The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I am so in the Christmas spirit that I can hardly contain it. I'm wishing everyone aside from telemarketers a Merry Christmas (and that's only because we put ourselves on the Do Not Call list). So when we went grocery shopping day before yesterday and I saw Advent calendars, I had a flashback to my childhood and grabbed one. Then I imagined both kids wrestling to open the same tiny perforated window and sharing the tiny chocolate inside that I paid for a second one in the checkout line and grabbed it on the way out to our car.

This morning, before Madeline and Charlie had even finished their breakfast, I handed each of them their calendars and explained that we get to open a window every day leading up to Christmas. Madeline attacked hers and managed to open several windows in the short time that I helped Charlie with his. When they realized there was chocolate inside, their eyes got big and they forgot all about the made-to-order eggs on their plates.

Then this evening, we got caught in rush hour traffic while running an errand and a 30 minute drive took three times as long. But inside our car, we were singing carols and excitedly pointing out any Christmas lights we passed. In my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined the kids would want to stay in the car even a second longer than they had already patiently endured. But they were so excited to look at more Christmas decorations in our neighborhood that we drove around for another half hour, slowing down at every third house to admire all the lights and colored bulbs! I actually had to pump more gas to continue on. Madeline would exclaim, "Ohhhh Mommy, you aren't going to believe what's coming next. Keep going....keep going.....okay! Ta-Da!!"

I've said it before, but having Madeline and Charlie allows me to experience the wonder of things through a child's eyes. And it really is wonderful.