T h Corny A T G amIr R L

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Post-Christmas

It's the Thursday after Christmas. Big J took the family to the airport this morning and little j and I stayed in bed until 8 and are now up and lounging in the family room in our pjs. She's eating breakfast, watching Playhouse Disney, and playing with her new princess castle -- the average 5-year old multi-tasking. I'm catching up on email and my favorite blogs with a cup of coffee.

We loved having Big J's brother and his partner here for the holiday, but as little j said at bedtime the other night, it's nice to be just the three of us again. (How can one little girl be so perceptive?)

The family room is awash in Christmas gifts. We haven't yet taken the time to put things away. We were truly blessed this holiday with a bounty of gifts. Big J got three (yes, three) flashlights, shiny new tools, books, wine and other fun stuff. I had a cook's dream Christmas with a beautiful glass and chrome blender, yogurt maker (it's been on my list for over 5 years!), canning equipment and book, random kitchen utensils, and, of course, the requisite sudoku puzzle books, not to mention the lovely cookbook with recipes and photographs by my ultra-talented cousin and her partner.

little j had, perhaps, the best Christmas ever. While we were in Oregon she wrote her letter to Santa. Here is her list:

Real live baby pony
Magic wish box
A Pegasus with a horn that can fly by itself
Alive baby turtle
Princess castle
Barbie castle

Ummmmm........what exactly do you do with that? Well, Santa somehow managed to find a princess castle one week before Christmas and get it shipped just in time. Christmas literally stopped when she opened the gift. So Santa did well.

But the best part of the day was first thing in the morning. Every year Santa leaves a present outside little j's door, so she got up and ran into our room and opened a large stuffed pony. Then she said she was going to go downstairs to see if there was anything else. She ran down and was back up half a minute later, excited and breathless. "Mom, Dad! Come downstairs! Santa's been here! Our stockings are full!"

I have rarely seen her so excited. But more than excitement, it was her wonderment that Santa had really come to the house and left gifts. There is absolutely no question in her mind that Santa is real. And the look on her face Christmas morning assured me that he truly is.

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