It's 6:30 on Christmas morning. I'm watching A Christmas Story on TBS. Gussie and I are the only ones awake. December has been eventful this year, but our Christmas will be relatively small. My parents were in town all last week. We had a family Christmas with my brother and sisters families on Sunday. Mia got a Buzz Lightyear and Woody Doll. She has been carrying Buzz around since the moment she laid eyes on him. She's almost stopped caring about PJ, it's all about Buzz. It's as if the plot of Toy Story is actually playing itself out here in our home.

Monday morning, we took of for Silverthorne. A small mountain town that is in close proximity to Keystone, Breckenridge and Copper ski resorts. We rented a house with our family friends the Rehms. It snowed every day. We played Yahtzee, Connect 4 and Blokus. We took Mia sledding. We ate big.

Now the whirlwind is over and the house is quiet. I don't think Mia grasps the concept of Christmas yet. I think the only part of Christmas that she truly cares about are the lights. I took her to zoo lights about two weeks ago. She may have been the only kid there who was more interested in the lights in the trees than the animals in the park.

I'll have to convince her to open her gifts today. As always, she is wary of any expectations placed on her. She assumes that if I'm asking her to do something, she won't like it. I gave her meatloaf for dinner last night. She refused to feed herself and only took bites if I fed her. Even then she waited minutes between bites, whining as I held the fork in front of her face. She reluctantly opened her mouth and chewed in open mouth bites. Acting as if she may gag with each swallow. After dinner we watched the cartoon version of the Grinch (which she loved) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (she lost interest quickly).