Growing Up on Christmas Eve

Since 2006, we've had a tradition of visiting Tracey and Andre's home on Christmas Eve for dinner and socializing. The only year we missed was 2008, when we traveled down to Florida to stay with my Dad for Christmas. Our friends Sheri and Adam have been another constant on Christmas Eve as well. Actually, since Sheri and Tracey go way back, the Christmas Eve tradition probably predates us, but I like to think it started in 2006.

2006: Buns in the Oven 

As fate would have it, on Christmas Eve 2006, Marilu, Tracey, and Sheri were all pregnant for the first time (with Lucas, Thierry, and Logan, respectively). We took the pictures below, not realizing at the time what kind of tradition THAT would turn into.

2007: New Arrivals 

In 2007, the boys made their debut appearance. 

These expressions are priceless. And no, I have no idea what they were looking at. Incidentally, the pajama shots lasted until this year, when they finally decided to hell with it, they were going to keep their regular clothes on. (As a casual writer, yes, it does pain me slightly that the last two sentences both ended in a preposition.)

2008: 1 Year Old 

If you recall, I said we weren't around in Ottawa for Christmas Eve that year. But through the magic of stealing pictures from a different event (New Year's Eve at Heidi's), I can kinda sorta keep the tradition going in 2008. Yeah, it's cheating a bit, but at least you get a good idea of their growth without missing a year. Just try to imagine them all sitting next to each other at the same time.

2009: 2 Years Old

The true tradition continues! This could also be called the "Thank God for Tracey" year since, as mentioned previously, we apparently couldn't be bothered to take any photos. The boys were 2 years old this year, and as you'll be able to tell, they were at that stage where they'd been photographed enough in their life that their patience for several photos on a couch was on the low end. I love the expressions below, particularly the fact that each of them has a "okay, I'm done with this" look at least once.

Fun fact: this was our first Christmas Eve at Tracey and Andre's new place in south Kanata, not too far from us. In 2006 and 2007, they lived out in the country in North Gower. It wasn't that far, but on dark winter nights, it felt about a hundred miles away so I'm glad they are now much closer.

2010: 3 Years Old

This Christmas Eve saw the addition of a new cast member: Etienne, Thierry's younger brother. The kids were a little more willing to pose for photos this time around, but actually getting all of them to stare at the camera was a near Herculean task. It probably didn't help that at least three of us were trying to take photos!

I have no idea what Lucas is up to in this photo.

2011: 4 Years Old

You may notice a different couch this year, but we're at the same house. Pictures were just moved from the family room to the living room. Or vice versa. As a part time real estate agent, I should probably remember which is which. Whatever the case, this has been the location for the last two years as well.

Two observations I just made while looking at these photos: one, Thierry and Etienne are wearing matching pajamas in 2010 and 2011. *cough*dorkyparents*cough* :) Second, Logan is wearing the same pajamas in 2011 that the Wonder Twins wore in 2010. I have nothing snarky to add. Just observin'.

2012: 5 Years Old

After going through the baby years, where the boys didn't know we were taking pictures, and then the toddler years, where they didn't want to sit still for a picture, we finally entered a new era: one in which they wanted to pose. And pose they did. (side note: good to see Thierry and Etienne broke the pajama curse)

I want to make it abundantly clear that Lucas is not doing what you think he is doing in this next picture. It just happens to be where his finger was resting at the time. Still, it does look damned funny.

2013: 6 Years Old

And that brings us to the present...or at least a couple of weeks ago. It may just be me, but I found the difference between the boys from 2012 and 2013 to be the most drastic change since 2006 and 2007. They just look so much older. Yeah, part of it is the fact that they aren't in pajamas, but our little first graders/future NHL stars just look so much more mature (physically, not mentally, as evidenced in the first picture). It's so hard to believe they are now six and not those little kids who could barely move around on their own a few short years ago.

2014: 7 Years Old

Rather than confuse the kids with where to look, I let Tracey take all the pictures this year (with her far superior camera), and then I just looted them all from her Flickr account. So without any further adieu, the 2015 Christmas Eve update of Lucas, Logan, Thierry, and Etienne.

The first two pictures are almost identical except Etienne has a better smile in the second one. However, I thought the other 3 kids looked better in the first one. So voila, you get both.

Can't take pictures without the kids getting a little wacky.

This was my favorite picture of the 3 older boys, but unfortunately, Etienne is distracted.

And one last crazy one.

I can't recall if I've ever posted other pictures from the Christmas Eve party, but here are a couple of others I liked from this year.

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2015: 8 Years Old

Here's the 2015 installment of "The Boys on Christmas Eve." I've combined the best of my photos and ones I stole took directly from Tracey's Flickr page. Next year, I may refrain from taking any since you can tell the kids aren't sure which way to look in most of the photos, with some of them looking at mine and some looking at Tracey's. That said, the photos still look good.

Might as well get the "serious" ones out of the way first since they didn't stay serious for long.

And then chaos ensued.

Since it was a green Christmas, Tracey was able to get an ultra-rare picture of the kids playing in the backyard. Don't expect to see too many repeats of this picture in the future. Unless we all win the lottery and move south.

2016: 9 Years Old

This year marks my slowest update to the Christmas Eve pictures as it's now January 30, and my mom has asked me to post them at least once. Good to know my ability to post things late remains consistent from year to year.

As referenced in last year's update, this time around I let Tracey take all of the pictures since there was some confusion as to which camera the kids were looking at last year. The pictures were so-so this year, but let me be the first to state that this was through no fault of Tracey's. The kids were just unwilling to sit still and pose long enough to get pictures equivalent to years past. That said, I suggested that next year we will not allow them to open any Christmas Eve gifts until such time that they pose for a few good photos. Bribery and/or blackmail is always a useful bargaining tool with children so we'll see how that works out about 11 months from now.

So without any further adieu, here are the highlights from 2016.

Pajama time! I see this year Logan and Thierry are matching. It's always something with those kids.

So that's that. I really hope everyone enjoyed watching this year-by-year transformation of Lucas, Logan, and Thierry (and Etienne, eventually). It took much longer than I though to write this post, when you factor in tracking down all the photos, picking the best ones, and then commenting on them, but I have to admit this is already one of my favorite blog entries. It's really a neat thing for me to see just how much they've changed. Mostly for the better, I suppose. :)

Before I wrap this up, I want to once again thank the fabulous Tracey. Not only did she provide the setting for all of these photos (and many thanks to Andre for that as well), but this would not have been possible if not for her pictures. On top of all of that, her Christmas Eve dinners have been damned tasty!

For what it's worth, I intend to update this post annually as long as we keep getting invited over there for Christmas Eve. Or until the point where our kids really do give us the finger and tell us to shove it. Whichever comes first.