Kiss My Knits!

Em is chock full of Christmas spirit. She’s got her day planned out. A bath at 4 so that her hair will be dry by bedtime, then bedtime at 6. I’ve talked her back to 7 because I don’t want her to lie awake in her bed for hours on end. Tomorrow, she wants me to ring a special Christmas bell to wake her if I wake up before she does. I’d say the chances of me getting up before Christmas’s Biggest Fan are pretty slim, but I’ll see what I can do.

We used to have a Christmas bell that belonged to my grandmother, who collected bells. Em knocked it off a table this year. She was heartbroken, crying quietly to herself. I myself was very sad because it was a bell that had belonged to my grandmother, but of course you can’t get mad at a child for something like that. It was clear that she genuinely felt awful. I still have a few other bells that my grandmother had, and they’re metal. Big brass bells, that’s what I got from my grandmother! Oh, come on, she had a good sense of humor.

However, we still needed a replacement bell if we were going to ring something on Christmas morning. I had to visit five different places before I found a Christmas bell that wasn’t a jingle bell. Do NOT go out to a specialty Christmas store in December. Just don’t. It’s a madhouse.

I finally got a bisque bell at Michael’s and picked up some paint in Christmas colors. I hoped that making it extra Christmasy ourselves would ease the pain a bit. And it did. Em did a wonderful job. When I think about all the occupational therapy she’s had, and how amazingly far she’s come, I’m filled with motherly pride.

Em loves the new bell. Christmas is back on track. All is right with the world.

Em: “Do you know why Santa doesn’t come until Christmas Eve?”
Me: “No, why?”
Em: “Because sometimes Santa doesn’t wrap presents, and if he came before Christmas Eve, everybody would know what they had before Christmas.”

I have it on good authority that a certain little girl is going to get exactly what she asked for from Santa this year. She’s certainly been good.