Giving

I have realized in the past how easy it is to let oneself forget the real meaning of Christmas in the midst of all the holiday tasks, but never more so than now, with a two year old in the house. Earlier this month I asked him what Christmas was about and he promptly replied "Timas tee" and "Timas yites." (Christmas tree, Christmas lights.) Right, time for some instruction. So I've been trying to have lots of little conversations about Jesus' birth being the reason we celebrate and it seems to be sinking in.

But even a two year old can't help but notice that presents play a large-ish role in this holiday. So we're teaching him that we give gifts to each other because God gave a gift (Jesus) to us. I thought it'd be nice to let Austin choose a gift for Esther. I asked him what kind of present he thought she'd like. "A pink pe-sent." Um, let's not think about the color, what do you think she'd like to play with? "The duck book." Yep, no doubt she would like that because we already own it. Better make this choice more visual.

We had to go to Walmart this morning to pick up Christmas cards (nothing like putting things off to the last minute) so we wandered over to the toy section. I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that Austin's first pick was a large dump truck. I finally located a shelf of appropriate baby toys, reminded him that we were thinking about what Esther would like, and I think he made a nice choice. Doesn't even use batteries. :) Now shh, don't tell Esther what she's getting.