The Vickery's : Christmas and New years

Before I start with our Christmas and New Years, as the title would suggest, lets first take one last flash back to summer... because I was going through pictures on Matt's phone.

I came to Klamath fully prepared to embrace this small town. I wanted to become part of the community and enjoy the charm of small town living.

So when Matt told me that there was a fair in town, I was all like

Yes Please!

Matt's co-workers both had livestock in the fair and he wanted to check it out.

First of all, can I just say that I NEVER paid any attention to the animals at a fair. In fact, I'm not 100% sure there even were animals. Fairs must be different in America, but in my family, fairs meant rides and funnel cakes.

I don't really understand 4H so I'll hold all judgements. I know in some communities it's a big deal. It was not a big deal in Toronto or Victoria.

I am not a huge fan of fair rides anymore, as most of them make me want to throw back up my funnel cake.

Or worst, be the recipient of another's poor dietary choices. But I didn't want to rob my son of having an amazing time. Kids are better at those rides anyway.

As you can see, Paul was pumped about it too

I love those baby blues, even if he made me have horrendous back sweat,

the ugly side to baby wearing. I never remember this from William but Paul is like a little man furnace and produces heat even on the coldest of days.

And now a series of pictures of William on rides

Pre ride.

He was supper ornery until the ride started moving.

Once it began, we had to keep a steady flow of tickets going so that he could try all the different colors of motorcycles he fancied.

Just kidding, he never wants anything that isn't green

I promise he was having the time of his life

looking at the camera AND smiling are just too much to ask

obviously...

There we go, kinda

Because he was loving it so much we thought we'd try another ride.

Meet the dragon from Hell.

This was a little kids roller coaster.

It was a bad choice.

William went around the corner just fine but after the first downward slide his face contorted into something I've never seen before.

That's when he started screaming.

Because the fair is not the quietest place the operator mistook his screams of horror as cheers of joy.

Thank goodness another child started crying and flailing because the ride was stopped.

It almost started up again with William securely fastened and screaming but I was able to pull myself together from laughing to alert the ride operator that my child also wanted off his demon ride.

Amid all the screaming Paul somehow managed to find sleep in Matt's arms. I can't blame him, they are pretty cozy.

We later learned that we went to the "lame" fair and the the totally awesome one was a further drive.

But minus the dragon, we had a great time and it was all the fair William could handle.

Okay so Christmas happened, I think.

I think that's what was sandwiched between back-to-back flus and children puking everywhere.

See, the fair really was a good addition to this post.

Christmas 2014 was affectionately renamed the "Rein of Debbie"

I had been sick with the flu a few weeks before and was demanding my body to be better by the time my sister and Gilles arrived to celebrate.

I was weaker and a few pounds lighter but mostly feeling back to normal. Lindsay and Gilles arrived and all was well. We had a wonderful Christmas Day. No one was sick and William was overwhelmed by christmas cheer, attention and new toys. He attached himself to aunt Lindsay and deemed her the honorary reader of all his books.

This boy loves his books!

My sister made an amazing super hero cape set for William.

William's favorite gift was probably his remote control corvette- he'd been asking for a corvette for months. Not sure where he got that from... Grandad?

Paul's favorite gift is a tie between the Vaseline found in his stocking and the stuffed bear from Aunt Lindsay.

We enjoyed our regular Christmas Menu with an infusion of french cuisine.

I think this was our Christmas lunch spread

This man makes the BEST turkey you've ever tasted and I think this year wins as his best yet.

We applaud you, Mr Vickery. You are truly a man among poultry.

I just tried to see if this picture was a scratch and sniff...

Then, the day after Christmas we got "Debbie-ed"

*We are blaming everything on Matt's co-worker, Chelsea, but Gilles couldn't remember her name and called her Debbie repeatedly*

Lindsay was sick, Matt was sick, then Gilles and Will were sick. Later myself and Paul. Then William and Paul again and again.

Merry Christmas!

Sadly, we didn't take many pictures during the Rein Of Debbie but I did grab one of uncle Gilles.

And this is where William would perch, demanding them to "talk into the book"

We made it up to Medford for some shopping before Gilles had to head back home. I felt bad that he got the short end of the vacation stick and couldn't do many of the things we had planned.

What's a trip to Medford without Trader Jo's and Chipotle?

These two, BFF's

New years Day we went up to Crater Lake

I'm making it a tradition for sure

William had just thrown a snow ball at us. He was a little enthusiastic about the concept of snow ball fighting.

Sisters

I'd heard people talk about crater lake but it truly was breath taking being there

Here is photographic evidence of me abandoning my child. I had to run quickly because the snow was having a hard time containing my... girth. William and Lindsay didn't have quite the same struggles but Will did fall down the small hill and it made me look bad.