Christmas wonder

The highlight of our Christmas vacation in Las Vegas was visiting a lights display in the evening on Christmas. A parking lot had been turned into a very large enchanted forest of Christmas trees, elf houses, plastic Santas, snowmen, one kajillion lights, and a mini train. I was amazed at the spectacle and variety of it all, so I think it really blew Elias's mind! He is such a fan of lights and this was a super-concentrated treatment of the stuff.

We spent most of an hour walking through the turns of the forest path, which was just long enough before it would have become too much. I mostly held him, because if we put him down he would start running along the path, yelling and pointing dramatically. Unfortunately our camera had been stolen just before the vacation, so we were limited to pictures with our phones (though I think Grampa, or "paw", got some good pics with his camera). A real train track weaved through the forest, and everytime it went by full of kids we'd watch in amazement at the "choo-choo". At last we boarded the train, with Elias sitting on Mommy and Daddy, and I couldn't have been happier for the little man, it was just too great for words. Exactly as Christmas should be: full of wonder and fun.

It was a late night, and when we hit the bedroom I think Elias was asleep within five minutes, dreaming of a thousand blinking colored lights no doubt.

A visit to Santaland

Elias started out his 17th month by visiting Santa for a second time. Whereas his first visit to The Jolly One was very understated (about half the room was screaming Elias's name to try to get him to turn his drooler up into a smile), this time Santa's jolly redness was most unwelcome. We didn't torture Elias on Santa's knee long before making an Amy sandwich between Elias and the knee, but it wasn't until Elias got 10 feet away from the fat red man before the crying disappeared completely and the spectacle of Meier & Frank's Christmas decorations once again fascinated Elias (who is a big fan of lights).



Afterwards, in Pioneer Square in front of the big Christmas tree: