Maggie's Christmas Tree

Maggie is enthralled with our Christmas tree.

Actually, she calls it Maggie's Christmas tree. Her favorite question to ask is Maggie Kwis'mus twee dooin'? I usually respond with something like oh, just sitting there looking pretty for you, at which point she runs over and stops just before her feet touch the tree skirt and just stares at it.
She knows not to go past the tree skirt, and not to play with the ornaments - though she really, really wants to. Sometimes I look over and ask her what she's doing and hear, "I not toushin', Mommy. I just yookin'!" (I'm not touching, Mommy. I'm just looking!)

Now, after all the ornament-protecting reinforcement, I feel a bit Grinchy when my sweet girl looks at me and says, I just yookin', Mommy. Like I've taken something fun away from her for no reason.

Not that Maggie is complaining, or even pushing boundaries. It's just me.

*sigh*

Next year I think we will be investing in ornaments for the bottom half of our tree that aren't breakable or sentimental.

Or Maggie will just get her own little tree. My girl just wants to enjoy her Christmas tree, after all J

1st Sunday of Advent

Readings:
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37

Reflection:
Most of us shudder remembering the "all-nighters" we pulled in college - cramming all night for that eight-thirty exam, finishing that paper due to a professor by ten o'clock in the morning. Before we realize it, the fourteen weeks of the semester were over - and a mountain of papers had to be completed and exams passed. So, compelled by the fear of flunking out and fortified by caffeine, we read and memorized and typed and highlighted until dawn.

Did you ever find yourself driving all night for an important meeting? Last minute complications or a cnaceled flight meant driving until dawn to be there on time.

Or you've had to be up early for an appointment or meeting. You're so afraid of oversleeping or so keyed up over your presentation or the meeting's outcome that you wake up every twenty minutes. You eventually accept the reality that you will not be getting much sleep this night until the meeting is over and done.

And many of us know the anxiety of keeping vigil all night at the bedside of someone we love: the couple awaiting the birth of their child, the spouse pacing anxiously in the hospital waiting room, family members offering what comfort they can as a loved one slips into eternity. After a long night, life is transformed as morning dawns. These "short nights" we have all kept are all experiences of Advent, the first season of the liturgical year that focuses on the last days. Our lives are a constant Advent: The precious and limited time we live is but a "short night" in which we have much to do and complete before the morning of eternity dawns. Advent calls us to stay awake and not sleep through the opportunities life gives us to discover God and the things of God. Advents calls us to "watch," to pay attention to the signs of God's unmistakable presence in our lives, to live every day of our lives as a gift from God.

Meditation: In what ways have you been most recently reminded how brief and precious life is?

Prayer: Come, Lord, into the Advent of our lives. Come, open our eyes that we may see your hand in all things. Come, fill our hearts with a spirit of humble gratitude that we may realize the gift of our days. Come, illuminate the paths we walk with the light of your wisdome as we journey to your dwelling place.

from "Daily Reflections for Advent and Christmas: Waiting in Joyful Hope 2011-12" by Jay V. Cormier

Theology with Maggie

I purchased a Fisher-Price Little People nativity for Maggie a few months ago, and have been looking forward to the day I would begin really explaining Christmas to her. I also liked that she could have her own nativity, as mine is ceramic and was painted for me by my mom when I was a little girl.

I decided tonight was the night I was going to teach my daughter what Christmas was all about. I sat down with her and talked to her as I unpackaged the pieces, telling her about each one as I pulled it out of the box. I explained that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday. I told her who his mommy & daddy & step-daddy are, and explained that he did not have a fancy hospital with doctors and nurses around when he was born, just his parents and the dirty stable and all the animals that lived there. We set up her nativity and went over everything a few times, and she repeated my words back to me. I was so thrilled and proud.

Well. I don't think I'll be invited to teach Sunday school any time soon. Apparently my theology lesson went awry somewhere, because when I asked her to tell Hubby what she had, she looked back at her nativity then at Hubby and said, "I haf elmos."

Yes. Her nativity is filled with Elmos.

Maggie is currently sliding the Baby Jesus down the top of the stable because he is in a sled, not a manger. The angel has been flown all over the room, and Maggie is very interested in the pwesents from the three wise men.

She just redeemed me a little - when I asked her who the presents were for, she said, "fa Gee-za burfdee" (for Jesus' birthday), then ran off to fly her yellow giraffe around the room.

At least some of the story stuck :)

Maggie Words

Heard from the back seat on the way home tonight:
As I stopped at a red light on the way home earlier this week, then began a right turn, Maggie yelled at me from back seat:

Wed yight, Mommy! Wed a 'top! Yoo, a gween one - gween fa go! (Red light, Mommy! Red is stop Look, a green one - green for go!)

She doesn't yet grasp the right-on-red concept J

I Go Twick-a-Tweatin'!

Maggie is an official fan of Halloween.

Her biggest excitement leading up to the day was getting to wear her Cinderella dress. My mom made it for her, and after Maggie had a heartbreaking little cry after being fitted and then made to take it off (due to the fact is wasn't finished and had a few pins in it), we made sure to keep it hidden until I took it home with us Friday afternoon.

Doodlebug tried to convince me all weekend to let her wear the costume, even pushing my arms away when I was trying to dress her Saturday morning, saying, "No, mommy, no. I wear Cindy-gweyee dwess. I pincess." I agreed that she is, indeed, a princess, but that we needed to save her special dress for Halloween, to which I received a bowed head and muted, "Oh. Okay," in reply. (I admit, she kind of made me feel like a mean mommy at that moment but I didn't want her costume to get messed up by hard playing or the cats that currently claim our domicile as their own private kingdom.)

Finally, Halloween arrived, and once Maggie was in her dress, she twirled and posed to her heart's content. Actually, that's not exactly true. When I was putting my camera away after taking (a bajillion) pictures of her, she said to me, "Mommy, Mommy! Takey pic-tur a Maggie!" My girl can be a bit of a show-off when it comes to her pretty dresses :)

We all went to my parents' home for chili, cornbread and trick-or-treating. As went walked with Maggie to the first couple of houses, you could see the wheels in her head turning as she was figuring out this whole Halloween thing. For her it basically boiled down to this: I get to dress up like my favorite princess AND people give me candy. This holiday rocks!

Once she got the hang of it, all we heard was "I go twick-a-tweating" and "I get tweats". Of course, after we were back at the house, she wanted to eat the tweats. She had that daggum treat bag every time I turned around. The girl's reach is long, y'all. Tabletops are no longer off-limits to a tippy-toed pincess on the hunt for tweats.

All in all, a fun day for everyone, especially the Doodle, I mean, I'm sorry, Cindy-gweyee.

By her permission, you may also call her Princess Maggie.

P.S. When Hubby dropped Maggie off at my mom's this morning, the first thing she said was, "Nana, I go twick-a-tweatin'!" The girl was all ready to do it again!