And So We Enter 2013

Well, here we are. It's 2013.
I managed to not post anything about Christmas, mostly because I was away, but partly because all of our Christmas photos are blurry cell-phone ones since our camera busted.

So, what happened in December (besides M's Birthday)? Here's a point form list...with some crappy photos.

Early December:
-Paul ruined Christmas by saying, point-blank "No." to G's question "Is Santa Real?"
-I cried
-G instantly forgot about it and still believes in Santa.

G's thoughtful expression here just kills me.

Mid-December:
-I anticipated a giant explosion of panic in the wake of having to pack/organize/clean before we left on the 19th
-The panic bomb did not explode! I managed to do it all without yelling at anyone (Paul).

-We traveled to see the majority of Paul's family in Ontario.
-G and her older cousin look amazingly alike. They look much more like sisters then G and M do. 

G on the left, F on the right.

-We took advantage of lots of free babysitting to see three movies in theatre.
-The three we saw were: Life of Pi, The Hobbit and Les Mis.
-They were all good, but Les Mis changed my life. I have never cried so much in a movie.


Late December:
 -G and M both got an amazing amount of gifts... we are so grateful for our generous relatives.
-Our love of My Little Pony has gotten a bit out of hand. With the addition of 7 new ponies, they now have no less than 25 ponies, plus a pony train.

-On Christmas Eve, my Father-in-Law convinced G to leave out a Beer and Cookies for Santa instead of Milk and Cookies. It was pretty funny.

The note reads: To Santa: Carrots are for Rudolph. Beer is for you.

-Paul and I celebrated New Years together with free babysitting, for the first time in a very long time.
-We went to Niagara Falls (along with 60,000 other people)
-It was an experience.

This was that experience.

I am a giant dork!

There's a giant waterfall behind me? I'd rather look at twitter.

Paul grew up in Niagara Falls, worked the Falls and on Clifton Hill, so he's a...bit jaded about the Falls/ However, he knows the beautiful, uncrowded views and where to park so they won't charge you $15/car. 
We watched a little bit of the concert, but it was pretty cheesy and Nelly Furtado was surprisingly bad for such a well-known singer. We wandered away and celebrated the New Year watching the fireworks emerge from three different places (including the US side, which appeared to get the New Year a minute later then Canada).

A couple of funny things happened as we walked back:

Canada Welcomes You... with the wrong flag!

This sign was on the Women's Washroom at the Falls. It made me laugh because "Frequently" is so very subjective. Frequently could mean...once an hour? Once a day? Once a month? Then it made me really laugh because this sign? NOT on the Men's Washroom.