Thanks Santa!

We were so excited to see Luke come down the stairs this morning to see the gifts that Santa left under the tree. Here's how it went - he looked at the new toys and scooted over to an old toy in the corner... perfect.

But once he discovered the new loot he had a ball moving from one thing to the next, trying them out. And we Skyped with Chris, Lauren and Andie, who got to watch Luke open their gift.

Keith is just back from a quick trip to the hospital to see a patient (he's on call; can you believe it - a dermatologist had to go in on Christmas Day?!)

Now we're playing with the new stuff and starting to prepare Christmas dinner. It has been a really nice Christmas so far.

Christmas Eve

A great way to spend Christmas Eve day in Utah.

First time on skis

Yesterday was Christmas Eve and we spent the afternoon at Alta.

My Mom & Dad watched Luke in the lodge while Keith and I skied a few runs.

Then Luke took his first-ever run on his own skis!

Our friends Meredith, Ben and Max were there too, so Luke and Max also enjoyed a few runs on Max's "snow boat" (sled). It was a beautiful afternoon at Alta - crisp and sunny with blue skies.

Santa's lap...or not

Pilar invited us to her condo complex Monday night for dinner and to meet Santa. The other (older) kids excitedly sat on his lap, told them their Christmas present wishes, and claimed a candy cane. As you can see from the photo, Luke clung to me and cried. I think Santa was offended.

Luckily, our friend Erin, whose 4 1/2 year old was one of the really excited kids and whose same-age-as-Luke daughter did fine on the old guy's lap, captured this classic moment for us on film.

Christmas tree

We put up our tree on Friday night and thought Luke would be into it... not so much. I could barely even get him to stand near it to get a photo. He did try to go after a few ornaments, though, which is why they are all placed high on the tree.

Alta

Today we took Luke to Alta for the afternoon. He's a little too small for real skis and boots so we checked a few stores for plastic strap-on skis. Sadly they only had plastic snowboards -- terrible!

So, I ordered some online and Keith gave Luke his first into to skiing by toting him up the rope tow and carrying him down the bunny slope. He loved it and did the sign language sign for "more" over and over each time the got to the bottom.

As soon as the plastic skis arrive we'll get him back up there so he can try on his own!

Beware the tipping mannequin

So, I took Luke with me into a women's clothing store today to look for Christmas gifts. While browsing a rack I felt something fall onto me and turned to find a mannequin, who promptly hit the floor. One of her arms fell off and was stuck in her blouse. It wasn't a shocker to find Luke standing behind the fallen model looking a little surprised.

Before I could even register what had happened, two older sales women were on the scene looking really annoyed (they must have scaled racks to get there so quickly).

I stood the mannequin back up and said "sorry about that... Luke - you can't touch these..." I was a little embarrassed. One of the sales women gave me a dirty look, while the other immediately started tending to the mannequin as though it was a real person who had been plowed over by a truck or punched in the face.

Meanwhile, I picked Luke up and moved him out of the way, feeling surprised that they didn't offer something kind like "is he ok?" or "are you ok?" or a "don't worry about it." No, there was none of that. In fact, at that moment a third sales woman came over and said (sounding concerned) "Is she ok?" SHE WAS REFERRING TO THE MANNEQUIN. I laughed out loud and carried Luke out of the store.

Here was my thought process as we left the store:

1. Do these women not have children / grandchildren?

2. It's not like Luke purposely threw a rock through the front window or puked on the floor or did something else that would have caused them expense or inconvenience. I'm sure worse accidents have been caused by adults in the store.

3. Get a life.

4. I don't like your store anyway.