December 12, 2014
“Pretty!” Joelle carefully touched the Christmas bow on
one of the shiny packages. “Pretty!” She
touched each package with her right pointer, clasping her juice glass to her body
with her left hand. “Pretty!”
As Dana read
the Christmas story from an illustrated board book, Joelle wriggled out of her
arms to touch the presents again.
“Pretty!” Shawn lay on the floor
with Benjamin tussling his hair. Joseph
sat on the couch surveying the scene. I
sat on the floor, half-listening to the familiar and precious story as I
watched the wriggly activity of my two grandchildren.
Once
Benjamin received the sock monkey Dana got him, he was perfectly happy. He wandered about the room and down the hall
twirling his newest treasure. He only
became upset when his parents tried to involve him in unwrapping his
presents.
Unexpectedly,
Joelle did not try to unwrap hers but was content to watch Mommy do it. When the box of plastic food toys was opened,
she descended on it, grabbing items to carry around. And when the kitchen set appeared, she ran
right over to it and began taking the hanging utensils down and opening
doors. At the very end of the evening,
once Shawn assembled the shopping cart, she busily loaded it with her plastic
groceries, baby, and Benjamin’s furry Elmo ball.
Benjamin did
enjoy the spinning gears, but he ignored the Elmo flashlight and only briefly
tolerated the fuzzy Elmo ball. Joelle
was enchanted with it all, and really liked the flashlight show on the wall in
the darkened room.
Joseph made
appreciative sounds over the new khakis, shirt, and video as well as the
earphones. He laughed and closely
examined the jumbo package of hot sauces.
Shawn was delighted with his super hero T-shirts, pruning clippers, and
eagle pens. Dana was totally surprised
by the Lord of the Rings DVD set, appreciative of the muffin tin and cookie
sheet, and liked the decorative notepads.
Shawn and Dana expressed delight over the card offering each one a free
massage at Wellness for Life. I was
happy to see a long-wanted copy of Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling, a Bath and Body Works lotion, and a magnet Christmas
picture of Benjamin and Joelle.
Thus went
our early Christmas—after a delicious pot roast and decadent chocolate lava
cake. I thought about how blessed I am
to be with my family—and I also wondered why I do not remember well the general
mayhem of small children and establishing family traditions. I rather enjoy not being a manager of the
mayhem!
Joelle’s
initial comment—“Pretty!”—sums up our early celebration of Christmas rather
well. It was pretty awesome.
