Christmas Conversations

Marielle (abbreviated Me) and I had some great conversations this last week. The first one stemmed from Grandma's reading of The Lion King as a bedtime story. Me became fixated on the the elephant graveyard, bringing it up again and again. MK thought Me is too young for the full explanation, but Dad, as a self-respecting carnivore, took the opportunity to explain the Circle of Life. Holding nothing back, I explained the bones were dead elephants eaten clean by hyenas. Two days later dead elephants bones were apparently still on her mind. This little gem of a conversation comes from Christmas Eve:

Dad: ...and Santa brings presents to the good girls and boys. You've been good haven't you? You help mom with Jenna.
Me: I help her eat. But not like the hyenas. They eat the elephants skin and ears. [pause] But I don't know what happened to their eyes.
Dad: Yeah, I don't know.
Me: I think they ate them.
Dad: Yeah, I think so.
Me: And their noses. [pause] And their teeth.
Dad: No, not their teeth.
[Cue mom, coming in to say goodnight, and horrified that they are YET AGAIN talking about that page!]


Lest you think my daughter only talks about elephant bones, here is another conversation I found funny. To make sure you get where she's coming from she calls any time in the past "last week."

Dad: Who gave you the floor puzzle?
Me: Grandma
Dad: No, Mom and Dad gave it to you.
Me: When did you get it?
Dad: We bought it at the store.
Me: No, when did you get it?
Dad: Last week.
Me: Oh, before you had kids?
Dad: No, we had you and Jenna. You just weren't with us at the store.
Me: Who was I with?
Dad: Me.
Me: Oh. And mom bought it?

See Marielle, we do have lives even when you are not watching.

Merry Christmas Confusion

This year has been really fun for me as a parent because Marielle is starting to understand what Christmas is. But I will emphasize, starting to understand. The fun began when we brought out our box of decorations. First, Marielle wanted to know what presents were inside, so I had to explain it just had decorations and the presents would come later. Thankfully, she accepted this and waited anxiously for me to open the box. Once we opened the box, I enjoyed hearing Marielle ooh and aah over every ornament exclaiming each time, "Look what Santa brought us!" I thought it was so cute, so I just let our Christmas surprises continue. Her excitement hit it's peak when she found a Santa ornament, "Mom! Santa brought SANTA!"

Another source of confusion has been the advent calendar. We have a cute little house with 25 doors. Yesterday we were at the checkout at Kmart (don't judge me, we have no Target) and Marielle asks me, "What Christmas is it today?" I was so confused but after I probed her more, I realized she wanted to know what door we should open today, or more specifically is it time to open the big door with a 25 and a cupcake on it? As I have said many times since the initiation of our advent calendar, "Not yet."

Today I asked Marielle what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas. She answered simply, "I don't know, I'll decide when he gets here." I'm just wondering how she thinks this visit is going to go considering she refused to go anywhere near Santa this year at our Ward Party.
This was a close as she was getting. We didn't even try to get a picture on his lap this year. On the other hand, Jenna was an easy sell.
A fun tradition we started this year is each morning after breakfast we read a Christmas picture book cuddled on the couch while we're still cozy in our PJs. One of her books shows a scene of kids reenacting the Nativity. Marielle wanted to try our own so I happily complied and pulled out blankets and towels. We didn't have a lot of roles in our Christmas scene, but all the major parts were filled (notice we did have Pink Bear and Pig attending the manger). Baby Jesus was slightly uncooperative, but Marielle had a good time singing lullabies anyway.
Tonight we went for a drive to see Christmas Lights. Marielle was really easy to please and gasped anytime we saw even the tiniest string of lights. We were on our way to particular house I'd heard about, but our little Marielle was asleep before we arrived. It wasn't even 7:00 yet, but then again she was awake at 6:30 this morning. I guess we'll try again tomorrow night.
Hope your Christmas Season is turning out wonderful too!

She Knows My Heart

This morning Marielle wanted to draw a picture for me. I was delighted when she held up the picture and I saw a picture of the person I love most in all the world (children excluded of course).

Do you recognize Ryan? I think he looks smashingly handsome in person and in print.