Holiday Spirit

This was Toby after we opened our gifts at the house. He was drunk off the holiday spirit. Can you tell?

Christmas is definitely one of Toby's favorite holidays: (1) because we're home more than usual, and (2) because he gets to go on a car ride. This year, we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Jeff's family, which meant we all got to spend some quality time with Dakota (the one-year-old Glenn family puppy):

Toby is seven years her senior, so needless to say, he was asleep the minute we got in the car to head home. Dakota is all play, all the time. It was actually the first time I really realized how old mature Toby is getting; he was all, "Please just let me just lay here and chew on this bone." -- and she was just like "Play now, chew later, old man." Toby secretly loved the attention, though he'd never admit it.

Anyhow, before Christmas day arrived, we had a few great moments with friends at the house; mainly, we had our annual "latkah night" that I mentioned here.

Our friend Jacqueline takes care of us in the food department always. Not only did she prepare this meal, but she told us the story of Hanukkah while we ate it. She is like the wise Canadian grandmother I never had.

Later that week, I took Jac's latkah recipe and made good ole' fashioned American hashbrowns, turkey bacon, and white chocolate chip pancakes for Lauren, Matthew, and Hudson. It was the biggest meal I have made in the new house, and I was quite impressed with myself -- seeing as I'd never made pancakes or hashbrowns before. Don't judge me.

Here was the scene immediately following the meal:

Even Toby was out.

Honestly, when Toby makes that face, I know all is as it should be.

Speaking of faces; take a look at my reaction when I was opening my present from Jeff.

It was the unicorn of all things magical; a 27" iMac.

That's my "oh-no-you-didn't-but-I'm-so-happy-you-did" face.

I also got this pink Craftsman tool bag. (I am usually not overly thrilled about this level of cuteness, but this was hard to deny.) We bought Dad the traditional red and black one for all of this trips to and from the house. We'll be twins. A little bribery goes a long way, right? 

It was a really great holiday. Jeff received a ton of new tools for the house, and this really hip hand-held console that plays Super Nintendo cartridges from the 80s. (From yours truly, of course.)

Don't let his cool demeanor fool you ... he was pumped.

Leo, on the other hand, was not impressed by the whole holiday experience and tried to escape by crawling into every. single. box. that. we. opened.

Here's to the warm holiday season, and the approaching new year.

Ryan