Natalie, my sweet charismatic little sister, and Mmangaliso, her excellent husband, brought their adorably enchanting 8 month old daughter, Zukiswa, home for her first Christmas. She was the delight of the season for all of us; especially her Grandmama, who was (there is no other word) made giddy by every cute thing Zuki did. Well, we all were giddy. She’s just so delicious and miraculous and marvelous and… it must be admitted: I’m a doting aunt.
I enjoyed being her doting aunt all by myself for about a week, until Anna, my uber talented big sister, the other doting aunt, came home with Adam, her super fun husband, to join in the admiration and Christmas festivities. 
"Naked baby! Naked baby!" It was a ritualistic bath-time chant as Zuki found herself being de-robed in the living room, then, with the aid of whichever relative got there first, she made her way to the kitchen sink for her personal favorite activity of the day: her evening bath. You can't tell me there isn't purpose in that stride; she knows where she's going.After play-time, changing-time, bottle-time, bath-time and snot-sucking-with-the-weird-snot-sucker-thing-time, came a last round of kisses, and then bed-time, after which everybody over the age of 8 months got to gather around the kitchen table for an incredibly fun game Mom and Dad invented this year. I don't know what we decided to call it besides "The Game" but it has officially been declared a tradition by our Executor of Activities. We, none of us, got tired of it, even after playing it several evenings in a row. It goes like this: you know those candid pictures you usually throw away because someone in it has an expression on their face that looks like they just discovered what monkey spew smells like? Well, Mom and Dad have been keeping those, storing them, saving them up for "The Game." Dad or Mom would show us a picture from their stock, and ask what the unfortunate person pulling the odd face was thinking in the shot. 
About a 30 second silence would follow while we all tried to come up with the wittiest response, then we wrote it down, and turned it in for a vote. Hilarity ensued.
Thus we spent our evenings leading up to Christmas morning. Grampa Zenk came for breakfast, cooked by Anna and Adam who get to have that assignment from now on, say I, and then the present distribution began! We all found ourselves near buried by gifts from each other.
Michael is thinking: "Oh yeah, Dwynne's getting my good side; although I'm a stud from any angle." (Yes, that is a soul patch.)
Adam is thinking: "Uh oh, she's opening mine...I hope Luan likes what I got her...how the heck do you shop for your mother-in-law?" Anna is thinking: "Awww...he is so cute when he's nervous!"
Yup, she liked it. So did Dad, who is thinking he can steal it while she's distracted by having her picture taken.
Here is the "MoNat" family, surrounded by Zuki's presents, and all Zuki can think about is the red bow Mo kept distracting her with. She was so much fun to have around, even though she was a little fussy. We all wondered if she might be teething. She was showing all the signs, according to Mom... a little fever, general fussiness, couldn't sleep, and, oh yes, the gnawing, the biting, the chewing, the chomping...
She's the Chomp Champion, all right. The Champion of Chomp! You better believe it: this baby takes defending her title seriously. Here she is staring Uncle Michael down in a chomp-off. (And yes, a few days after they got home, Natalie called to say that Zuki has two little teeth coming in on her bottom gums. How cute! How sad to have missed such a momentous occasion! Teeth! Imagine that!)
Having everyone one here for Christmas was wonderful. I love my family with all my heart, and I'm very grateful they were able to make it home. Even though I'm here all the time, it feels more like home when they are here. I know its a little late, but Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! May you be safe, and may you find joy in the things that come to pass.
