North Pole?

It doesn't quite feel like the North Pole. There's a cool slide, but it's not covered in snow. Us kids are wearing shorts. Hmm! Something just doesn't seem right. Has Global warming affected the great north to such an extent? Maybe Al Gore and David Suzuki are right.

Just Chillin'

I don't know too much about this guy Santa Claus that everyone

is talking about. But, I get to go for a nice ride so I'm just pleased as punch with that.

Slicked up

I'm all set to meet Santa in person. I've got my hair all styled, my wish list memorized, my cool tropical shirt on and some cookies in my back pocket in case St. Nick gets hungry.

Santa's Helpers

If you piece these photos like has been done, it's as if they're all sitting together in a car. Oh wait - They are! Just don't tell the Ontario Ministry of Transportation about the lack of car seats. Alas, this is Cuba!

Arrival

Mommy caught me and Papa unawares in this artistic shot. What do you expect? Papa just arrived and was amazed to see warm weather again.

The team

The project is nearly complete in this photo, with only the chimney remaining. This was a great team effort, led by Grandma, but let's not forget Mommy behind the camera who rolled all the gingerbread and suffered for it for over a week.

Candy House

With a new generation of young ones, a Burger Christmas tradition has been reborn. The annual Gingerbread Christmas house. While Grandma's job has always been to bake and build the house, it looks like Soren has taken away Daddy's old job of decorating the house with candies. Mommy helped out this year in the construction, but we'll have to convince her to do it again next year. Opa's job stayed the same - eat the smarties!

Sugar Ray Soren

With Darius Ali looking on, Sugar Ray Soren is getting in some good punches on the bag. His favorite combo is 2 right jabs, followed by a left uppercut.

Daddy & the Christmas Boys

Hey Daddy, one of these things is not like the other. Somebody doesn't have their Christmas PJs on. It apparently didn't matter to Santa though as you got some prizes too.

Opa Stocking

Even Opa got gifts from Santa. Clearly he has no discrepancy for age. He must have been a good Opa this year.

Mr. Marley's Turn

When Santa comes to town, everybody who's been good receives some reward. It looks like Mr. Marley was a good watchdog this year as he is receiving some Christmas cookies.

Santa's Little Helper

When I'm not opening gifts, I'm making sure that everybody else has a gift to open. I'm learning that the best part of Christmas is giving and making everybody else happy. Besides, you never know if someone else might receive a cooler gift than you that you could check out.

What's Over there?

While I'm comfortable on this little cushion, I can see on yonder that somebody is opening a gift. Perhaps it's something I can either steal or break...

Little Drummer Boy

A great little gift for a little man who likes to bang things and make noise. Believe me, you don't need to be able to talk to make noise.

This is how he does it

I'll show you, Grandma. He comes down this chimney and he lands on both feet, just like this. Of course, he's got a sack of goodies with him and he really has to squeeze down the chimney. It's probably from all of those chocolate chip cookies he eats.

The Best Give Ever

Just my Daddy when he was younger, all I ever need is a ball. I could sense that this gift under the tree was for me even if I couldn't read the tag. Okay, I'm done, see you next Christmas!

Olympic Rings

2008 was an Olympic year so why not play with these five rings. The only this is, these weren't new under the tree for Christmas. Sometimes what you already have is just as good as something new. I must have sneaked away while the other prizes were being opened.

Christmas Breakfast

After all of these prizes from Santa, I hope I wasn't the only one getting hungry. Of course, I'm always ready for some food. This was probably my 2nd breakfast.

Emmy Emmies

Oh Santa! M&Ms. How did you know these weren't available here? We'll take any food offerings you can give us.

Gimme, gimme, gimme

I'm usually not very greedy. Except, that is, when we're talking about food. Gimme some more popcorn. It's Christmas, I want more!

Grandma's Stocking

Looks like Grandma was a good Grandma in 2008 as she's got some prizes too from Santa. Of course, she was good. She visited me in Cuba 3 times. January, April and again in December for Christmas.

A Work Belt

Someone may grow up to be pretty handy. Santa gave me a work belt, which will get me started.

Darius Stocking

Are you kidding me mommy? This stocking is twice the size

of me. All I really need is one prize which will keep me occupied for a few hours. That, and the wrapping paper.

Darius Stocking

Are you kidding me, mommy? This stocking is twice as large as me. All I need is just one little prize and I'll be happy for a couple of hours.

Merry Christmas Grandma!

We hope you're ready for your 2nd Christmas in Cuba. 2 years ago, it was Soren's 1st Christmas but there was no Darius. How things have changed since then. This will be a whole other experience. Of course, Uncle Carl & Aunt Kathy are not here this year with Abigail, but we'll see them in the New year.

Santa Came!

Here is the evidence! Prizes under the tree. And you get to see our reaction upon seeing that Santa had arrived.

Christmas Excitement

By this point, the rumours were out that Santa had arrived. Opa spilled the beans that he had heard something during the night. You can see the type of reaction this brought from the pyjama boys.

Merry Christmas Marley

Mr. Marley gets a face wash for Christmas. This is what he gets for jumping up on my big boy bed.

Hurry it up Mommy!

I want to see the tree and the prizes under the tree!

1st Christmas

By 1st Christmas, we mean that Santa came twice this year.

Opa & Grandma came for an early Christmas visit, so Santa made arrangements to come twice to Cuba. Just like lots of Canadians, he wasn't going to say no to 2 visits to the tropics. So here we are, waiting for Grandma to be ready so we can go see what's under the tree. Notice our Christmas pyjamas.

Day trip

Overlooking the valley of Vinales, Mommy took a timeout from the scenery to take a few shots of me. Can you tell I'm having fun on this trip?

Valley of Vinales

Check out this beautiful scenery. The mountains that look like buffaloes are called mogotes.

Rocking away

All of these shots without any training.

Don't make me jump!

I'll do it, I swear. I'll jump the 1 foot drop if you don't give me some leche. Don't test me mommy!

Strike a pose

Mommy seems like to have some good art direction. I was trying to jump off this rock when she asked me to pose next to it. Something to do with art, she said.

Zoom in, Zoom out

It was pretty neat to see how they had painted the rock cliff. When you zoom out, you get some perspective on how large this work of art is. Or maybe you just get perspective on how small I am.

Between a rock and a hard place

Well, not really, it only looks that way because I didn't want to smile for the camera. I certainly had a great time with Opa & Grandma on this excursion.