Christmas

The Monday before Christmas Eve, Gibson discovered that he could pull himself up on the gate. He was thrilled with himself. The next day, he wasn't able to pull himself up, but on Wednesday, watch out! He was trying - and succeeding - to pull himself up on practically anything he could get his hands on. By Christmas Eve (one week later), he was an expert at pulling himself up and standing; he could walk all the way around our living room by holding on to furniture.

Here's my little climber so proud of himself. Just before I took these pictures, he had both feet up on the gate and I needed to get through, so I just swung the gate open with him on it. He thought that was a lot of fun.

My mom and my brother came up for Christmas (my dad decided not to brave the cold weather and 17 hour drive). They arrived Christmas Eve in time for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner: crackers & cheese and mini wieners in barbecue sauce. We each opened one present that night, and then dug in to the mound under the tree the next day. Once he got the hang of things, Gibson really enjoyed ripping the paper off of the boxes.

This little octopus is from my dad. Gibson likes it, but since it makes a lot of sounds, it is relegated to the play pen (that way I only have to hear it from a distance!).Snuggle time with Grammy
Gibson LOVED sitting next to his Uncle David. He sat still a lot longer than I ever would have expected. He especially liked Dave's bolo ties.

About 10:00 on Christmas Day, it started to snow. This is the first White Christmas we've ever had!

About 8 minutes later.
And about 10 minutes after that.

I guess you can't really tell that it's snowing on us, but Gibson came in with snow on his head.

The great thing about Portland snow is that it comes, it's pretty, and then it leaves. The snow lasted for about 5 hours, and then melted away (except for a few patches in lawns). It snowed a little bit the next day, but it wasn't sticking at all.

My mom & brother left on the 30th to drive back home. They had a great drive back, stopping overnight in the little town of Mount Shasta.

We had a wonderful Christmas. Next big event on the horizon: Gibson's First Birthday! What an adventure that will be!