December

December 2025. 

It began with blue skies and sunshine in the valley...

and then the expected rain, rainbows...

...and beautiful sunsets.

We had an appointment with our PHN advisor in Vancouver...

so decided to make a mini-vacation and stay at Worldmark nearby.

The city is beautiful all decked out for Christmas!

Hotel Vancouver.

A gingerbread replica in the hotel lobby!

The entire hotel has been transformed into a winter wonderland of twinkling lights.

'Tis the season for a visit to the grand old hotel.

Water, water everywhere. Again!

We should be getting used to it by now...

but once again the freeway was closed for a few days through the Sumas prairie due to flooding.

We had a Christmas party with our life group at our place on December 11th.

Since Eric and Irene couldn't join us...

we met at their place for an afternoon 'tea party' just before Christmas.

We made good use of our comfy bleacher chairs...

cheering on Lucy's GW Graham team and Micah's Sardis junior boys team.

So fun to see her playing with her long time friends.

And they are good!

On Christmas Eve we went to Jeremy and Broni's for appies and games after church.

We had a white elephant gift exchange...

strictly adhering to Jeremy & Tim's rules.

Everyone brought a gift valued at $50 or less...

and everyone went home happy with the gift they chose or were given.:)

We all got a cruise T-shirt for Christmas.

These were a total surprise for all...

even 'Grammy and Grandpa' who had commissioned Emme to look after ordering the shirts!

Jaden modeled his altered version for us.

We had a good laugh and decided we would all wear them when we boarded our cruise ship in a few days.

That was the plan!

Christmas morning brunch was at our place as usual.

Christmas morning wifesaver casserole, fruit salad, buns and cinnamon buns.

I forgot to take a photo once they were all  here...

as usual!

And once everyone left...

we cleaned up and packed our bags for an early morning get-away to Seattle airport.

 Tim and Heidi picked us up in their Yukon Denali and we had a stress-free commute to SeaTac airport. 

We flew to Florida on Boxing Day...

with the rest of the crew coming a day later.

We spent two nights in Miami...

before boarding the cruise ship.

The rooftop pool deck was the perfect place to try to solve the world's problems.

Or rather...

to stress about the rest of the family whose flights were canceled as they were checking in to fly the following morning.

Some thirty hours after leaving home...they arrived in Miami and on the cruise ship with just minutes to spare.

We took an Uber to the beach as the sun set that last night in Miami...

thanks to Lucy's suggestion.

It was lovely!

We strolled the beach strip after...

and had dinner at a sidewalk cafe after dark.

The next day we made our way to the port...

through incredible traffic jams in Miami.

We still didn't know if the others would actually arrive on time.

By dinnertime the Wieberama crew was on board...

...and all smiles.

Let the fun begin!

Farewell Miami!

Farewell 2025!

We rang in the new year with the masses on the promenade deck.

Just before the clock struck midnight...

Ryder turned 20.