A Connolly Christmas!

Due to the lack of recent posts, you can see what a busy Christmas season we had this year! We seemed to skip from one event/party to the next, but we also had lots of family time, and plenty of days where we slept in until 9 - which was wonderful! Peter's brother Andrew arrived on the 16th and stayed until the 29th, which means we also were able to get some shopping done in Edmonton on the days we went to the airport - that is always a good thing!

The first event of the season was the Kids Christmas party at the Officers Mess. Ainsley got to decorate a cookie, make a craft, meet Santa (whom she also received a present from), and she won a doorprize too! It was quite crowded so it was hard to take a lot of photos of her, but here she is in the movie area where they were showing 'Shrek the Halls' - as you can see, she isn't shy!




Ainsley also helped me clean up the house after we had about 50 or so people over on the 20th for a B-I-G Christmas party! But, of all the events this holiday, we don't have any pictures from that night!



The next event was a sleigh ride on Dec. 19th. It was a beautiful day outside and we were taken out into the woods and got to sit out by a nice warm fire - it was the most perfect winter day to be outside. Our friend Vicki accompanied Ainsley on the 'kids only' sleigh ride while the rest of us enjoyed the fire and hot chocolate : )






A few days after the sleigh ride we finally got around to some Christmas baking. We toned it down this year and only made holiday cookies, gingerbread men and chocolate balls (most of which were eaten by Andrew!)









On Christmas morning we opened presents and Skyped with both sets of parents. Ainsley really enjoyed unwrapping gifts this year and it didn't take her long to figure out that there was good stuff inside those packages! Ainsley got hungry and couldn't wait to eat our big feast, so she had a snack first ; )





For dinner on Christmas day we were invited to our friends house - Krista and Corbin Ralph and their adorable baby Katie. They are fairly new to Cold Lake, and all of their family live far away also. Our other 'family-less' friends, Jon and Tanya Wiseman joined us for the turkey feast.








And with the exception of a few days, the weather was really nice outside. We discovered a small ice rink that someone had cleared just in behind our house. In the summer, this area is just a big rain reservoir. Peter wanted to practice his skating/hockey skills so he can start playing hockey at work. There is also a small hill to toboggan on so we took advantage of that and introduced Ainsley to a Canadian winter tradition : )






And last but not least, a few photos of Ainsley in her other Christmas dress. The first one she wore on Christmas Day and was from my Mom. But, Ainsleys' auntie Sharon also sent a red velvet dress with black polka dots that Ainsley wore to church just after Christmas. Isn't she beautiful?!



We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year!

Team PM & Ainsley