Christmas Spirit

Riley is developing a keen Christmas spirit. It all began with some lights and standard bulb ornaments that Brigitte put up on the plants in Cambridge as part of her deck-the-halls campaign. Riley loved them. Especially the bulbs—she likes to pull the hangar part off and stick her finger in the little hole.

There was also one of those sealed globes with the snowman, tree, and fake snow that you’re supposed to shake up. It didn’t survive too long, but it was fun while it lasted. And here’s Riley sporting her red reindeer shirt.

These Christmasy feelings eventually matured into a more general fascination with Chistmas trees: first at Chloe’s family’s party, and then at the various trees we found in the many airports we visited on our way to South Africa.

Four flights and a few nights later, Riley discovered fiber optics on the streets of Cape Town. Some guy was selling those flower-shaped fountain light things on the street (basically a bundle of fiber optic strands with colored LEDs in the base) and we spent ages it seemed touching them (or almost touching, then pulling away) while Elise bought some topical pain gel for Riley’s two new front teeth. Then a few days later, to Riley’s delight, we found an entire Christmas tree filled with fiber optic lights in a restaurant:

(There’s a video, too. Although you can’t see much, you can hear Riley’s squeals.)

Riley’s fascination is not limited to lights (although those remain her favorite). There was a small tree at the inn where we stayed for most of the week, and Riley usually spent most of breakfast playing with the faux packages under the tree and various ornaments that were within her reach. Riley spent much of dinner on New Year’s Eve looking at the tree in Jimmy’s Killer Prawns in Cape Town. She was quite popular with the wait staff: they even let her keep one of the ornaments from the tree. (Not that it was her first—just the first she had permission to take.)

By the time we made it to Chicago O’Hare on our way back to Boston (don’t ask), Riley would let out a little squeak and point to the Christmas decorations in every new room we walked into. I was so proud.