So, yeah. HOLIDAYS! Christmas Eve and the requisite decorating/eating of sugar cookies. Christmas day and the presents and the service and the TURKEY DINNER. I’m hosting it again and I can’t wait! (Seriously. I love hosting dinners/parties.)

Here’s what I’ve eked out elsewhere, if you have free time to check it out this week. (Ha!)

Over at Work It! Mom:

• Tuesday: Who does the Christmas/Hannukah/Holiday shopping in your house?
• Today: When do you open your presents?

Over at Cafe Mom:

• A Simple Holiday Appetizer

Over at The Bad Moms Club:

• Bad Moms Love To Play With Bokeh

Over at Life Made Delicious

• I sent a post in, but it’s the holidays and it’s not up, but another favorite recipe in our house is the toffee crunch bars. (Skor bits on top. Enough said.)

On my review blog:

• I still have a 15% discount for Elephoto available.
• There’s still a 30% discount code available for LiveOn Rewind.

And it wouldn’t be Christmas as casa Dykstra without sharing this photo from 2007 (!), courtesy of my dudes.

Merry Christmas to all.

Why that weekend? Because it is the Festival of Lights, or Light Up, as us locals call it. Main Street is shut down on Friday afternoon/evening so that the stores can open their doors and food vendors can set up their kiosks and the community can descend on downtown. You bundle up against the cold and you eat mini donuts and you get stopped by 782 people who want to say “HI!!!!” and your husband keeps walking because he ran out of words after the second person and you buy cotton candy and you converge in the heart of Main Street at a few minutes before 7:00 so that you can be there for the countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

Some magical elf (?) flips a switch and then all of the building exteriors, and the trees, and the signs, and everything is lit up with Christmas lights. You start moving again and get stopped again by someone else and you take your daughter to jump in the bouncy castle and you take your sons to get cotton candy and then you realize that for the first time in the eleven years (!) you’ve been coming to Light Up, they’re firing off the fireworks at a decent time.

This year was a little bit better than the usual, because they added a Saturday night event: a wine tour complete with a $10 shuttle that drove you from winery to winery for the evening. Most of the wineries close in October, but they all reopened their doors to welcome the buses (and buses and buses) of Summerlanders who were out for a fun evening to kick off the Christmas season by (having a lot of fun, and) stocking up on wine for the holiday season. We went with Matthew’s brother and his wife (We love them and try to get out every few weeks, just the four of us, without the kids in order to (eat nachos, and) catch up.) We were joined by their long-time friends who moved here this summer and whom we now consider friends as well.

We laughed so much, all night. SO MUCH. And while the wine tasting was fine and good (seriously – the wineries here are amazing), we ended the night at the Silk Scarf Winery and ordered some of their tapas and THEN MY TASTE BUDS DIED AND WENT TO HEAVEN. They only open their kitchen on weekends from June through August, so we made a reservation. For June. SEVEN MONTHS FROM NOW. The last time I made a reservation for a restaurant longer than a few days ahead was never. It’s that good, locals.

The hilarious ending to the evening was that we decided to stay and eat instead of catching the last shuttle, and figured that we’d get cabs to take us home. Then, Matthew and his brother decided to call their Dad for a ride instead. Ah, flashbacks from younger days. “Um, Dad? We’ve had a few drinks. Can you come and rescue us?”

Sunday saw me packing a lunch for after church so that we could eat (while Honey cleaned up the Sunday School stuff), and then head to see the Muppet Movie. As we were eating lunch, Emily said something that I quoted both online and offline.

“Dad is like Kermit, you and me are like Miss Piggy, Graham is like Fozzie Bear and Nathan is like Gonzo.” #nailedit

(It’s funny because it’s true.)

Have you seen the Muppet Movie yet? If you haven’t, STOP READING AND GO. RIGHT NOW. Oh, you guys. I snickered/giggled throughout the whole movie and may or may not have had something in in my eye once. Or thrice. The kids didn’t all of the jokes but they really enjoyed it. We’ll be buying it when it’s on DVD, for sure.

November is almost over (!) and Christmas is 26 days away (!!!) and the holiday event fairy has vomited all over our calendar, but the greatness of this weekend will carry me through, at least until tomorrow. Maybe even through to this weekend.

Did you folks have a good weekend? Was it your favorite?

2006 – The year of the Batmen

Those were actually pajamas. Double duty! (Duty. Heh.)

2007 – They’re Incredible

ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?

2008 – Optimus Prime (Graham), Belle and Bumblebee (Nathan)

Too awesome for words.

2009 – Ironmen and a Little Mermaid

Love, love, love.

2010 – Darth Vader (Nathan), Cinderella and Boba Fett the Storm Trooper (Graham)

Have you figured out the theme yet?

2011 – Two Ninjas and a Snow White

I look forward to their costume selection every year. I also look forward to looking back over previous years’ costumes every year because SERIOUSLY. This is awesome in action.

The weekend has been sunny and warm and we have been outside every moment that we can. I spent a good five hours in the kitchen on Saturday afternoon, and missed some sun time, but the reward was a turkey dinner with all of the trimmings. Said dinner was shared with family that we love and included great conversations and also a promise to sign up for a 10 km run (ON A MOUNTAIN) with my sister-in law. I have some training to do.

Sunday was more of The Awesome, which included the usual Easter fare.

Egg Hunting:

It (of course) included Easter photos of the kids. (There was so much more but I took over 200 photos on Sunday alone and between the fact that we were outside and then inside being tortured by the Canucks game, I’m out of time.)

Easter baskets:

Happy faces:

Laughing at Daddy:

Love:

More photos on Flickr (and more to come) (I’m baaack), and more stories to come as well. Spring is breathing new life into me.

Did you guys have a good weekend?

I’ve been sitting here, cursor blinking, trying to figure out how to write about our six nights in California. We did five days at Disneyland and one day at Universal Studios and at the end of each day I would sit down and journal about our day and list all of the rides we took and the people we saw and the things the kids said, but…how do I put that all into a blog post?

I can’t.

What I can do is tell you that after taking my kids on their first airplane ride, walking with them all over Creation for fourteen hours a day and having many random conversations while we waited in lines/walked back to our hotels is that I HAVE THE COOLEST KIDS ON THE PLANET.

Oh, sure, there were hiccups. I have an eight year old that NEVER STOPS TALKING and likes to ask, “I wonder why…” followed immediately by, “It’s probably because…” He also likes to correct me on topics that he is not anywhere close to being an expert on. Like that time he told me how he would have parked the van, had he been driving. He’s EIGHT.

I have a middle child who was my ride partner for the bulk of the time and who is the biggest lover of all time – ask him for a hug and his whole face lights up. He also has the habit, if one of his siblings is being spoken to about an attitude/behavior, of pointing out how HE didn’t say/do what they did. Dude. Nobody likes a suck-up.

And then we have the baby of the family, who is a Princess with a capital P. When she gets tired or hungry everything is so TRAGIC and I have to do BREATHING EXERCISES with her to get her to stop crying. She really is a mini-me.

Those bumps were few and far between (except for the NON-STOP TALKING) and we really did have a lot of fun. My husband cracks me up. An example:

Me: “We should create our own language so that nobody can understand us.” Him: “Sometimes you speak so fast that it’s like you already DO have your own language; I can’t understand you.” It’s funny because it’s true.

The kids charmed strangers (we got to ride in the front compartment of the monorail):

We had hilarious conversation after hilarious conversation. Have I mentioned that my kids are HILARIOUS? Like when Graham said, “”Why is Disneyland in California? Is California special or something?” Or when we were talking about the years that Matthew and I were born and Nathan said, “So…electricity was created ten years before Dad was born?”

Oh, gosh. I really can’t give any of it justice. Just know that in between the meltdowns and corrections, there was an abundance of laughter. My kids RULE.

Here are more photos, since I took 50 or so:

Graham saw this Mickey and Minnie table and asked me to take his picture.

His brother and sister followed suit, per usual.

Here are a few more of the Instagram favorites:

I’m still working on editing/uploading photos to Flickr, so check there over the next few days. I promised the kids we’d sit down and create a Disneyland photo book, which means I have been spurned on to get ‘er done.

We knew that our kids were good travelers based on the many road trips we’ve over the years, including our trip to Cannon Beach last summer. This trip kind of blew us away. There was fresh air and excitement and rides and many, many miles of walking per day, with very few complaints. We’ll definitely go back to the Land of Disney one day but before we do, we’re going to MEXICO, where we will do nothing but lie on lounge chairs and swim in the ocean. Amen.

Waiting for our shuttle at LAX.

First day at Disneyland!

Pink Land!

(That’s what Emily calls it.)

Looking for Nemo.

We found him!

Rocking the 3D glasses:

Donkey!

We spent a Day at Universal Studios and Donkey was one of the kids’ highlights. “Your name is Graham? Like the cracker!”

We saw the Madagascar Penguins:

Check out the one next to Nathan. Hee.

This lion is outside our hotel and the kids call him Aslan:

Me and Sarah:

Her family joined mine at the park yesterday – they all finally met! It was too short, but it was a great time. So great, in fact, that Nathan burst into tears when we said goodbye. Him: “I just miss Sarah.” Me too, buddy. Me too.

We’ve been taking in the big rides and loving it.

Splash Mountain:

Space Mountain:

Tower of Terror

(We’re in the back row.)

You’d think that Little Miss Four-Year-Old would be too scared for these rides, but no. She’s just like me – she alternates between screaming and laughing like a loon.

There are more that I’ve posted (and more to come) but we’re off to cram all of our favorite rides into our last day. Have a great week, friends. See you when we get back.

Have a great holiday, friends.

I’ll show you.

2006 – The year of the Batmen

Those were actually pajamas. Double duty! (I said duty. Hee.)

2007 – They’re Incredible

I had totally forgotten about the Incredibles costumes. I may or may not have bowed my head while wracked with laughter.

2008 – Optimus Prime (Graham), Belle and Bumblebee (Nathan)

I do believe that this photo is almost too awesome for words.

2009 – Ironmen and a Little Mermaid

She was still so bald, a mere year ago.

2010 – Darth Vader (Nathan), Cinderella and Boba Fett the Storm Trooper (Graham)

I really do have three of the coolest kids on the planet. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year.

This accountant, however, realized halfway through Saturday that she had (Once again had discovered exactly WHY she’d been sensitive/moody/tired/bloated/a treat to live with this week, and) absolutely no will to work a minute longer. I came home ate lunch with my family and then curled up for an hour-long nap with my baby girl.

If naps are rated by the size of the drool mark on your pillow, I’d have to give mine an eight. Maybe even a nine.

Before the sleep lines had faded away, we joined the dudes and the dog for a walk down to the creek, which runs along the Trans Canada Trail.

The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the air was, um, keeping us alive?

On the way back Miss Emily told us that she was tired and that her legs hurt and that she couldn’t walk. I carried her for a bit, but she’s literally 1/3 of my weight. I’m not even joking. Daddy to the rescue!

Soon after returning home, my Dad and Gail arrived.

We haven’t seen them since the whole ALS scare/miracle and it was great to communicate in the flesh rather than simply over the phone. The kids were excited about Grandparent-time as well as the Purdy’s chocolate bunnies they brought that were THE SIZE OF MY HEAD.

I also forced my brother Lance and his girlfriend Nataly on the deck for a photo shoot.

Nataly was game; Lance needed some encouraging/coercing. I should really show you guys the outtakes.

Sunday consisted of me shoe-horning myself into a new dress and wobbling around on the only shoes that went with said dress (Three-inch heels, yo). It also involved the annual Dress Your Kids In Nice Clothes And Hope You Get At Least ONE Good Photo extravaganza.

It went much better than the shoot from two years ago.

(That’s one of my most favorite photos. Ever.)

I have to confess that I was secretly hoping for a new meltdown photo. There is nothing more tragic/humorous.

(I had someone ask me in an email if we celebrated Christmas up here in Canada. People. We’re in Canada, not Outer Space.)

We had three days that ranked high in the radness factor and I would be remiss if I did not document them to some extent. I cannot capture every single moment but I can most definitely mention the highlights. This post will likely have its fair share of photos, but the rest of them can be found in this Flickr set.

Christmas Eve goes down the same way almost every year. We inherited a tradition from Matthew’s family where we make a bunch of sugar cookies, fill bowls with colored icing sugar, sets containers of sprinkles out, and let everybody go to town.

I don’t think we’ll be opening a family bakery any time soon.

Christmas Eve, we head to an evening service which is one of my favorite ones of the entire year. I thought I’d snap a bunch of photos of the kids in their nice duds and managed to get some that I actually like. This one’s my favorite.

I think. Though this one cracks me up.

So does this one.

Monkeys.

Another Christmas Eve tradition that we have is that Matthew and I open or gifts to each other on Christmas Eve. We put the kids to bed, turn on some nice music, pour a glass of wine and exchange gifts. Christmas morning is so hectic and the kids’ excitement so abundant that we let it be (mostly) about them. It’s also kind of nice to just have a quiet evening together before the chaos of Christmas Day. I had no idea what he had bought me, as I hadn’t given him a list of any sort. He got me some socks and such, a Caboodle case for my rapidly growing makeup collection and a toque.

I haven’t owned one of these since I was a kid and I kind of love it.

I thought we were all done and then he handed me one more box. Inside was a scroll of paper, tied with a ribbon. I unraveled it, read what was inside and sat there blinking in shock. He had booked me a flight to see Kerri in Portland for the weekend of January 8th. I hadn’t expected this in any way whatsoever. I start work on January 5th and am already going on a solo long weekend trip and the end of January and asked why he had done this for me. It was so utterly unexpected and I’m already so, so spoiled. He said he thought I needed a treat for all the hard work I did in the fall and before I know it, I will be in the trenches of tax season. He had organized everything with my employer so that I could have a(nother) four-day weekend (I won’t really be busy until February). I’m still in shock, but ridiculously excited. He’s way too good to me, that husband of mine.

Christmas morning was the usual – homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast and presents. We start with stockings and then open the gifts from Santa. Santa bought the kids Lego Star Wars. We gave each of the boys a light saber to open and Emily was handed the disc. She had no idea what it was and was NOT IMPRESSED.

Then I explained what it was and she told the boys.

Ah, how quickly her mood changes. She comes by that honestly.

We took the money that the grandparents sent and bought the kids each a Canon Powershot camera. Nathan’s expression kind of sums up their excitement.

I haven’t downloaded any of the photos onto my laptop yet, but some of the ones they’ve taken have been pretty neat. Like, all artsy and stuff. Consider me proud.

We got the kids two presents each, in addition to their stocking stuffers. The boys got Lego, Hot Wheels, Bakugan. You know, boy stuff. Miss Emily has a Mom who knows her well and who might want her to have something she never had herself as a kid.

She’s been playing with it for hours a day. HOURS. We have a winner, folks.

I spent the rest of the day preparing Christmas dinner. My family arrived mid-afternoon and showered the kids with more gifts. My Step mom then had my brother bring in our gift. She had gotten us a wine cooler (The refrigerator, not the cheap 2L of Rockaberry, ala high school) to compliment our small fridge in our family room. She always has a knack for getting you presents that you didn’t even know you wanted, yet are perfect. But then. BUT THEN. She brought in another present for our family.

BEATLES ROCK BAND.

I had no idea how many Beatles songs I actually know. We spent a good five hours playing it that night alone. Next up, get the disc for the regular Rockband so that we can expand our repertoire. There is video evidence of me on vocals, Matthew on guitar and my sister Courtney on drums. I contemplated sharing it, but Matthew said no. After all he’s done for me, I should honor that request. It’s too bad, because it’s pretty dang awesome.

I’ll stop here because the rest of our time has been more of the same. Time spent with family, friends, and a whole lot of good food. I hope you all had as great of a week as we did.