Merry Christmas!

Audrey and Arthur stayed with us last night for Christmas Eve, so they were here when we woke up this morning. We had a lovely time opening gifts this morning before breakfast. Maya got a great variety of neat gifts from all kinds of fun people.









One of her presents from santa was a digital camera; as you can see, Maya's already been experimenting with nature photography.




Grandma got her pretend chef and vet costumes, which she also put to good use today.


The rest of the clan and Miryung came over in the afternoon for playtime and dinner. Maya and Miryung had a great time outside on their scooters and skateboards; my parents got Maya the radio flyer. Maya's friend Alex next door got the same scooter!


Aunt Becky brought the makings of a tea party, and she and Maya and Jocelyn had tea, cookies, and soup in the kitchen in Maya's room.

(Pretend like the family portrait I took isn't completely blurry. I think everyone's nicely arranged, don't you? What was that autofocus focusing on?)

Nuffin for Christmas

Maya and I were driving home through the neighborhood yesterday, and people had their Christmas decorations out. Maya said: "Mom, it's going to be Christmas time soon." I said, "Is that right Maya?" Maya said, "Yeah, I want to tell daddy it's going to be Christmas time soon." I said, "OK. What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?" Maya said, "Um... some drums. And a car." I said, "Oh, but you already have a drum and some cars. Is there anything else you want?" Maya said, "No, I don't want nuffin for Christmas." I said, "You don't want any presents from Santa?" Maya said, "No. I don't want any presents." I said, "OK, that's fine. I'll just get your presents instead." Maya said, "No, you don't want any presents EITHER."

PS. Why is it that a 2 year old can say "eiTHer" just fine, but "noTHing" comes out "nuffin"?

Madrid: Saturday

Saturday morning, Tim went on a run with Susan and Jeremy to take them through the parts of Madrid we'd seen previously. Then we all met up to see the sights of Royal Madrid. We started at the Palacio Real, where, after standing in line for a while, we saw the interior of the palace, which has been was home to the royal family in the 18th and 19th centuries but has also been used recently for state events. We also got to see the royal pharmacy and royal armory (which included a set of armor for a four year old). After the palace, we headed across the square to visit the Cathedral. It was vast inside, but more contemporary than many of the churches we've seen in Europe. After lunch, we headed to the Park Oeste to see the Temple de Debod, an Egyptian temple that was given as a thank you gift to one of the kings of Spain. From the park, we caught the Teleferico across to the Casa de Campo, which gave us nice views back to the sights of Madrid. When we returned, we wandered through the Plaza de Espana, where we saw a nice statue of Don Quixote and shopped a bit in a flea market. After a little bit of a rest, we headed back out to enjoy the holiday lights in the streets and to wander through the neighborhoods of Chueca and Malasana. We stopped at a couple of places for tapas as we wandered.

Madrid Day 4: Royal Madrid

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Madrid: Friday

Today we planned to go to Toledo, a small town half an hour outside of Madrid by train. When we got to the train station, we missed the first train standing in line to get tickets. Then the second train was sold out. So we ended up on the 12:20 train to Toledo. So we spent the morning wandering the main shopping streets in town. When we did finally get to Toledo, we climbed up the hill the city sits on to see a variety of really old buildings (surprise), including a Synagogue, the Cathedral, a hospital, and several others. The cathedral was gigantic and magnificent. (Luckily, we weren't allowed to take photos inside, or I think we might still be there.) We wandered back to the train station to catch our (sold out) train back to Madrid. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the holiday lights that workers have been putting up the past couple of days were all lit up. We wandered through the streets looking at the lights and the crowds and ended up back at our hotel. We're waiting on a couple of friends who are joining us for the weekend before we head back out to dinner.

Madrid Day 3: Shopping and Toledo

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