(More) Sweet Christmas!

Every year at Christmas, I'm afraid it's going to be the last one that's covered in naivete....that the innocence of it all is going to be polluted.  Does that make sense?  My children (and I don't suppose they're that much different from others) find the purest joy from the simplest things.  I love watching that happen.  We don't "do Santa Claus" for several reasons, and people have been so generous to share their opinions about that.  We do, however, provide lots of opportunities for discovering unexpected joy on many days throughout the year.  When we wake in the morning sometimes and I whisper, "There's new work in the cupboard," I love seeing their faces light up and watching them run out of the room.  (Really.  It's the delight I savor....not the few extra minutes in bed.)

Christmas provides a little more of that, I think, just because children love to see what's in those boxes that stay way up high on the garage shelves most of the year.  One of my dear aunts gave us a lollipop tree one year, and this year I had the idea to make some "lollipops" for it.  While JayBird napped one day, The Girl and I cut some lollipop sticks in half and glued on some pom-poms.  They dried overnight, and the next morning the children found them in a basket ready to decorate the tree.  They get used for lots of things:  lollipops, of course, and also fingernail polishers, something that gets cooked regularly (I have no idea), baby bottles, and who knows what else.  I just know I find them all over the house.  But that morning, they did decorate the tree.

Is that the sweetest thing ever?

JayBird really enjoyed this work.

The Girl is also "interested to" (as she would say) nativity scenes so you can imagine her excitement when she received a new one from another of my sweet aunts.

Well, she was excited until she realized that Baby Jesus does not come out of the manger.  She's managed to put aside her disappointment and enjoy it anyway.  One night, I surprised her by setting it up in a little play space.  She actually woke up while I was working on it and had the groggiest, sweetest little smile as she toddled back to bed.

The Girl loves to move the Wise Men around on the roads, and JayBird likes to be sure the animals stay hydrated.

We just have the sweetest of times with the simplest of things.  No flashing lights.  No noisy toys.  Lollipop sticks.  Pom-poms.  A hand-me-down nativity scene, some felt, and wine corks.  Two sweet babies, and two smitten parents.  That's all we need.  So when I say, "We have limits on things," or "We don't do Santa," just know that our home is (usually) filled with discovery and delight (to borrow a phrase) that the toy stores could never package.