Journeys›Photograph

An Early Christmas With the Baby

·Orinda, California·#winter#bay area#christmas#family#2007
A person kneels, helping a child unwrap a red gift box with Christmas paper on a carpet in front of a floral couch.

We did Christmas a week early this year. The baby sat on the living room floor and worked through the snowman paper with some help — a box of toy pots and pans first, then a pink wooden toaster set that promised nine pieces, sliceable butter included. The box got studied longer than the toy did.

The pots won the day anyway. The little one spent a good stretch of the evening with the smallest one, drinking out of it, chewing the rim, grinning over the top of it. Grandma had the armchair by the tree and mostly just watched, which seemed to be the plan.

By the end of it the baby had abandoned the pile of paper entirely and was standing at the stairs, face pushed between the spindles, drooling on the garland and delighted about it.

A person helps a child unwrap a red gift box with snowman wrapping paper on a carpeted floor.An adult in a patterned jacket and a child look at a pink toy box for a wooden toaster set.A person in a patterned jacket holds a pink wooden toaster toy box, while a child peers over it.A man and a child look at a pink box depicting a toy toaster set, with a painting in the background.An elderly woman sits smiling in an armchair beside a Christmas tree, while a child drinks from a cup on the floor.An older person sits in a chair next to a Christmas tree while a child on the floor drinks from a metal cup.An older person sits in an armchair while a child holds metal pots on the carpet, near a Christmas tree.A smiling child holds onto two wooden balusters with a green garland and red ornaments at the bottom.

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