Christmas in a Nutcracker Shell

This is life when you are an only child. Lots of attention from Mom and playing "Ring around the Rosie" with your stuffed animals.

Sam has been obsessed with horses for the past little while. He rides anything he can. This includes the arms of the couch, mom and dad, and even dishrags with pictures of horses on them. I knew Santa would have no trouble deciding what Sam needed for Christmas.

Dad gave Sam a Christmas Eve haircut and then we headed over to Israel and Melissa's for Peruvian Christmas. Dinner started at 10:00 PM and presents at midnight. After that we had hot chocolate and Pannetone (Christmas Bread) and made it home by 2:00 AM.




Sam caught on to opening presents pretty quickly. It took him a few tries to remember that there was actually a gift inside the box. Pablo gave him a new pair of shoes. I picked them up and put them away with his other gifts so they wouldn't get lost in all the shuffle. In the midst of playing with the farm toy that his Abuelitos gave him he stopped and looked around. "Shoes?" he asked. Right then and there he removed his "Old" shoes and wanted the cool new Converse sneakers on his feet. Then he had to show them off to everyone.



Christmas Morning

This expression is shock and excitement and wonder. Sam walked into the living room and stopped in his tracks and just stared at the horse. Then he went right to it and petted it and loved it. His expression never changed. He can ride it like crazy. He spent most of the day on it and takes it very seriously.

Merry Christmas!

We finally broke down and put up the Christmas tree. I don't know why we are feeling so scroodgey this year, but we just are not in the Christmas decorating mood around here. Sam on the other hand loves lights and Santa (HoHoHo) and always gets very excited to see everyone else's trees and decorations. In fact he woke up in the middle of the night and asked to go see the Christmas tree. He thinks it is so pretty. He knows he isn't supposed to touch it and is very careful not to. He does get as close as he can and then he blows on it. I think he thinks the lights are candles. (We've celebrated a lot of birthdays lately and he has the blowing out the candles thing figured out.)

We went to Sam's friend Gabe's birthday yesterday and brought home dinosaur stickers. Sam has been enjoying them.

Thanksgiving in Idaho

We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho and then Sam and I spent another week just hanging out while Daniel flew out to Virginia to help his mom move to Utah. Sam loved spending time with Nana and Papa and Lindsey and Andrew.

Sam especially liked playing with Gus. He fed Gus treats and shared his cup with him (Gross, I know). He loved to pet him and tell him to sit. Gus pretty much did his best to ignore Sam, but Sam had the best time.