Life with London: Christmas 2008

We spent this past Christmas in North Carolina with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, mom, dad, brother-in-law's mom, and brother-in-law's dad. There has to be an easier way to say that. Pern and I hitched a ride down on Christmas Eve with my parents. We were scheduled to leave for the UK on the 26th, so we arranged to fly out of Raleigh and then back into Dulles on the 1st. Hence, we had no car in NC. The Prius enjoyed a little garage time at my parents house while we were all in NC. I hope we didn't spoil her. She seemed like herself when we picked her up on Thursday...

Ava is now one year old. This means she has almost no interest in presents but loves boxes, bags, bows, and wrapping paper.

She is also babbling non-stop. Here she and my mom have an in-depth conversation about something sqealy.

My dad gave Pern the last remaining Scotch glasses from his mother's collection. Pern has become a Scotch drinker in the last few months. I make him sound like an alcoholic. He's not. Maybe I should say he has "acquired a taste" for Scotch. Does that sound better?

Hey, look! It's me! One of the drawbacks to being the official photographer at events is that there is never any evidence that I was even there! Thanks for grabbing the camera from time to time, Pern! I hate seeing pictures of myself, but it's nice to know there are some :)

My dad has already started encouraging bad behavior in his grand-daughter. Like beating up Auntie K for example...

But when she's this cute, can you hold a grudge?

"No more picture's please! Please! I said no more pictures!"

Richard and Joanna (Joe's parents) arrived later in the afternoon and the gift giving continued.

Dale was very excited to get a set of building blocks that she wanted. I mean, that she wanted for Ava. Although... I'm not sure who's more excited: Ava or Dale.