christmas

what a beautiful and exhausting day! gabe's first christmas could not have gone better. he was not at all interested in the wrapping paper. steve and i gave him a little piano, and he played obsessively with it all day. when he hit the keys, he opened his mouth in astonishment and joy and started jumping up and down. i made homemade cinnamon rolls (delicious and definitely going to be a yearly tradition) and a batch of jam thumbprint cookies to give away with the homemade hot cocoa mix i put together a few nights ago. while i was in the kitchen, steve and gabe played in the living room and watched "its a wonderful life" and "curb your enthusiasm" (a gift to steve). at one point, steve came to me with the piano box and out popped a thrilled (yet slightly confused) gabe. it was such a nice and slow-paced morning.

i took so many beautiful pictures of our morning together (probably too many), and was so excited to share them, but somehow, at the end of the day, i managed to erase them all. dont know what happened. guess i will have to savor that one in my memory.

in the late afternoon, we were joined by john, ofie and katie. we had a big dinner and opened more gifts, and just enjoyed being in the company of the people we love. i stole a few pictures from katie of gabe, so here is what i have to offer from our day...

but dont worry, we still have two (yes, two!) more christmases to go. one tonight and one tomorrow, as we travel the state of florida visiting family. i am sure that i will more than make up for the pictures lost in the next few days.

until then, merry christmas!