Merry Christmas

We had many wonderful Christmas gatherings with family this year. On Friday, Christmas Eve, we went over my parent's house. Traditional Christmas goose and yummy food, new warm wall-to-wall carpet to play on, piles of presents, and cheerful family relaxation made for a good time.
For the first time in my life, we didn't go anywhere on Christmas Day. Paul used his huge new pancake griddle to make breakfast and we opened our gifts to each other. It was a relaxing day.

On Sunday, we went up to Paul's grandparent's house near Placerville for the extended family gathering and group photo (still waiting for my copy of that event). Gabriel had a blast playing with all the little boys, running around the house and throwing snowballs (there were patches of snow around the yard). The boys ranged in age from almost 9 years down to Ephraim at 9 months. All of Paul's siblings were there and it was wonderful to see everyone. We stayed the night and exchanged presents with his immediate family on Monday morning.
Last night, we bundled up and went to see the lights and displays at Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose. I remember taking Gabriel for his first Christmas there. It was fun to have both boys admiring the lights.
Ephraim's favorite position is standing and he still takes a few steps to go anywhere before he falls down or sits down. He loves to feed himself. We bought the easy to dissolve baby snacks, but he also likes bread, cheese, and freeze-dried fruit.

We introduced Gabriel to the game of 20 Questions on our long drive home on Monday. We usually stick to animals and don't keep track of how many questions. He caught on quickly and had a great time. He didn't quite understand what an animal was because he came up with "the hills" on one of his turns. On our way home from the San Jose lights, Gabriel requested we play again. He thought of one and daddy and I tried to guess. "4 legs?" "No" "2 legs?" "Sometimes." "Does it have eyes?" "Sometimes." "Does it fight badguys?" "Yes, it's a pirate!" (Yes, "sometimes" they have a wooden leg or a patch over an eye. Clever kid!) We had a great laugh about that.

2011 should be interesting: Paul is finishing writing up his Aspect book and will sell them at DunDraCon in February. In March Ephraim turns one. I'm looking forward to putting together the blog book of 2010 and publishing that. A few weddings to go to also. Happy New Year!