Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning around our house is much calmer than it used to be, although we did have an overnight visitor this year (Maddy's best friend Abby). We were all up at a reasonable time and opened presents in an orderly fashion.

Eric got a number of bottles and a great leather messenger bag.

Wendy got an infinity scarf, hot chocolate, and several hugs from the boys.

 

 Adam was happy to get a video camera to mount on his motorcycle helmet and a torque wrench.

Parker got lots of accessories for his car and a nice robe that fits him. He could not figure out what the silver cylindrical device was for (originally thought it was a pen) - even when the 'pressure gauge' was pulled out of one end, he still had no idea.  We will probably tell him later...

Maddy and Abby got some chewing materials. Here, Maddy licks her lips after tasting her new grey rat. Both dogs remained in the middle of the action all morning.

More photos to come - we will go to Wendy's mom's later today then to watch Rogue One: Star Wars later this evening.

Quietest Christmas since 1995!

This has been the quietest Christmas that we have had since around 1995 (the Christmas before Adam was born). How did we do it?

We got rid of the kids!

This Christmas, Adam and Parker travelled with their grandmother to Charlotte, North Carolina, to visit Wendy's brother and his family. Wendy had to work over the holidays and I was not sure how much time I would be able to take, so Wendy and I stayed home. 

Seidlitz family 2015

We did write our annual Christmas letter but are in the process of emailing it out. If you haven't received yours yet, here is a link where you can download it as a pdf.

 https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwZyqom6DVjOWEtqaHZwY2ZkT2c


With the kids leaving Dec. 23rd, we had to plan our Christmas celebrations for the weekend before the big date. We opened presents and had a big turkey dinner with our friends and family. Here are some shots from our Christmas.

Christmas "morning"

Parker is eager for his birthday to come in 2016! He also got a gaming computer.

Adam is interested in getting a motorcycle

We thought this shirt was appropriate - yes, bushy

Maddy got some Yak cheese.  Yes, it really is Yak cheese.

Marion got a new vase

Wendy got a new iPad

I got a silver chain (a wheat chain)

I also got a case for my watches and some Cessna 172s

Money for his trip!

Early Christmas dinner 2015

With all the Christmas stuff out of the way early, it was time to send the kids packing. After a too long drive down to Buffalo airport, off they went with Marion to the warmer climate down south.

Wendy and I were able to do all sorts of things that we normally would not do over the next week or so. We started by going over to Melanie and Murray's to do puzzles (OK, not what you would expect for our first night of "freedom"), then back the next day for a turkey dinner.

Christmas day itself was started with a luxurious sleep in late thing (until Maddy needed to go out) and the rest of the day was spent doing non-Christmas like things. If you are on Facebook, you may have seen some of these pictures, but I'll repeat them here for you below.

Yes, I needed to trim the lawn Christmas day!! 

We went for a 5.5 km hike in the very warm (for December) weather.

We went to see Star Wars (in 3D with motion-controlled seats)!

I ended Christmas day with some Calvados (Normandy apple brandy)

It was a great day, but we had to get up reasonably early the next morning - we wanted to go Boxing Day shopping! We headed down toward Niagara Falls and shopped at both the new Niagara Outlet Collection and the Pen Centre. It was an absolute zoo with almost no parking anywhere, but we got through it and can say that we have done it. We won't need to do it again next year (the deals were not that great).  After the shopping and lunch out (A & W - we don't have a lot of imagination...), we went all the way to the Falls and went for several hours at the Fallsview Casino.  We only spent $15 (but more than that on parking), but it was fun.

At Fallsview Casino

To wrap up our time away from the kids, we took one day as a pajama day - stayed in PJs the whole day and just puttered around the house. We went to dinner at a great tapas restaurant in Hamilton (Rapscallion) one night, then went to our neighbour and friends' place to play Mahjong (last night).

Mahjong game at Heather and JP's!

Today it is back to real life and back to the Buffalo airport for me to pick up Marion and the kids. Since it is New Year's eve, we are going to head over at Mel and Murray's for dinner (hoping she doesn't get called in to the hospital), we will ring in the new year, Wendy will drive home, then we will go to bed exhausted.

This kid-less thing is exhausting!

Happy New Year everyone.

Spring has sprung!!!!....err, Merry Christmas...

After the stockings were stuffed on Christmas eve, I glanced at the thermometer before heading to bed. I don't think we have seen a Christmas eve temperature of 10.5 C before!

10.5 C on Christmas eve? Come on... this is Canada!

That clinched it. It was guaranteed to be a green Christmas this year. I sure hope we won't have to get out the lawnmower again. 

Haven't been posting much lately, but now I have the time off to putter on the computer and do a little stained glass. Below is a piece that I made for Wendy after we sold one to a good stained glass customer a few days before. 

Finished two of these just before Christmas

The next piece we are working on will be a large transom window for our friends. When I say large, I mean 64 inches wide.  It will take some time but we have designed the pattern and already have all the glass. Will post some photos when it is done.

Christmas itself this year has been a whirlwind. Although Wendy and I are both off until the new year, there was always something to do. Now that Christmas is over, things have slowed to a crawl and it is sometimes a little to quiet for us. 

Christmas tree 2014

Stockings all filled Christmas eve

Parker trying to keep his eyes open when my flash goes off...

...Adam trying not to have any expression at all...

...and Stanley, who does not mind smiling!

We opened presents in the morning at our house then packed up at 10:30 and did the same at Wendy's parents. Round 2 begins...

Maddy received a bone - seems to just be compressed dog food

Stanley and Wendy opening presents

Parker handed out presents to everyone

Adam didn't get much, except a car.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Adam didn't get as much as he usually does for Christmas because he will be getting his grandfather's car when he upgrades in the next few months. Adam had to do a long and involved treasure hunt and eventually got the news that his new GPS and bumper sticker would not really need to be installed in Wendy's car. 

Here is a link to an auto generated movie that Google made of Adam's treasure hunt. 

After a short time at home for some cooking and a nap, Adam drove us up to Mel and Murray's for more presents and a big Christmas dinner. Here is round 3...

I got some scotch glasses to go with some good scotch

Murray also got some liquids

Parker really wanted white hot chocolate - he got enough to last a year or two

Adam got Advanced Scuba lessons on the island of Roatan (in February)

Everyone got into the action!

As with every year, Wendy got a Coca Cola item!

Turkey dinner with family

Murray, the chef

More pictures to follow as the holidays continue!