Christmas Shopping and Giving

I really enjoy Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year for several reasons. But it is also a season of depression from so many people. And no wonder. The pressure to get everything done by a certain date is overwhelming. There are indecisions about what to buy for each person and whether that purchase is the best buy for the money. I do not have everything finished--the planning, the shopping, the wrapping. Just got the tree up and finally decorated because I couldn't find all the decorations. But it was well worth it when my granddaughter tenderly touched the tree and uttered a long "Oooooooo!" She points out the decorations and tells me about them. She pulls some off the tree and hands them to me as if I had asked her for them. Of course I was wise enough to place child-proof ornaments on the lower branches. Some of the ornaments have traveled all over the house and a few are in her toy box. She is fascinated with the nativities--yes, we have more than one. She tries to hold all three pieces of the ceramic one in her small hands. All is well until she taps them together. At just 14 months, she does not understand why she cannot do that. I introduced her to the styrofoam-covered cups, styrofoam balls, and yarn nativity that is 32 years old. I made it the first year I taught, and it has sat on my desk every year for the school children to look at, touch, rearrange, and talk about. The one shepherd has lost his pipecleaner eyebrows while one shepherdess has a smaller chin, thanks to the help of a curious cat. The value of the styrofoam nativity is beyond measure to me because of my sentimental nature. But the scene of her hugging the shepherd while trying to say the word is priceless. So, yes, she will get to hold them again.