Cam has always been my deep thinker, my over- thinker at times. He enjoyed counting down the days until vacation and then to Christmas.He never waivered in his faith. He knew what he had asked Santa for and didn't bat an eye that his wish would be granted. He wrote a simple letter to Santa the night we went to see the lights: "Dear Santa,
I love you. I would like a go cart. Think you. Love, Cam"
So when he woke up Christmas morning, he was excited to grab his sleepy sister and rush downstairs. They were both amazed at the expansive doll house he had left in the living room for her. It was hard to focus on anything more than the monstrosity of it. He found a small pile for him: his Wimpy Kid books, a few more Disney Infinity figures, some cool things in his stocking. He didn't say a word about, "Where are my toys?" He didn't lash out at Santa in protest, "Where is my go-cart? Seriously, Santa, nothing to play with." Finally he found a tiny box for him that said "open last." He waited patiently and said, "Can I open this one now?" Inside were a pair of keys, and he didn't hesitate a moment to know what the keys were to: "My go cart! These are keys to my go cart!" He checked out the front door- nothing. He ran to the garage door as we scrambled to grab coats and cameras. He scanned the garage and couldn't find anything so we raised the garage door, and there it sat in the driveway adorned with a red bow and some frost from the North Pole. At that moment all was right with the world as we witnessed a little boy's Christmas wish come true.
Maeve loved every part of the Christmas season. She was our decoration elf, helping with anyone who needed to do a little decorating. The night we got out our nativity scene, she played and played with its characters, reciting the story to herself. She was thrilled when I got the addition of the wise men to our scene. She knew just where to arrange them. I loved hearing her sing along to Christmas music and marveled at how many songs she already has remembered in her five Christmases. She was also the cookie decorating extraordinaire when we went to our cookie bake hosted by our friend. She rolled out the gingerbread just right and had fun picking out just the right cookie cutter for her liking. When it was time to decorate them, she picked out her chair and seriously decorated for a straight hour.
She was thrilled to get her light up pillow and blanket from CG on Christmas Eve and her treasured Easy Bake Oven from Santa. Those were the only two items on her list each time anyone would ask her what she wanted. She was dead-set on those two things, and since she had already made her own theory about the naughty/nice list, she probably was only counting on two gifts. (She assumed she was on both lists, so she would be getting a little bit of toys- not a lot or none at all, but somewhere right in the middle). That girl! We made a spot in her room for the dollhouse as we said goodbye to the cutest kitchen set ever. We have mastered the art of the easy bake oven with our diet cookie recipe- break-n-bake mini cookies cut in half and baked for 9 minutes.
With each new year of family Christmas memories, I marvel at how much my babies have grown up right before my eyes throughout the year. I am convinced that these surely are the days.
