Holidaze in my mind

Christmas is here again, and I love it, need it, so glad to be in it. It sneaks up on me every year... even with the shopping, the planning, the constant eating... suddenly its the weekend before the big dayze. This is not necessarily a complaint, but my stoney mind can't help but do a private but sincere Keanu "wooooooow....christmas....dude" and think on it all, as I am fond of doing. It goes without saying (though I am going to say it, watch me) - this whole Holiday-magic-fiasco thing has a whole different flavor now that we have a child in our lives. That child, our own little fat ball of Christmas ham, my amazing little boy, Maximo Lobo! Just saying his name fills me full of awesome-ness. Christmas has always been very special for Andrea and I , both fans of the basic trappings of the holiday, both big fans of giving each other gifts, and I am in particular always happy to have another reason to celebrate our lives (drink) and reflect on days past (smoke). Holiday 2008, now with 100% more joy in easy to love and care for baby form. As a child, growing up a poor immigrant in California, times were simple but always very happy. I seemed to have believed in Santa longer than most, even when I knew it was one of the Dads in costume sneaking around outside the house. I guess I just thought they were agents of Santa or something,... I don't know, but the prospect of presents in just a few hours put all questions aside, much like as an adult the prospect of good times, money, drugs or sex makes rationality take a back seat. God bless the magic of presents, in their myriad forms.

Maximo is almost 4 months old

Maximo, as mentioned above, is just awesome. Lucky to have created our most recent version of Real-Life 2.0 in a way that we spend all day with him, we have gotten to watch all the slight and sudden changes in our son. Maximo has recently gone from just smiling to now laughing, and laughing without physical provocation (i.e. tickling, shoving face in his belly, etc). You can just look at him the right way, and off he goes. A human's early laughter is beyond primal, it's new and heartfelt. Everything he does is so new, so first time, so brutally honest...and I already miss this era. He has recently found his hands, and clearly decided that they are not only functional for grabbing things like hair, skin, toys, but are also absolutely delicious. Those fingers spend more time in his mouth than I do with a drink in my hand! All in all, pretty cool little developments. Maximo also has an even coat of hair on his head, leaving behind the funny but not so fancy 2 month era of rocking the Danny Devito - comb over - baby pattern baldness. Good laughs not-surprisingly low on fashion power. We recently took him to a new doctor who like alot, and she told us he is the 90% percentile for weight, and a few months ahead in his development, mostly shown by his hand fetish discussed above. All in all, a healthy little boy with the world ahead of him. I can't wait to show it to him. Andrea got to show him the magic of Santa last week...Mexican Santa that is. At the mall in Vallarta, Andrea took Maxxi to start a long standing tradition of sitting on Santa's lap. It seems Mexican Santas don't Ho Ho Ho as much as "He he he..." - a bit creepier to hear it told. Maximo was his usual calm, cool and collected self, sitting casually on the creepy red-dressed man's lap, pretty happy just...being. That's my boy. We Villarrubia men ain't afraid of no-one, even creepy costumed mexican men, no matter how scary that sounds.

Sunny Sayulita Christmas

We are now in high season here in our lovely Sayulita, and the weather is just a great thing for us. We get to spend free days on the beach, watching our Son enjoy his first experiences with sand, sun, salt water, etc... I can't wait for him to be able to walk and enjoy the beach in a different way, but for now this is one of the best presents ever.

This has been an amazing year for me. My wonderful wife and I have made a life for ourselves in our dream-land, our Son is happy and healthy and all I can say is that I can't wait to write about the days to come, and to share in the joy ahead with all our loved ones, and with anyone who wanders into this wordy web.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or joyous whatever it is you celebrate at year's end...may all your dreams come true this year ahead.

Happy New Year!