O, Christmas Tree!

The Christmas season is more fun with a toddler. Ben and I share a piece of chocolate from the Advent calendar every day. He enjoys looking at all the lights. But most of all, he loves the Christmas tree.

As soon as he finishes nursing in the mornings, he jumps out of the glider rocker and declares, "Christmas tree!" I follow my pajamaed boy out into the living room while he inspects all his favorite ornaments: "Motorcycle. Angel. Choo-choo. Grapes." This morning, he found his personalized jingle bell ornament, then sat on my lap in front of the tree and demanded, "Sing jingle bell song." He sang along off-key: "Jingle bell jingle bell horsey."


Ben is very concrete this Christmas. He likes knowing the words for each ornament. He points out the colors of the lights. The words he learns from the tree and the ornaments lead to songs: Angels We Have Heard on High, O Christmas Tree, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. This year, it's pointless to argue whether Santa exists; he's on the advent calendar and at the mall, so for Ben debating his existence is like arguing whether jingle bells are real.

One of Ben's favorite ornaments is Baby Bear, which was a gift from my mother-in-law the Christmas I was pregnant. Baby Bear wears a blue sleeper and holds jingle bells and a bottle. ("He was separated from his mama," I explained to Ben, "so he needs to take a bottle.") Yesterday, Ben pointed to Baby Bear's brown tail. "Pooping," he said. This morning, after pointing out all the other ornaments, Ben got to "pooping bear."

That's one of the nicest things about having children: their ability to render you speechless with laughter. I'll never look at that poor bear the same way again.