Our Many Christmas Dinners

Christmas Dinner at Karen and Eileen’s

This year we were fortunate to have three Christmas dinners. The first occurred early December in Ottawa when we visited Brian and Joanna in their new home. As you can see in the photo at the bottom of the page Brian prepared a 'Beer Chicken' for us where the chicken sat on a can of good Keith's beer. This was our first experience with  'Beer Chicken'. To my surprise it was really delicious and the company was awesome - can't wait for a return visit.

Prior to our next Christmas dinner the whole extended family was invited to Doug and Judy Cameron's for a Christmas cocktail party at their newly renovated condo overlooking Bedford basin. In addition to the Francis clan, Marie's ex Robert, Karen and Eileen were able to join us.

Christmas Dinner with Brian and Joanna	Brian Treated us to a Beer-Can Turkey

Our next Christmas dinner was more traditional. Karen hosted us along with Karen's father, Robert Oldham, Bill and Josie Earle and Katie and George Maclean. Marie prepared a butterball turkey, Josie brought the vegetables, Katie brought the appetizers and Karen cooked the potatoes. It was a real group effort. As you can see in the photo to the right it was quite the Christmas spread.

The last Christmas dinner this year was hosted by Thomas and Heather Francis and their three boys at their home in Prospect. Thomas cooked the turkey and Marie and Heather handled the rest. It was a great Christmas dinner with close family as you can see in these photos.

Doug and Judy’s Christmas Party	Our New Friend Katherine

Also documented on this page are time we spent with six year old Emile and her sister Katherine, age two, who Heather cared for while their mother was working. The kids took to us right away which is unusual since they are both known to be shy and Katherine rarely talks when someone she doesn't know is in the room. We took the time to do some crafts with the girls and they really enjoyed their time with us.  The girls always called Marie 'Nan' since they heard the boys using this term all of the time. One day when they were leaving Emile yelled out; "Goodbye Jim",  "Goodbye Nan" which took Heather by surprise since she was always the one to receive this parting comment and she was completely ignored.

Brian and Joanna’s Christmas Visit	My new Friend Katherine Tells me a Joke