ELMO Sanabria's mother has already traveled from Puerto Rico twice this year to visit her new grandson.

Elmo's wife, Maribel, has had several family members visit, as well. A bunch gathered last month for Thanksgiving.

So for Christmas this year, it was pretty much the Spotsylvania County couple and the 15-month-old son, Kevin, they adopted in February from Florida.

And the couple in their 12th year of marriage couldn't have been more thrilled to start a lifetime of new holiday traditions and joy with the 29-pound, 32-inch-tall bundle of energy who has become the apple of their eye.

"I come home and through the door and he wants me to get down and play," said a beaming Elmo, 44, who works as an engineer at Dahlgren. "Being a parent, it's more than you can be prepared for; it's just so rewarding, such a blessing."

Maribel, 46, concurs, the light in her eyes speaking volumes about the emotions and gratitude she feels for the youngster who has brought extra joy to her home this holiday season.

The Sanabrias, who have lived in the Fredericksburg area for six years, were tasked with recording all the typical Christmas events for family members in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Arizona and Puerto Rico, where they both grew up.

"They all want pictures of Kevin opening gifts, seeing a tree, all that stuff," Elmo said last week. "And we want to record it all, too. It's exciting to have this first Christmas as a family."

Maribel, who works part time for LUCHA, an outreach ministry for Latinos in the Fredericksburg area, was also excited to take Kevin to see Santa at a holiday event near Spotsylvania Courthouse.

"But he just cried and didn't want to see him," she said, smiling. "We tried."

Both the Sanabrias say the adoption process they went through was soul-wearing tough, four years of deliberations and attempts to first adopt a child from China, then to get a child in this country through an adoption agency in Indiana.