Christmas and Grace

Grace is also excited for Christmas. Here are a few stories about her:

1) Grace loves our calendar. We keep track of the days of the week and major holidays. Grace loves to countdown the days until Christmas. Each day she corrects Caleb and counts down for him.

2) Grace loves to organize; it is in her blood. She is constantly moving the presents under the tree to make sure they are sorted and ordered appropriately. Fortunately, we have only had six present under the tree for most of the season.

She also loves to organize our nativities. We only have four of them and she can reach three. Recently, she set all of them up in the baby's room. Fortunately, we are not at my parents' house this year. I would have heart failure if she tried to organize and rearrange their nativities.

3) Grace and Santa have had a rocky relationship. When she was small, Santa scared her. We have some great pictures of her screaming on Santa's lap. Last year, she made a break through and sat on his lap. She reverted back to old habits this year.

She would not sit on his lap "because she was scared", which did not make sense. Now why would a child not want to sit on Santa's lap when she knows Santa will bring presents? Her answer would be: What if you don't know what you want for Christmas? Grace did not know what she wanted for Christmas, so she would not sit on his lap.

(It is hard for her to know what to ask for since she doesn't play with toys. Santa should bring her markers, paper, a stapler, and some tape. She would love that.)

4) Mary has read "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey" to Grace and Caleb a number of times. At the beginning of the story, Mr. Toomey is not overly fond of Christmas, even a little Scrooge-ish. But a little boy helps him enjoy Christmas. There are many good Christmas themes in this book, but what is the line Grace and Caleb repeat from this book?

"Christmas is pish-posh."

You never know what your children will get from a story.