Christmas, Boxing Day and a Hockey Tournament

What a crazy past few days!  I’ve been off work since last Thursday and it feels like I’m just now able to sit down and relax.  PHEW!  Christmas Day, shopping in T.O on Boxing Day plus a get together at a friend’s place and a hockey tournament on Monday & Tuesday.  All of it was so much fun that being beat out is SO worth it!  I hope everyone had a FABULOUS Christmas Day!!   We spent the day split between our place and my parents place.  We started with gifts here:   Santa was mighty generous to us this year, but the BEST part of Christmas morning for me is watching my kids dive into all their gifts.  DS thought that air hockey table was the best thing ever.  LOL  After presents at my place we did presents at the ‘rents:
**Side note—in retrospect, Vampire’s Suck probably wasn’t the most age appropriate movie for her.  DOH!** Next was our traditional brunch which always includes Dad’s fresh salami which is still not cured enough to eat raw.  In years past Mom use to fry it with tomato paste, but now we cook it in the oven which is slightly more healthy.  ;)  My sister also scrambled 2 dozen eggs for the bunch of us!   Here’s my plate:
I had planned to do Jillian’s Michael’s Shred it with Weights DVD when we got home but my hubby and I decided to take advantage of the clear skies and went for a 3 mile walk instead….kid free.  It was great.  I squeezed some grapes in at this point for a snack: Then it was back to my parents for dinner!  Mom put on an awesome spread; turkey, stuffing, cheesy mashed potatoes, peas, broccoli, homemade cranberry sauce, buns….her broccoli was even shaped like a Christmas tree!
I made sure to get some of everything, extra stuffing/half a bun! And dessert was a pumpkin cheesecake AND Mom’s signature Tiramisu.  I shared some cheesecake with DD and dove right into a decadent piece of Tiramisu! Anytime we have turkey at dinner DS devours a leg.  Nobody ever thinks he’ll finish it but he always does.  Here’s the proof:
I think we rolled home!  LOL  But not before DS and my sister duked it out over their favourite hockey teams!
My bestie has been in town for the holiday’s and called bright and early on Boxing Day to see if DD and  I wanted to do some shopping in Toronto.  Hell ya!!  We knew the mall we were going to would be insane and it was, but Lululemon is there so we didn’t care!  I did care when amidst the craziness of trying to find a parking spot DD spotted a cat that had been left in a vehicle in very cold temps; Who does that?  Even if the poor thing likes car rides, it certainly did not like the commotion of the parking lot.  Sheesh!  But back to shopping…we found some pretty good deals!  Lululemon was definitely the highlight, though.  Even with the 20 minutes wait just to get into the store.  I took some pics in the dressing room of what I bought,   

I also got another pair of very cozy pants, plus a pair for DD as part of her Christmas presents.  The above sweater kept me very warm on day one of the hockey tournament!  We stopped briefly for a quick bite to eat.  I went with a mushroom panini and a freshly squeezed cup of mango juice: We made it back home in time for a quick make up refresh before heading over to our friend’s place for a get together.  No photos from there, but it was such a fun night!  We caught up with old friends and made some new ones while enjoying a few drinks.   It had to be an earlier night than we would’ve liked because we had a 6am wake up call for the first hockey game of 3, plus a skills competition in 2 days.   These are some photos that one of the Dad’s took over the course of the tournament: And I’ll post this quick video from the soot out that DS participated in, too!!

He had such a blast!!!  HAHA!  The first day of the tournament the whole team went out for breakfast.  I ordered a yogurt parfait/bagel and just have to post a photo of the presentation of it because it was just so cool!
And last, but not least, some other eats from the past few days that have been pretty fabulous, too: Well, I’m off now to catch up on all your awesome blogs!  I can’t wait to see how everyone has spent the holidays…
Bye for now!!

Pre Christmas Post

Happy Thursday, all!!  I wanted to be sure to get a post up before the holiday frenzy commences at my place.  I’m sure many of you are plenty busy already, right??  I’m hoping that each and every one of you has family/loved ones to spend the holidays with this year.  Let me know what your plans are, K?!

Amidst the busyness that has been this week we managed to have some fun on Tuesday night!  The fam and I trekked to Toronto for a World Junior hockey game.  Canada vs Sweden, to be exact.   What a great time!  I had never been to the Air Canada Centre before so I was pretty stoked.  Besides that, I just LOVE downtown T.O. so any time I’m there is a happy time for me.  LOL  My camera died part way through, but here are some photos that I took when we arrived:
Needless to say it was a late night and getting out of bed yesterday was NOT easy.  Especially when everyone else was home and still tucked in.  Boo!  I believe I left off Sunday just as we were leaving for DS’s hockey team’s Christmas party.  What a fun afternoon that was!  One of the Dad’s is the manager of a hotel so the party was held there.  They boys spent the afternoon playing mini sticks and swimming while the parents took advantage of a free bar and much conversation.  This, my friends, is as close to a beach as I’m gonna get this year!
 
Steamy hotel pool, here I come!!  LOL There was also a great hot buffet served for a late lunch and a present exchange for the boys.    A great way for the boys to spend some time together OFF the ice, to be sure!  :)  Here’s DS mid fun:
Let’s see….Monday was a blissfully free night spent on the couch although I probably should’ve been wrapping presents.  Wednesday DS was supposed to have a hockey game but the out of town team was a no show.  Apparently they thought the game was tonight.  So it turned into a practice instead.  I came home with DD and sat on the couch.  Should’ve wrapped presents.  Are we seeing a trend here?  LOL  So, last night’s game DID happen tonight and I WILL be wrapping presents just as soon as my monkey’s go to sleep.  In other weekly news, DD went to the movies this afternoon.  With a boy.  GULP!  In actuality, I think it’s pretty cool.  They’ve been friends since they were 5 and I don’t really want to mar that notion by making a big deal out of nothing.  My hubby, on the other hand, had a slightly more difficult time with it.  :)  I think he’s feeling a little bit of “what goes around comes around”, if ya know what I mean!  HAHA! 
I’ve still been eating fast meals, mostly on the run.  Here’s what I’ve got to show for it, Seeing as I have the next week off I’m hoping to post some reviews that are LONG over due.  You can look forward to my thoughts on Enjoy Life Foods Boom Bars, Olivado Avocado Oil, a waffle maker, Rain Forest Tuna & Salmon and some pretty tasty candy canes!  Until then I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  I’ll leave you with a photo of me and the kids from last week: Bye for now!!