Leo's first Christmas

We have just got home from a wonderful trip to see Abe's family. Part of the journey home was through snow, which was a little stressful, but it's over and we are now back to the civilized temperatures of 40 to 70 degrees!!

It was Leo's first real Christmas and it was quite an event. There were 14 of us altogether, including Jim and Vickie, their five kids and partners, and the three grandkids.

Leo was fantastic. Despite, or perhaps because of, all the people and commotion (remember that we live a pretty solitary life), he had a blast. He had trouble falling asleep, afraid that he would miss something, but when he went down, he slept great. And even though he got overtired at times, he really didn't have any tantrums.

He found the whole present opening affair a little overwhelming and confusing, but seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.

There were horses, chickens, cows, a horse and cart, a trike with Leo-sized basket. In other words, he wanted to be outside all the time, and he didn't appreciate being told no, when it was too cold. Still, there were plenty ways to distract him in the house too, such as his new talking, moving Elmo and stick horse.

He seemed to have particular games he reserved for particular people. For example, every time Jim would come in, he would run into their room, open Jim's sock drawer, take out a pair of socks, and then throw it at Jim, shouting "ball".

We want to thank all the family for a wonderful time, especially to J and V, who housed and fed us. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can do it all again.

For more photos and videos, please click here. The ones with a black border were shot by Roeland and Emily.