Christmas Paella

With a new baby come new traditions. Andrew and I have celebrated our own Christmas Eve on the 23rd for the past 8 years. This year we decided to start making paella for our little celebration. I hope Lukas likes shellfish! The recipe came from our Williams Sonoma Barcelona cookbook. I wish I could track down some squid ink to make a black rice paella or replicate the rabbit paella I once ate on the beach in Valencia. Or perhaps I just wish I were in Spain. Ten years ago this Christmas my parents and Janet came to visit me while I was living abroad in Spain. I am feeling a bit nostalgic about that Christmas this year - how can a whole decade have passed so quickly? And when did I get so old?

My new caterpillar makes me smile

Lukas' new caterpillar jingles and rattles. It was also a great opportunity to introduce Lukas to the primary colors - in both English and Spanish! He prefers the way Spanish colors sound though...just like his mommy.

This is what happens....

...when you take a two month old on a two week long party circuit all over Northern California. The minute Lukas' head hit the pillow of his carseat today his eyes shut and he fell asleep. He had a lot of catching up to do on naps after all that partying!

San Francisco

Andrew and I had a rare visit to San Francisco the day after Christmas. It was Lukas' first time in the big city! First we stopped at Aunt Ann's new (and very chic) apartment. She has such a knack for decorating and we enjoyed the tea and conversation with her in her cozy living room on the cold and rainy afternoon. We then headed over to see Ryan, Karen, Josselyn, Matt and Dave for dinner. All of them had so much exciting news to share. Ryan's documentary will be playing at a number of film festivals in 2010, Ryan and Karen are moving to Africa, Dave just finished his first semester of law school (or should I say survived), and Josselyn and Matt just returned from a 3 week honeymoon in Australia. Of course our exciting news was the baby this time (: Everyone loved meeting Lukas and I think our friends are still in disbelief that we have a BABY.

Christmas Day at Grande and Papa Choo Choo's

We had a really nice relaxing Christmas morning at Papa Choo Choo and Grande's house. Aunt Janet was there as well which Lukas loved. We opened presents, had a wonderful breakfast and then had dinner with the Murphys. What a wonderful day we had!

Chistmas Eve Fun

Here are photos from our Christmas Eve at Aunt Kathy's and Aunt Elaine's. Not only was it Lukas' first Christmas but also Sienna's and Shay's. They were all such troopers -- Lukas stayed up until 12:45am (I think he was hoping for a glimpse of Santa Claus).

Papa Choo Choo's Xmas Photos

My Dad took some really fun photos of Lukas and family during the four days we were in Lafayette. We always forget to take photos of Lukas with his Papa Choo Choo so I'm glad they figured out a way to take one together. How did you manage that Dad?