Toby's first Christmas

He was hardly old enough to appreciate the wrapping paper, never mind the presents, but nevertheless 2010 was Toby's first Christmas, and he had the outfit to prove it.

It was also our first Christmas in our own house, in Texas, so it was quite exciting to decide how we wanted to celebrate it. In the event the celebrations got spread over several days, which might not be normal but was certainly fun! The original plans had to be reworked when Mom's flight was cancelled due to snow at Heathrow, so instead of arriving a week before Christmas she actually arrived the day after. We were just glad she could come at all, so cheerfully moved the big Christmas meal to Monday. It's still in the 12 days of Christmas, right?

Mom with children and grandchild

Christmas Eve is the day all the churches have services - one local place advertised five identical services, which made me think that their choir must have all had sore throats on Christmas Day! Our church plant had too few people around to have a service, so we went to their supporting church instead and enjoyed the good music and family atmosphere.

Toby meets Grandma

Christmas Day kicked off with cranberry orange muffins for breakfast, courtesy of
Nigella. I'd made cranberry orange muffins to a different recipe before, but these were definitely superior. I have to admit the cooking did have a bit of a Nigella theme this holiday; I'm a big fan of her recipes. We opened our gifts to each other in the morning, then John and Kristal arrived from their long road trip in the afternoon and we had another round of present-opening.

Next day we Skyped Graham's family, who had managed to rig up a webcam at his aunt and uncle's. Technology is wonderful - they all grouped on the sofa at that end, and we felt almost as if we were sitting in the same room! They enjoyed seeing Toby "live", having only seen photos up to that point.

Monday was Christmas Mark II, with more presents and much cooking. The star dish was ham cooked in Coca Cola (yes, a Nigella recipe) . This didn't quite work as planned; by the time it had finished simmering the meat was falling off the bone and it was all we could do to heave it out of the pot in one piece. It was beautifully tender, and besides, I didn't actually have any mustard powder or black treacle for the glaze, so we ditched the idea of finishing it in the oven and just tucked in.

Toby enjoyed all the extra company and seemed to develop by leaps and bounds just in one week. He's definitely smiling at people now, can lift his head up very well, and even gave us his first coo (though he still prefers grunting and wailing as means of communication). He's getting big, too - we just moved him into 3-6 month size clothes, even though he's not quite 3 months yet. It's sooo much easier to get him into slightly baggy than slightly too tight pajamas, and besides, I needed some new designs to look at! I know you all love them, so here's plenty of Toby-photos to finish with.

Snuggling with Aunt Kristal

Look at my toys, Uncle John!

Smiley happy baby

Zombi-i-e-e-e!

Big blue nappy (yes, he's mostly in cloth diapers now)

All dressed up for a winter walk

Family photo

Just cos I's cute!