Many Thanks

Oh my, there's so much to be thankful for once again. Our incredible family, the fact that we are all here (except tio Gustavo, we miss you) to celebrate, we are healthy, happy, and safe and warm. We are so incredibly lucky, in every way, and we get to spend our days with family. I'll get some pictures up here soon, we had a wonderful time, and the food once again was amazing. I could go on and on, but I'll just say, there was, as usual, so many wonderful things to eat! (I'll just elaborate slightly for tio G.'s benefit) The turkey, after a moment of crisis, came out better than ever, there were delicious homemade rolls, pork roast, sweet and regular potatoes, salad, lengua (which I never eat, but everyone else seems to enjoy), pickled shrimp, various cheeses, and 9 different desserts (only 5 of which were store bought). I'm not a big dessert fan, but my mother's pear tart was really something to behold this year. I'll get some pics. up I promise.
The whole day today Domingo was in his "salsa" as my mom likes to say. We went swimming in Tia Laly's pool, played with so many toys, sang songs, danced around, and got to spend time with the primas, Emma and Mateo, and Elena. He is payng for all that fun and excitement now, as Chris tries to put him to sleep at (gulp) almost 9:00 p.m! And he's a screaming angry over-tired mess, where as 10 minutes ago he was a screaming slap-happy giddy ball of energy. So much for Mommy's theory of "kids just naturally fall asleep when they're tired!" Yeah, sorry it just doesn't work that way. But for one day, today, it was worth it.
Today there were so many kids in the living room, it looked like a day care. And Domingo is so enamored of other children. He was following the twins around jumping up and down and squealing in delight at their every move. He's taken to calling them both "Fia". He'll scream "Fia, Fia" and we'll say, "Who is that?" gesturing at Graciela, and he'll look, stop fo a second and scream "Fia, Fia".
And they are both so sweet with him. Yeah, they'll often forget that he's not so steady on his feet, and blow past him only to leave him plopped on his butt, or they'll take a toy he's playing with, just because they can, or they'll get mad when he is drinking their juice, but mostly they hug and kiss and play with him, and laugh with sheer joy when he says something or does something, like they cannot believe this little lump of pudding is finally actually doing stuff. It's great to watch them grow up together. I couldn't ask for more.
What a day. I really am truly thankful.