Christmas/New Year in the Laurentians

Every year we make the trek to the Laurentians, specifically Ste. Sauveur or Ste Adele.  It's always an exciting time for us, and now that we have the kids it is even more fun because the cousins get to play with each other. There is nothing more exciting than seeing the cousins play with each other. They rarely get a chance during the year, as Nico and Melo live in Moncton, and Audrey and Matty leave in Ste Adele. But always manage the 3 hour drive and the New Brunswick clan make the 14 hour to grandmaman and grandpapa's house, just so we could all be together.  This was a big Christmas of "firsts".

 Obviously, it was Clara's first Christmas in Quebec. We managed the road trip really well. She slept for all of it!  Woohoo!  Papa started to make big plans about the next road trip, but I told him that we just got lucky. hahahhaa.  We packed up and left early Saturday morning, leaving Lola, Lolo, and Tita Melissa still in Ottawa.  We left right after breakfast with our fully packed car. First stop was Starbucks for the journey.  The kids were fully equipped with books, toys, and the new DVD player they got for Christmas. We turned it on, and "The Sound of Music" played in the background while Clara slept. It's hard to believe the this time last year, we were excited about William's first Christmas with the family. And here we are, with Clara #3. Just an unbelievable blessing.


We got to the Laurentians by noon and had to drop off our LOAD first at grandmaman's house. Then we headed to Marc's place for lunch.  It was a yummy "fire pit" bbq with hamburgers. It was delicious. 

Clara got to meet her other cousins for the first time. And...William got to open a birthday gift (it just never ends hahaha).

It was time to catch up and relax from our road trip.  After lunch, the kids got to play a bit then it was time to head back to grandmaman's house for a quick nap. 

That night was our "Savard Christmas". This meant traditional Savard holiday meal = turkey, ragout, toutiere, mashed potatoes. YUM!  And..the ever growing "opening of presents".  It was going to be a long night.  The nap was much needed...for everyone. 

We were still napping as the family starting to arrive.  We even had to wake up poor Olivia from her slumber.  We quickly got changed and went downstairs and the festivities began.  First we started with champagne to kick off the night, and then the ancy kids wanted to go down and start opening up the gifts. 

William I think was the most excited. This year he finally gets the opening of gifts. Unfortunately, every present there was supposedly belongs to him.  The word "Open? Mine?" started. Sigh. It was a bit hard for him to contain himself. ahhahahha. Olivia was just excited to see Melo open her gift from us.  She kept going into the bag to find her gift.  As usual, the kids got spoiled rotten from toys to gifts. Martin and I looked at each other and sighed because it would be another loaded up trip back home.  

After opening the gifts, we went upstairs to have a wonderful Christmas meal.  I know the kids didn't eat much as they were either too excited about playing with their gifts OR ate too much appetizers.  The quickly left the table and went to the basement to start playing. This allowed all the adults to enjoy their meal in some peace.  The night proved to be very relaxing and everyone was worn out from all the excitement. The kids were easy to put down (in their new pjs).  Tomorrow would be another busy day.