Wow, where do I begin…it has been a whirlwind over the past two weeks. The night we left for Canada we got the chance to have a wonderful christmas celebration with a bunch of our friends here in Tennessee over at the Champney’s house. It was great to get to see everyone before we hit the road for our long road trip…
It is so much fun to get together with all of the girls! Poor baby Atley was exhausted, I tried holding him for a picture and he was fast asleep.
I think everyone had a great time at the party, lots of good food and fun! 
We got all dressed in our jammies so we could sleep in the car all night!
We made it to Canada in record time, only took us 10 hours and 30 mins and our new van was just perfect!!! It was so exciting to see Gigi, Papa and Uncle Ryan when we got to their house, even though it was early in the morning, Paige and I weren't interested in sleeping!
We took it easy for the first few days and then the fun began of visiting with all of our family and friends. Our first visit was at the Silva’s house to meet the newest addition to our family, baby Leah, now both Heidi and I have little baby sisters. She is only two weeks old and so adorable!
The very next day we got to have a super nice visit was with all of mommie’s wonderful friends Auntie Sarah, Auntie Amy and Jenn, as well as my little friends Cassie and Coleton. They came up to Gigi’s house for dinner and we got to exchange our gifts, it was a great visit but too short!!!
Next up was our annual Christmas bash at our cousin Lynn and Larry’s house and what a party it was. We had a blast, there were 13 kids there ranging in age from 11 all the way down to only 2 weeks old and the best thing of all…Santa also came for a visit and he brought each of us a present. It was so nice to get to see the whole family and celebrate with them.
This was Paige’s and baby Leah’s first christmas so us bigger kids had to show them the ropes! 
Heidi and I both had to show our little sisters how great Santa is and how special it is that he came to see us.
Cameron wasn’t too sure of Santa this year, he played a little strange so he needed his Mommy and Daddy to go up with him, I think he will be better next year when he is two!
After everyone ate their dinner we had a dance party, coordinated by the talented Erik the “Gleekster” as he was being called. He got all of us kids together in our jammies and put on some great dance music. Mommy got lots of good videos but unfortunately our memory card has deleted the videos, my techy daddy is going to have to see if he can fix it, so stay tuned!
We had a great time at Lynn and Larry’s party, we owe them a big thanks for hosting, so “THANK YOU”!!!
At the end of the night our cousin Dawn got a very special christmas wish come true, her son Tyler arrived home from Staten Island for a two day visit, she was really excited!
The next excursion on our list was to go to the movies with my cousins Robin, Rebecca and Allie. We went at lunch time on Christmas eve to see the movie Tangled, it was fantastic. We don’t have any pics from the show but I can tell you we did have a great time! Later that night on Christmas Eve, Gigi and Papa had a really nice christmas dinner/party at their house. Our cousins Patsy, Dawn and Tyler came out to celebrate with us, it was lots of fun. Gigi and Papa got Paige and I our own kids table and cousin Patsy graciously agreed to eat dinner with me, we had a blast! 
Gigi bought these really cool Toy Story Poppers with special hats and toys inside, we all snapped us just before dinner, it was really neat! 
Before bed I got to put out a special plate with cookies and carrots on it for Santa and his reindeer, as well as a mug with some chocolate milk. Paige and I did as Santa promised, we went to bed early so he could come and deliver our presents!!!
I made sure to get in some last minute cuddles with Papa before bed, we both love doing that!!! 
I woke up really early on Christmas morning…5 am to be exact, but mommy and daddy told me I had to go back to sleep. Then finally at 6:15am they let me get up and I was super excited to see all the wonderful toys Santa had delivered to Gigi and Papa’s house for Paige and I, it was unbelievable!!!
Check out the really cool touques that we all got, aren’t they neat!
Here I am resting on my very own unicorn pillow pet, I must have been a good girl this year because Santa brought me everything I asked for and more!!!
Here is Papa and Paige hanging out together watching all of us open our gifts. Can you see what Paige’s shirt says - “Who needs Santa when I have Grandma”, hehe!!!
I think Paige enjoyed eating wrapping paper more than she did playing with her toys, silly girl, she will learn!!!
After we were done opening all of our gifts, which took over 3 hours...we got all dressed up in our matching christmas outfits from Gigi & Papa and headed out the door to see the Hollinger gang up in Orillia. This is where our crazy car adventure began….
We started off with a visit at Great Gramma H’s house and there we got to see Uncle Gord, Aunt Wendy, Jessie and Jon Jon. We exchanged gifts and enjoyed some time together before heading to McCabe’s restaurant for christmas dinner with the rest of the Hollinger’s!
After dinner we headed out to Thornbury to our cousins the Conliffe’s cottage where we spent two nights and got to do some skiing. Gigi and Papa bought me my very own skis for Christmas. I went skiing with my cousins Allie, Rachael, Andrew and Rebecca, it was so much fun. Unfortunately we were so busy and having so much fun we forgot to take pictures but we are really thankful to Robin and Roy for letting us crash at their place!!!
Next on our road trip was Seagrave to see the Payne side of our family…it has been over 2 years since we have seen everyone and it was so nice to get caught up. But once again we forgot to take pics, but we know that Uncle Howard has a few and hopefully he will send them our way, hint, hint!
That very same day we drove to Sudbury to spend a few nights with the Cullen side of our family. We had so much fun playing with our cousins Karsen, Konner and Raeleigh. I even went outside and played in the snow and it was fantastic, good thing I like snow because everyone keeps telling me that Ottawa has lots of it!!! Great Granny is looking good and it was so nice to get to spend some time with her…I think Mommy misses her a lot.
While we were in Sudbury we decided it was time for me to get my very first haircut. Konner and Karsen’s mommy Lindsay is a hairdresser and she took me into her salon in their house and cut my hair, it looks fantastic! I was told that I was a very good girl and sat perfectly still.
Next on our stop was Great Grandma Nancy, she still lives in the same house that her and Great Grandpa Vickell lived in and Mommy says that not much has changed, it is just as she remembers from when she was a kid. Unfortunately, our camera died at this point and we only got one picture taken!
From there we left and drove straight to Grandmere’s in Victoria Harbour and we picked her up and brought her out to Mississauga so she could spend the next day with us. We had a really nice visit with her!
That night Papa, Uncle Ryan, Daddy and I went to a Toronto Maple Leafs game, it was my very first NHL game and I really liked it. Uncle Ryan bought me my own Leafs jersey to wear.
After the game is when our holiday vacation went a little downhill, unfortunately somewhere along the way we picked up a nasty stomach bug. The first person to get sick was Mommy, then me, then Uncle Ryan, then Daddy, and then Gigi. Somehow Paige and Papa were spared, thank goodness because it was not fun. We spent our New Year’s eve all in our jammies, watching movies…not the best start to 2011 but at least it happened at the end of our trip.
Luckily we were still able to squeeze in a quick visit with Uncle Brodie and Auntie Carrie and their little girl Sophie before we left town. We met up with them a few hours before we were set to leave and it was so nice to see them. We don’t have any pics from the visit but there is a video you can watch of me opening my gifts from them later that night!
We promised them we would take a video. Mommy and I couldn’t stay long at our visit because we had tickets to see Disney on Ice..Gigi was suppose to come with us but she was still too sick. She really missed a great show, I got to see all my favorite characters, way too many to mention!!!
Well that pretty much sums it all up, we left on New Year’s day night around 8:30 pm and we made it home to Tennessee around 7 am today! In total since we left 14 days ago we drove almost 4000 km’s for a total of 50 hrs and 12 mins spent in our van. Thank goodness for our new van, otherwise it would not have been possible. However, Paige and I have asked Mommy and Daddy if we can take it a little easier next year!
We did love seeing everyone and want to thank everyone for all of the wonderful gifts, you all spoiled us and we are very greatful.
Wow I am pooped, this was a huge post and now I believe it is time for bed, night, night, y’all!!!
Love,
Emmie and Paige
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