The Tree's Inside

It’s amazing what a little kid in the house will do for bringing about some festive cheer. This Thanksgiving holiday, we bundled up and headed out to a local Christmas Tree farm with some good friends of ours. The girls were ecstatic to see rows and rows of trees, wreaths and this hum of activity. It has to be exciting and odd all at the same time to be a few years old during this time of year. We’re bringing a tree inside, dressing it up with lights and knickknacks, wearing funny red hats, hanging socks and more (Jim Gaffigan puts that weirdness in perfect perspective) My daughter's eyes have been extra large these last two days with each new bit of Christmas that we reveal.

Last night, when we tucked her in there was no tree inside, only these ‘big boxes that we’d brought down from the attic’. When she awoke she saw this gorgeous tree decorated and filling our living room with the smell of Christmas. She said, “The tree’s inside, Mommy" with equal parts statement and question. She’s been doing that often. She’ll restate either something we’ve just said or something she’s just figured out as if to make sure we’re making note of it, or as if to remind herself through repetition. And she has this slightly distant look on her face while she thinks about it for a moment.

What I hope for this season is that I’ll see and hear and smell Christmas with new senses. That I will hear my daughter’s repetitious statements not as redundant statements, but as little glimpses of Christmas from a two-foot perspective.