The Twelve Years of Christmas is a collection of photographs highlighting the twelve Christmas's since Kari and I met in 2003 and not to be confused with the Twelve Days of Christmas which is a song originating sometime in the late 1700's and thought to have been a French creation.
Twelve Days of Christmas
By the way, the 12 days of Christmas start at the birth of Christ on December 25th and ends with the arrival of the Magi (Epiphany) on January 6th. Twelfth Night is the evening of January 5th and according to some traditions it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after this date.
Twelfth Night
1st Christmas: 2003, Daventry, Surrey, BC
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| Partridge in a Pear Tree? Not Quite. |
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| Adriane |
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| Katie and Jon |
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| Kari with Katie |
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| Spoiling Mr. Ken |
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| We Even Had A White Christmas! |
2nd Christmas: 2004, Daventry, Surrey, BC
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| Stockings Are Hung |
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| Gift Opening Time |
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| Travis - The New Addition! |
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| Christmas Elegance |
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| Christmas Cartoon |
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| So Many Friends |
3rd Christmas: 2005, Displaced
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| Christmas at Connelly's, Maple Ridge, BC |
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| Adriane and Travis Get Married in 2005 |
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| Katie (Mercedes) Meets Ian in 2005 |
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| Kari with her Children |
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| Last Photo of Mum and Me with Dad |
4th Christmas: 2006, Daventry, Surrey, BC
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| Alan McLennan 1925 - 2006 |
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| Mum Spends Christmas With Us |
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| Brother Tor, Myrna and Nathan |
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| Jon Enjoying a Lazy Day |
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| Kari with Sister Andrea |
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| Ian and Katie Mercedes Get Married |
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| Kari and I Go Camping |
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| Merry Christmas |
5th Christmas: 2007, Something Completely Different!
We had Christmas lunch at the Roti Prata House in Singapore in 2007.
Our table was towards the back and close to the kitchen so that we could watch our food being prepared - the added highlight of the experience was when two of the cooks got into a fight and started hitting each other. It was a Merry Christmas indeed.
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| New Home in Singapore |
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| Christmas Walk in 33 C with 90% Humidity |
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| A Better Idea On Christmas Day |
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| Ho Ho Ho - We're Swimming On Christmas Day |
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| Surprise! |
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| Bigger Surprise!! |
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| In Lieu of a Christmas Tree |
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| 1st Grandchild Born: Oliver on September 27th |
6th Christmas: 2008, Singapore
In the second year living in Singapore we had made some good friends - some from work and some from church.
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| Still No Snow |
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| Christmas Meal Prepared by Myra & Jeff Morrison |
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| The Lucky Wine Club Men: Wu Sze, Jeff Morrison, Me, Dominic Chow |
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| Dominic and Dell Chow |
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| Another Tropical Christmas |
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| The Ladies of WAJA: Angela Henderson, Debbi McCumsey, Kari, Dawn Henderson, Sherilyn Sweeney |
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| The Men of AJA: Rob Henderson, James Henderson, JM Boudreau, Me, Ken McCumsey |
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| With the McCumsey Family and Friend on Christmas Day |
7th Christmas: 2009, Jalan Keria, Singapore
This year we made it to Orchard Road to see the fantastic Christmas lights.
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| Kari and the ESL Ladies Christmas Choir |
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| Kari with the ESL Ladies |
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| Our Hosts in 2009: Jean-Marc and Sherilyn |
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| Wiwit from Indonesia |
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| Dawn, Angela, Kari and Sherilyn |
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| No Snow Again This Year |
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| Comrades in Work with Dawn |
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| Merry Christmas from Singapore! |
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| 2nd Grandchild Born: Leighton, June 9th |
8th Christmas: 2010, Westmount, Montreal, QC
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| View From Our Front Steps |
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| Our Front Steps |
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| Christmas 2010 - Back in Canada |
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| Dinner for Fifteen |
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| Kari with Turkey |
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| Andrea with Salad |
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| Alaina with Weapon |
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| Grace Montreal Church "Orphans" |
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| Three More in the Living Room |
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| Tea and Dessert |
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| Peace on Earth |
9th Christmas: 2011, Montreal, QC and Listowel, ON
Christmas just got busy! In 2011 we attended a company Christmas party and then headed to Listowel, Ontario to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Kari's nephew David and family.
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| From David and Molly's Home |
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| The Tree at Brydges Home |
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| The Ladies of Advanced Fabrics, Montreal |
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| Before the Company Party |
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| Guylaine, Heidi and Heidi's date |
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| Fernando and Bruce |
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| The Gagne's |
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| Listowel Lies Sleeping |
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| Back Stage |
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| On Stage |
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| Beautiful Solo |
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| Grand Finale |
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| Very Special Nieces with Great Aunt Kari |
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| Host David with the Turkey |
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| Hostess Molly |
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| Still Quiet |
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| All's Well |
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| 3rd Grandchild Born: Pippa, May 18th |
10th Christmas: 2012, Last one in Montreal
This was the year of record snow. It was also when, after a lot of behind-the-scenes discussions Kari and I were offered the opportunity to move back to B.C. To be honest I'm not sure how or where we spent Christmas this year - I know it was with our GMC Family for the last time.
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| Record Snow |
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| Welcome to Grey Avenue, NDG, Montreal, QC |
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| We're in 2025 |
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| Stockings Ready - Again! |
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| The Tree is Decorated |
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| Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal |
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| Pipe Organ at the Basilica, Montreal |
11th Christmas: 2013, Back In British Columbia
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| Back Where We Started in 2007 |
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| Come On In |
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| Fish Only |
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| Stockings Back In Place |
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| Christmas Pageants |
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| Confused Angel - But Cute |
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| Leighton The Shepherd |
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| Oliver and Lucas - Angels? No. They're Boys... |
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| Pippa - Close to Angelic |
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| 4th Grandchild Born: Jaeden, May 12th (Mother's Day) |
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| Nicole with Jaeden |
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| Grandma Kari with Jaeden |
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| Grandpa Ken with Jaeden |
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| Oliver - Christmas PJ's |
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| Leighton - Christmas PJ's |
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| Pippa - Christmas PJ's too! |
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| Super Heroes! |
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| 5th Grandchild Born: Emmeline, September 9th |
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| Welcome to the Family Emme |
12th Christmas: The Family is The Focus
In twelve years our combined families have grown and grown, with additions of Son's and Daughter's, followed by additions of grandchildren. And along with that come all the extended family members and life is grand.
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| One of my childhood Norwegian ornaments from Kenya |
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| Oliver Stars in the 2014 Christmas Greeting |
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| Leighton The Drummer Boy |
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| Pippa as Mary |
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| Jaeden with her Parents and Grandmother |
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| Emmeline Looking Beautiful |
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| Kari and Katie |
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| Katie and Ian |
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| Pippa Interviewing Grandpa |
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| Adriane, Emme and Travis |
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| Reynolds Brothers Turkey - Christmas Day |
Twelve years of wonderful memory making
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| Snow in The Cariboo |
