A Single Present

I'd originally planned to leave the Christmas tree bare of presents. I thought it would be exciting for Sarah to wake up on Christmas morning to find the once barren tree loaded with colorful packages. And exclamations of, can you believe Santa hauled all of those packages in his little sleigh? Wow! Magical!

Ah, but like most of my fabulous plans this idea was chucked. In the mail came a package for Sarah yesterday. She can recognize that damn S now. So, I couldn't pretend it was for someone else. By the time I'd unloaded the groceries from the car, she'd already shredded the brown paper from the exterior to reveal glorious red paper and a giant gold bow. I caught her as she was about to rip into the glorious red paper. "But mama! It's for me! It says for Sarah." "No, Sarah. You have to wait until Christmas morning." "No! It says open right away!" "I'm sorry. You have to wait until Christmas. I know! Why don't we put it under the Christmas tree?"

She stopped mid tear, loving the idea and sprinted to find the perfect spot for her gift. Who thought that suggestion would work? Not me. My backup plan was to tell her that Santa would be very angry if she opened the package. (Yes, I know that's a bad idea. Don't send mail.)



So, this single gift under the tree is thrilling Sarah and she's eager to share the thrill. Early this morning she crawled into bed with us. "Daddy, I have a present under the tree." "Hmmmpfhh..." "Do you want to go see it?" "Not yet, Sarah." "It's beautiful." "UmmmHmmmm..." Then, pitter-patter of little feet headed down the stairs. Rummaging under the tree. A little girl running up the stairs to show her gift to her sleepy daddy.

Thanks, Marilyn and Allen! Your gift has already spread much joy - especially to Mike.