Christmas time is here, and gone.

For Mirabelle,

 and Madeleine, Christmas must have felt like a long time coming.

But for everyone else, it felt like no time at all until it was The Night Before Christmas.

 And who do you think came Mirabelle?

Santa! Look at all those presents. Dude must have been watching the wrong Madeleine and Mirabelle all year.

 Just kidding. They've been little angels (mostly), or is it cherubs?

 Happy times!

 And the big guy didn't forget about yours truly.

 By this, her 4th Christmas, Madeleine is a real pro.

 Yeah, Santa was listening and brought just what she asked for. Amazing.

It's a long way to the top, but you got to start somewhere and this is that somewhere.

 My family.

 The bouncy castle was the hit of the day.

 The stroller was pretty popular too. Yes, that is a toy.

 Hurray for Christmas.

 She's already got her stage persona.

 Annou and Opa came all the way from Toronto, with gifts!

 Liesa and Steven also came, with the biggest gift of all time.

 With Annou, Opa and the new member of the family, baby Jasmine.

 Following closely on the heels of Christmas, was Mirabelle's 11 month birthday.

 Yup, almost 1,

 And the whole family came to celebrate.

 Happy time with her grandparents.

 Yes, happy baby, why won't you sleep?

On the tenth day of Chistmas my true love gave to me, one awesome Steveston parade.

Well, we are almost there. You can practically hear the sleigh bells ringing. Madeleine says, don't blow it by being naughty now. Here she is at the farm with some Christmas animals or something.

 What lovely parents.

 Still at the farm. Look at all that snow. Definitely what one would imagine December in Canada looks like.

 Snow or not, Madeleine is having a blast with the Christmas countdown.

M and M have been enjoying all that Vancouver has to offer during this time of year. Here we all are after the Stanley Park Christmas train.

 "I hug you two guys"

 Best view of the Steveston Santa Claus parade. Careful blink and you'll miss it.

 Waiting for Santa.

 Hmm, the main sleigh must be in the shop.

 Santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight.

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 4 Santa pictures

You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout, I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.

On the first day of Chirstmas my true love gave to me, a basset in a pear tree.

Tis the season loyal dog blog followers, so with promises of more routine updates to follow, I give you the Hunt for the Tree and other daring adventures.

No snow on the ground, but otherwise the weather was fine for some tree chopping.

 Beauty.

 This one's a little small, but Madeleine liked it, so Nana and Papa get a pass.

 Madeleine is definitely in the cool Christmas spirit

 Yup, she's a nine footer alrighty. Here's the before and after for dramatic effect.

 Me and my family. Ho, ho, ho.

 

 In other news, Mirabelle continues to sprout like a weed.

So does Madeleine for that matter. Here she is at dinner showing her little sister how to eat spaghetti.

 Hmm, looks like she's got the hang of it.

 Yup, most definitely.