The San Francisco Treat!

Happy New Year! This past year has really flown by. It is hard to believe that in only a month, we will celebrate the anniversary of our first Family Day!

We spent much of our holiday break getting ready for Christmas and just hanging out at home. It was really special and we enjoyed being home with Joy for two whole weeks. Joy loved the tree and was actually pretty helpful at putting up the ornaments. We decorated a teeny tree for her room and I think she liked that even better. She seemed kind of confused today, as we took down the tree down. I told her it needed to go "back outside" and she seemed O.K. with that explanation.

Her favorite gift by far was one that Santa brought. It was "My First Dollhouse" by Fisher Price. She must have played with for two straight hours on Christmas Morning. I would have done the same. It has a working doorbell and a phone!

Christmas Day was wonderful and we hosted dinner here in our cozy condo. I cooked turkey for the first time and was so curious about how it turned out that I took a bite! (Please don't tell the Vegetarian Police.) I can see why people like turkey. Thank goodness for those turkey oven bags.

On the day after Christmas, we packed up and headed up to San Francisco to visit Paul's brother, Jim, his wife Marta and our three nephews, Benjamin, Alex and Daniel. We had a fantastic time there. They were great hosts and it was amazing how quickly Joy made herself at home. One of her favorite past times was climbing up and down the stairs and taking apart all the Lego creations in her cousins' room. I love San Francisco and to be there with Paul and Joy was really fun for me. I am so impressed with how well our nephews treated Joy.

Despite a really bad cold on my part, we able were to get to China Town and to Yerba Buena Gardens and have a lovely time with some old friends as well. There really is something special about that city.

My sister-in-law noticed that Joy's language had changed a lot since they all came down here for Thanksgiving. It happens so gradually that it is sometime hard to notice. Then she will say something that totally surprises me, like counting to ten all by herself on the airplane!

One "treat" that was really touching for me happened on the the first night that we were there. Joy woke up in the middle of the night had trouble getting back to sleep. She was pretty upset. I offered to hold her and she crawled into my arms and fell fast asleep. That is something that has not happened for a long time and usually only happens if there is a warm bottle of milk involved. It felt really good to be able to comfort her. For the rest of the trip she was a bit of a mommy's girl, but that is just fine with me.

To celebrate the New Year, we went out last night with Sam, David and Jarrah for Chinese food and to see the Del Mar Festival of Lights. It was a wonderful end to our two weeks off. We ate a restaurant called "Double Happiness" which is something we say about Joy and Jarrah. They even have matching "Double Happiness" necklaces that they wore last night. A lady in the restaurant asked if they were twins and I answered, "No, just good friends!"

Here is to all of our friends and family...We are lucky to have you...Happy New Year!