The Season

Decorating for Christmas
(Please excuse the shirts, they are from the boys' school and they just love them! I only allow them as pajamas...)

Kai really likes the nativities.

The tree box is even better than the tree!

The boys are so excited for Christmas this year: they are at a fun age.

Jojo is especially excited for the presents, of course. We were decorating the tree the other day and he was going on about what Santa will bring him. I said, "Jo, you know Christmas isn't about the presents?" Without a pause, he said, "Yes it is!" And there's no convincing him otherwise. We'll keep trying though...

Kai is a bit different; he's always been pretty good about the real meaning of Christmas and of course he loves the presents as well. This year, he has decided that Santa is not real, which is just not acceptable in my family. I didn't think I'd deal with that till much later than age seven! Oh well, we've asked him to keep his opinion on the topic to himself since the rest of us believe in Santa. He has been pretty good about it and I think he harbors a secret superiority complex because he alone has "figured it out," not even mom & dad know...

He got to babysit for the first time the other night. We went to a work party and we told him that he was to be in charge of Jojo, and they weren't to bother Grandpa unless there was an emergency. He loved that and Jojo actually seemed pleased as well. I don't know how un-bothered Grandpa stayed but I think Kai took the job pretty seriously. Anyway, we paid him $5 for doing it; a babysitter would have been a lot more so we were pretty happy. He took his money to the school store and spent it all on a present for T. & me! And he is SO excited about it; he keeps asking if we want to open it early. I think he has discovered how good it feels to find a gift that you think someone will really like. That's one of my favorite parts of Christmas, not the shopping, but the shopping for the gift. And I suppose that, while so horrifically materialistic in this day and age, Christmas is about a truly heartfelt Gift.

So they have had a great time this season getting ready for Christmas. They are easy to get out of bed each morning because they get to open the next door on their advent calendars. Jo insists on turning on the Christmas tree lights every single morning even though it's only for 10 minutes before we have to leave. They really got into decorating the tree and setting up the nativities. It's going to be a fun year...