Aunt Debbie

E: "Here's one dollar and four quarters. I'm going back to the hardware store to get that frog for Aunt Debbie."

Me: "But E, you already bought something for Aunt Debbie."

E: "I love her."

The Spirit of the Season

I really look forward to the day E decides to start smiling in photos. Santa could have done better himself.

The boys have to put 10% of their allowance each week into a plastic bag to save for charity. And last week we found a good way to use it. The library has a Christmas tree with cut-out paper mittens on it. Each one has the sex and age of a child, plus a gift they would like. The boys got really into it and each took two. They wondered though, why the kids don't just ask Santa. I replied that perhaps they know that Santa can't bring everything they want, so they use the mittens for the stuff they don't want to waste asking Santa for. Seemed to fly. And they each took great care in choosing the gifts they were purchasing.

The other day in the car, we started talking about our plans for the holiday season and E came out with "You know, Christmas really is all about love." And R came back with "And giving." Woo hoo - despite my total enjoyment of the commercial aspects of Christmas, the boys are really getting it. Yesterday R told me that he feels bad that no one ever really thinks of Santa, so he is going to leave him a thank you note on the mantle on Christmas eve.

Excuse me while I pat myself on the back for a moment :-)