Christmas Excitement

Well, with a month still to go until Christmas, the girls are both so excited they can hardly stand it.  Both were up at the crack of dawn this morning, raring to go.  My day began with Madeleine's little knock on my bedroom door.

ME: Yes?
MADELEINE: Mommy!  I had a WISH in my BED!

WOW.  How exciting!  And totally worth waking me up to tell me about.

I tried to ask the girls to play quietly in Madeleine's room until 7, but after about ten minutes of hearing their rampant rambunctious squealing and thumping through the bedroom wall, I gave up and brought them downstairs.  Madeleine scooted herself onto the potty, suddenly distracted by the candle Ethan had placed on the back of the toilet.

MADELEINE: (pointing at the candle) Mom, Daddy BLOWED this out, so there wouldn't be FIRE cast on us.

Phew.  What a smart Daddy.  I'm so relieved that there was no fire cast on us.

As we drove Ethan to his church choir gig after breakfast, the Christmas mania continued, as well as the impetus for the most ridiculous argument ever.

MADELEINE: Mom?  WHEN is it gonna be Christmas?
ME: In one month.
MADELEINE: Is it Christmas TODAY?
ME: No, honey, not yet.  Right now it's Advent, which means the time of year when we get READY for Christmas.
MADELEINE: (turning to Julia) Julia, uh, my mommy said it's not Christmas yet.
JULIA: Madeleine.  You said MY MOMMY.  YOUR mommy is MY mommy too.  So don't just call her YOUR Mommy.

Yeah, Madeleine.  How dare you?

Julia is, in fact, anticipating Christmas so eagerly that she decided to make pictoral graphs of the gifts she'd like to get her sister and father.  This is after she already made and wrapped several hand-crafted gifts and put them under the tree.  Apparently her little love notes saying things like "I love you much" were not satisfying enough, however, as she felt the need to put a wide range of possible gift options on her pictograph.  Madeleine's was full of animals and dolls, while Ethan's was more varied:

Julia's planned Christmas gifts for her daddy

Just in case you can't decipher Julia's incredibly clear drawings, I will translate for you: beer, bagels, coffee, a Barbie doll, America's Next Top Model, a tiger, a woolly mammoth, and yoga.

I think that's a pretty achievable and realistic gift list, don't you?

The Christmas spirit was with us on our drive to and from church, as we listened to various holiday songs, singing along to the ones we know.  And on our way home, as both girls were whining and grumping at each other, I sharply asked them what was going on to cause such grouchiness.

JULIA: Well, Mama, I think the reason we're all so GRUMPY is because, like, we're just so EXCITED for Christmas, and it's, like, the only thing that's really on our MIND.

Aha.  Makes perfect sense.  I too get grumpy when I'm so excited for an event that is characterized by love and giving.  I'm glad that the cheery holiday spirit is infusing my girls so deeply.


Maybe they just need to unwrap a woolly mammoth to help them bide the long wait until Christmas morning.