Day 6: Buy Our Christmas Tree

We are a "real tree" family...although Jeff hates finding pine needles stuck in the baseboards in the middle of the summer! Jeff also has this plan every year to just go pick out a tree that's already wrapped up, and see what we get when we unwrap it at home. Umm, no...I don't want to risk getting a funny-looking tree!

Amanda had a good time at the tree store, although it was freezing cold and after a while she kept saying "Let's go back inside!". We found a great tree, which is currently settling in our living room. We'll post some more pictures once it's decorated, but here are some during the selection process:

Checking out the Christmas village in the store:

Day 5: Christmas Party at the Aquarium

This is the first Christmas we've been members of the Vancouver Aquarium, so we were excited to see that they throw a members-only Christmas party every year. It's apparently quite difficult to get tickets, but for once I was organized enough to put it in my calendar and call the first morning tickets were available. And surprise - we got some! Amanda was so excited when she opened up the envelope, since the Aquarium is one of her favourite places in the world. As soon as we picked her up from daycare and asked where we were going, she knew we were going to a party at the Aquarium!

The party ran from 6:30 - 9 pm, and we weren't sure whether there'd be food there (plus we were rushing there from work), so we didn't eat first. Oops - no food...well, other than hot chocolate and cookies for decorating. The hot chocolate was a big hit since Amanda had never tried it before. We checked out the displays, which is even better when there are so few people around. It's neat to see the animals at night - the belugas were floating in the water (actually they looked kind of irritated at all the noise), and the seals and sea lions were out sleeping on the rocks. We ended the evening by watching a performance of Bobs and Lolo, a local duo with some pretty great music (we have a sneaking suspicion Santa may bring some B&L CDs for Amanda's stocking).

Being awful parents, by the time we got out of there, it was around 9 pm and Amanda still hadn't eaten anything other than cookies and hot chocolate. So Wendy's it was - in downtown Vancouver at 9:30 pm. (Nancy, if you're reading this, we're so sorry!!). I guess that's what happens around the holidays - at least we don't have too many crazy nights like that. But it's worth it to see how excited she gets!

There are lots of pictures...here are a few (click on any picture to go to the Flickr page with all our "24 Days of Christmas" pics)...

Decorating a gingerbread man:

This was a great activity - they handed out small ziploc bags with a cookie, a small tube of icing, and a handful of sprinkles and smarties. Much easier (and more hygenic) than letting the kids stick their hands in bowls of candies!

Santa!


The Aquarium mascot, Bee Bop Beluga:


Catching bubbles at the Bobs and Lolo show:

Day 4: Eat Breakfast for Dinner

I knew I was going to be out at a business meeting on Monday night, so I planned something nice and easy for Jeff. One of his specialties is waffles, and Amanda can't get enough waffles! So December 4th was "eat breakfast for dinner" night.

Day 3: Watch the Tree Lighting at Town Centre

Town Centre Park, which is not far from our house, held its 2nd annual tree lighting on Sunday night. There were a lot of different booths, including food (love those little donuts!), jewelry, crafts, and other local businesses, and all the trees around Lafarge Lake are lit up. Amanda loved all the lights, although she got a little cold towards the end...despite the fact that the snow is almost gone, it's still pretty cold at night! If you're wondering why she looks like the Michelin Man, it's because she had about 17 layers of clothes on.

Day 2: Put Up Our Christmas Lights

We weren't quite sure how this was going to work since we didn't know how Amanda could really be involved in putting up the lights (or even if it would be dangerous for her to be underfoot with Jeff up a 30' ladder!). But as it turned out, she slept through almost the whole thing. When she did finally wake up, we were just putting the lights on the hedges, so she helped by holding the zip strips in her pockets and handing them out as needed. We kept all the lights off until the end so we could see the look on her face, and it was worth it!




Yes, that's a snowman on the roof! The neighbours must officially think we're nuts!


(We had to knock the foot of snow off the hedges to get the lights on, but there are still a few snow chunks showing!)

When asked what her favourite part was, Amanda said "the snowman and the lights". :)