Thursday, December 20, 2007

Christmas 2007



It’s nearly Christmas, and the excitement here is palpable. HH rings the brass bells on the front door, plays “Oh Tannenbaum” on the music box and sits for long spells staring at the nativity scene that swirls in a never-ending carousel powered by the warm air rising from the radiator above which it rests, spinning it’s delicate wind mill top.

This is the first Christmas when HH has some concrete idea of what is about to happen and he is counting down the days. Each morning when he sits at the breakfast table, he reaches for his Christmas calendar to open the next window and pull out a piece of chocolate. Then he scrunches up his fingers to display the number of days until Christmas. He still has some trouble getting his fingers to cooperate and has to literally fold them out one by one making numbers over five a challenge. Four and ten are is favorite numbers because they are the easiest to manipulate so more often than not, those are the numbers he uses.

It is a magical time and I feel fortunate to be able to share it with him. I have to resist the impulse to spend our last coppers on gifts – I don’t want it to be all about the gifts anyway – but the idea of him waking up on Christmas morning and finding bundles of presents under the tree is a powerful incentive to spend.

However you spend the coming days, I hope they are joy-filled … I’ll be back in the New Year.

Until then …

Peace

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