Some Light Christmas Fare

A couple of great Christmas stories so far this year.

The first is from my friend (we'll call him Michael) who lives with his girlfriend and her two kids. They were fully engaged this last Saturday in the annual putting up of the outdoor Christmas lights. The kids were running around the yard "helping." The oldest child came up to Michael as he was was calculating the number of bulbs that were out and would need replacement. She says to him, "Ya know my Dad only had one light burn out this year. Isn't that great?" Michael replies, "Yes, that's great." Then she went on, "I mean, after being outside on the house all year, we totally thought more of them would have burned out."

The second is from my house. We have an advent calendar that was mine as a child. It's a long felt scroll with a numbered felt pocked for December 1 - 24. The pockets are filled with little pieces of paper that have an activity for the day. Some of them are small (tell your mom you love her) others are more involved (make homemade Christmas cards for your grandparents). Yesterday the slip of paper directed my kids to "tell a friend two things you really like about them." So, I sent them off to school that morning and told them they could report back to me at the end of the day. At pick-up my daughter, without prompting, came and told me she told Neeve that she was a great artist and a funny friend. I I then asked Henry if he'd done it. "Oops, I forgot," he says and without missing a beat he turns to his friend Eli and says, "Eli, I like how you fart and how you burp."