This particular day comes every year about this time..... the neighbor and their children who live down the road stops by at all the other neighbors to give everyone a pretty poinsettia plant. The children hide behind their mother or their father (whichever one makes the delivery) and they're always very quiet, whispering "Merrrry Crissssmus" before they run back down the porch steps.
The first year we lived here, I was unprepared for their early Christmas delivery, so I gave them some boxed cookies that I had in the house. The kids were thrilled... chocolate chip cookies were their favorite, their father told me.
The second year, I gave them Christmas story books, and the kids were happy.... books were their favorites, their mother said.
Since that year with the story books, I've kept two baskets filled with little toys and gifts and books for young children. The little gifts are wrapped in polka-dotted cellophane bags with bright ribbons (pink for the girls, blue for the boys), and the books are a mixture of Christmas stories and popular children's authors.
The kids absolutely love the baskets, and make their choices very carefully.... gently picking up the cellophane bags and peeking in-between the polka-dots at the prize inside... and sometimes finding it hard to decide. Today, I told the kids they could each have two choices. I thought that would make it easier for them.... but it seemed to make it more difficult.
The two younger kids chose packages of candy and little toys, and the eight-yr-old girl chose a book and a little Christmas angel with sequined wings. Very quietly, as she walked down the porch steps, I heard her whispering "Angels are my favorite."
I will have to remember to put more angels into the Christmas basket for next year.
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