Goodbye Cabo & Substitute Christmas

Since there had been a lot of complaining about the lack of a Christmas tree, worry about how Santa would find us in Mexico, and moaning about wanting to go home, I tried to find some holiday stuff to enjoy:

Lucie even gave Brennan a special present of her very own - a new name!

This is the morning I noticed she used the same set of nonsense syllables to refer to him - we were pointing and she was answering "who's that?" with "mommy", "daddy", "baby" (herself), and finally, "Badeedah!"  He initially thought it was hilarious, then frustrating ("my name is Brennan!"), and now has moved on to acceptance and responds to the new name - which has really upped Lucie's ability to order him around.

Our flight home was in the late afternoon, so we managed one more morning at the pool.

But then it was time to load up the rental car, stop in San Jose for lunch - where I had my favorite fish tacos of the entire trip and wished we would have tried that unassuming corner cafe the first night -  and head to the airport.

At which point a certain little boy informed me that he wanted to stay in Mexico, and that he was sad to be leaving.

Bye-bye, Cabo!

We had vague yet ambitious plans to put out all the presents the moment we arrived home, so the kids could go into the living room and see what Santa had left while we were away.  The logistics of unloading 2 little kids and all our luggage from the car, while simultaneously setting up a Christmas surprise in secret probably would have been challenging.  Luckily, Lucie passed out in the car, so we got to defer until the following morning.  Here's the loot under the "I don't want that fake tree":

Lucie is dressed because she's still wearing the clothes she fell asleep in on the way home.  She was as excited to hand out gifts as she was to open her own.  

There were lots of great gifts from Santa, Grambo & Grandpa Uwe, Gangi & Grandpa Marshall, Uncle Gavin & Aunt Amy, Auntie Kris & Auntie Birgit.  Brennan can now cover a room in train tracks, and I'm still not tired of listening to Lucie make her dinosaur noise.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!