The New Year brought the last of the Chanukah parties. Zoe was a first-timer at my cousin's annual extended family holiday celebration and loved it all.

By now, the word "present" is firmly in her vocabulary as she had been showered with gifts on an almost daily basis for two weeks straight. Her birthday two months earlier was a low-key celebration and the whole gift concept confused her. Now she's on top of the present thing like a big dog.

Speaking of big dogs...Zoe even warmed up a little to (okay, eventually didn't scream at the sight of) Lewis, my cousin's new pound puppy who's just a little smaller than, say, a Volkswagen. The "dog thing" goes back to the orphanage, where there aren't a whole lot of cute puppies running around. There are wild dogs roaming the streets of Yekaterinburg and other cities in Russia, and the children are warned about them without learning the distinction between a "good" dog from a "bad" one.

Latkes were in abundance--106 of them by the official count--and Zoe of course was content with the accompanying applesauce.

As expected, Zoe charmed the crowd as Chanukah 5766 finally came to a close.