Christmas comes but once a year.

The Christmas period has been a hectic one for me at Cañaote. For about two weeks now we have had no staff working with the monkeys. All the scrubbing and cleaning, bedding changing, dish washing and food preparation has been done by me. I should be exhausted but secretly I have enjoyed every minute.
There seems to be little thought about the little Jesus, born in a Shepard's manger with a crib for a bed. I am saddened by this attitude. The heavy commercialization of Christmas goes on with little regard for the simplicity of life that our Lord taught us. But enough of my complaining. All the children are well except Nancy, who has a bad cold. She is suspicious of the medicine and has been difficult to treat. Even wiping her nose angers Emma, who thinks I am trying to take Nancy away from her. In spite of the lack of staff, the monkeys have celebrated the Christmas and New Year in fine style. All have had a turkey dinner and Christmas pudding. Marco has been outside his enclosure quite often over the last few days but doesn't need much encouragement to return to his house.
Today’s photograph shows Totto looking out of his window. Shortly we are to construct a new home for him and Sophie, inside the security fence. His human family has furnished the substantial funds needed for this big job. We are very grateful for their help in this task.