Ok, yes it is long, but there are a few pictures...

I am breaking my resolution about not posting a new post until someone comments, but I figure that I should get my Christmas break post up while I have the time and before it is really out of date. Thus, it needs to get done today before my second week of classes starts.
I have been trying to collect pictures from everyone from Christmas break and still don't have them all, but I will be able to post some pictures (something I haven't done in ages) courtesy of other people who were around and actually took their cameras out.
My Christmas break was very busy as I was working pretty much full-time hours, had all kinds of family gatherings and the joy of having my immediate family (minus Timothy and Catherine) around as well as cousins who had been gone for work or school. On top of all of this I was still working on my SSHRC application which is finally done and totally out of my hands.
The first week of my break was spent working, and then on Thursday, bright and early, I went to pick up Karlynn from the Vancouver airport. Her flight was delayed. I had worked that day and when I got home took a nap knowing her flight didn't get in until around midnight, but due to the delay it didn't get in until 2:30, knowing this ahead of time allowed me to take another nap, then leave shortly after 1am to pick her up, getting back shortly after 4am and then getting up and getting to work by 7am. Good thing I am still a college kid and this lack of sleep thing doesn't kill me! After work Karlynn and I made pizza for the relatives, and then eventually (after 11pm) went back to my house and crashed. The next day we crossed the river to see relatives. I ended up coming back for my youth banquet.
The youth banquet was a lot of fun, Mark Washington came to speak to the youth. I am always a little tentative having athletes come and speak, but Mark was really good and truly connected with the entire audience of high school students, not an easy task!
Saturday night my family drove down from Smithers and we got to hang out for awhile. Then I started another stint of work on Sunday, a stint that included Christmas eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day.
On Christmas eve my immediate family went out for breakfast together and then had some time with just us to open presents. We all came to my house and hung out in my bedroom. I had snitched the miniature Christmas tree from our house and had it in my room with presents under and around it. We even managed to get the traditional family picture by the Christmas tree.

My Christmas Day shift was an afternoon shift which allowed me to enjoy a meal with all the relatives, and then escape without having to do any of the clean up. Even with just the relatives from around here plus a soon to be relative (he ensured that he would become a part of the family by popping the question to my cousin that morning) plus a friend, we were a fairly large group of people.On the 29th in the evening we all headed over to Richmond for dinner at Dave and Margaret's, but we made a stop in Surrey to go bowling first. This was a lot of fun, and there are pictures of it out there somewhere, I just don't have them yet. As is habit with our family (at least the younger ones) we bowled the first game normally, getting the traditionally terrible scores. After seeing we were still just as lousy as we remembered we reverted back to weird bowling, things like bowling backwards, lying on your stomach and pushing it with both hands, etc. you get the idea. Bowling and dinner were both fabulous, and after dinner I got to play the German version of Ticket to Ride (a fabulous game for any one wondering). I completely slaughtered everyone in that game, even lapping someone on the score board! I haven't played the German version since, and kind of like my record as it stands now. I have a feeling if I play again I will be the one to get butchered!
On New Years Eve I worked a day shift and then crossed the river to join my family who were now staying at Henry and Ardie's house. This is where the big bash was taking place that night. Before everyone got there we decided to take advantage of having all the Vis girls together for a little while and do a fun photo shoot (possibly the last one where all of us are Vis's as one will become an Elenbaas in a few months!) A few of us needed new backgrounds for our computers, so here are the resulting pictures...no we weren't going for professionalism. And a big thanks to Jason for putting up with having to take all the pictures. (Sorry, I can't get the rotated pictures to post, so for some pictures just tilt your head about 90 degrees right)

The Cuckoo pose...you know, from the Sound of Music. Janine is just so tall she just stood up!

Yes, we all love each other and like to be close to each other!

The family secret, all of us are aspiring to become actresses in a Broadway musical :)

LOOK! We even color coordinated the rows on our pyramid! Aren't we clever...yes, it was discussed :P

Ok, I think Karlynn takes the prize, she is the most frightening of us all.

Eventually everyone arrived for the party and the food and games all came out. Once again the Wii games were in the basement and I proved again that I am no good at them, nor am I any good at DDR. I managed, though just barely, to stay awake past midnight (good grief, am I getting old or something?) and then worked at seven in the morning on New Years day. My family headed north that day, but since I had the weekend off (yes, starting on Wednesday) I went to spend some time with my relatives in Maple Ridge. Those were some busy days as well. On Wednesday Jason and Michelle dragged (though there wasn't much resistance) me, Lynola and Aunt Ardie out to the dike to take engagement pictures. The three of us went shutter happy getting about four good pictures out of a hundred (ok, it wasn't that bad, but there were some funny ones!)

Here you can see two of us happily clicking away, the third is behind this camera.

One of our favorite sequences.

Yes, there are many more pictures of them, but this post is already getting much to lengthy. Soon after those pictures were taken Jason had to head back to his place, and so the women headed out on the great wedding dress shopping expedition, for which yes there are some pictures, but NO, I will NOT post them. This expedition took two days and was so hard on Michelle that she snuck out of the house very early the next morning and flew to New Mexico from where she will not return until MARCH!
On Friday I had to go to school for a meeting about my SSHRC application, and then when I returned Lynola, Aunt Ardie and I played many games of Ticket to Ride Europe. Lynola left on Saturday afternoon, and then I had to return to reality on Sunday evening.
Now I am done one week of classes, and I think I am really going to enjoy these classes and that I will already be able to predict which is going to be the toughest class. Fridays will be my hardest day as I have class from 9-12, 1-4 and youth from 6:30-10:30. So please do not ask me to do something for you on Friday. Most other days I would be willing, but I will have one Friday evening off a month...and I will likely savor it by catching up on homework, or heading to Maple Ridge to watch NUMB3RS (yes, I am addicted to that show)
Well I really should stop, but in case anyone is wondering about the classes I am in this semester I will give a quick rundown. Mondays I am in practicum, yes, I see REAL clients. Tuesday I have Group Counselling, Thursday I have Counselling Children and Adolescents, Friday I have Research Design (am) and Foundations of Counselling (pm).
Now I am going to stop and my congratulations to anyone who made it through the entire post in one sitting or even at all!