas.

Mary made Virgil one of her beautiful turtle quilts.Yvonne snuggling with Virgil

Great Aunt Deana saving him a little dance.

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And at the end of the day, it was time to kick back in the swing and reflect, with a good thumb!