Skip to main content

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!
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Nice to see that you guys are doing well. Take Care.

David G
11 January 2011 at 15:03
Anonymous said…
Hi Martha

lovly to see you all looking so fab, Toby looks a bundle of fun

Bristol's just been cold and wet for ages, hoping for a little spring sun soon

have bought myself a brevill cup cake cooker, 8 cakes cooked in 10min - yummy, wonder where i got a taste for those?

love
Su, from the Cafe
26 January 2011 at 04:19
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where am I going now? The Portway

I should probably explain why I am pottering around Nottingham and its western suburbs, rather than roaming the Derbyshire countryside. It's not just the abundance of paved paths, although that certainly helps - I recently went on a country walk across a cow field and found myself tiptoeing gingerly across boggy mud cratered with six-inch deep hoof holes. Then I was confronted by a sign which said: Private Property, Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted. I congratulated myself on being on a public right of way, then, a few steps on, consulted the map and realised I wasn't. The path was across a completely different field. nice scenery, though I digress. Apart from the absence of cows and angry landowners, the reason I am walking around Nottingham is that it's the start of the Portway. There is a blog called The Old Roads of Derbyshire , written by a man named Stephen Bailey, who has also published a book of the same name. I can't remember now whether I came across the book fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

Portway: Bramcote Hills to Stanton-by-Dale

I parked in the free car park at Bramcote Hills Park and set off, naturally enough, in the direction of where I'd last been. Up some steps through the woods, along the edge with marvellous views northwards, and down past a school to pick up Moor Lane again. At that point I realised I was supposed to be walking this route in the opposite direction. Oops. Well, it didn't make much difference. It just meant that the Hemlock Stone would come at the end rather than the start. Also, I was doing a figure of eight, so I could switch paths in the middle. That sorted, I pressed on along the disused Nottingham Canal. This had varying amounts of water in it. There were good views back up to the double hump of the Bramcote Hills. Nottingham Canal Also Nottingham Canal Just before I got to Trowell garden centre, I crossed a bridge and walked across a green space to a partly built housing estate. The Boundary Brook had been aggressively re-wiggled. I'm sure it will look better in a year...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Portway: Lenton to the Bramcote Hills

It was cold. My fingers were cold, and my phone was cold too. The OS map was totally failing to find my location, and the more I prodded it the less feeling I had in my fingers, so I gave up, shoved both my phone and my chilly hands into my pockets, and set off. After all, I knew where I was. This was Wollaton Park. And the path was very obvious. Just follow the avenue of trees... ...past the deer... ...and out through the fancy gates. Crossing a busy road brought me into a neat little housing estate with unusual round street signs. This was built when Wollaton Park was sold to Nottingham City Council in 1925. The old gatehouse, Lenton Lodge, is now estranged from the rest of the park, and stands by itself next to Derby Road. The bridge used to go over the Nottingham Canal, which has now been turned back into the River Leen. The unfortunate river got shoved out of the way whenever someone came up with a new building project. This is not its original course. My hands were warming up sli...
Post a Comment
Read more