This could be the first Christmas that Dani will remember. They say that your earliest memories start at three years old. Who knows? Time will tell. It is certainly the first one that he has really been aware of and taken an active role in.

After one week of festivities we finally managed to throw out the carrot. You know; the one that I had to take a bite out of. Well if you still don’t know then I will tell you. This is the carrot that is left near the Christmas tree to provide sustenance to Rudolph (or one of the other reindeer) who, strangely enough, only ever takes a single bite, deliberately leaving “evidence” of their visit.

At first I didn’t think he had bought the old story. But it turns out that Dani actually thought it would be a good idea to keep the gnawed carrot – “in case Rudolph comes back for the rest of it”. How wonderful is the mind of a child?

After nearly a week he seemed to forget about it. Maybe it was the distraction of another Three Kings event (more on this to come). Whatever the reason the now dried out vegetable found its way to the bin. For the record; I didn’t even bother with the little snifter for Santa Claus. Next year though…

In with the New…

This New Year’s Eve he managed to stay up till after midnight to see in the new year. Another first for him. He sang Christmas carols with is cousin Susana and they watched the fireworks from their grandmother’s apartment. The problem was that staying up partying after midnight was only half the story. He didn’t know when to quit. When we finally got him home after 3am he still didn’t want to go to bed. He insisted that he should have some supper before retiring to his room. And as you know when a three-year old insists on something it usually ends somewhere between loud crying and total meltdown. Too much noise for 3 o’clock in the morning. I just wanted to crash out! Finally, we did.

And so, another year begins…