In this Christmas of such amazingly bad weather for so many would-be travelers, I guess I will start by saying that our travels couldn’t have been smoother. Crowds not that bad, all flights right on time, drives to and from airports not daunting.

And Timmins itself was really a winter wonderland this year. Not too cold (-8 C was the lowest we experienced), and this freezing “mist” followed by light snow and sun just caused all the trees to be beautifully coated in white.

This one may be the prettiest shot:

But this one shows the tree “frosting” more:

Of course, the visit was about family, and we certainly got to see many of the local relatives. Christmas Eve we first attended my cousin’s Réveillon (as did my parents and my brother’s family), so I was able to see a number of cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins, and such that I hadn’t seen in a while.

It was then off to the Lefebvre family Réveillon, which had a good turnout of all of Jean’s siblings and partners, and most of the nieces and nephews and their kids. The gift theme this year was food, and I think this was the funniest item that came out of the wrapped box:

(You can also get an idea of the delicious array of food available in non-gift form as well.)

Christmas morning was relatively quiet at McNair’s—just Jean and I and my parents doing our exchange, and talking to the Toronto sisters by phone. Though our gifts were not themed, there was still funny food to be had, in the form of these chocolates labeled Better Than Sex:

Jean went off for a family skate, then came back in time to see my brother’s kids tear into their stockings and gifts from grandparents and aunts. It was the usual fun chaos and major haul, leaving Neal to mutter something about how we’re definitely “picking names” for the kids next year. We’ll see.

Family visits, at this house, at that house, continued for the rest of our Timmins time. We also got out for some walks, and to see some friends. We did no Boxing Day shopping, except a bit in online form. (Although one bit was rather large, as we’re now booked onto a European River Cruise with my parents. But more on that another time.)

I’ll just conclude on a few more of Jean’s shots that I especially like.

Nephew (great-Nephew, actually…) Seth at the arena

Timmins icon, all dolled up for Christmas.

The very active bird feeder at my parent’s place.

Jean’s fave Christmas shot.