Baby Sesus Here Are!

Though Christmas isn't quite here yet, Jason is really getting into the season. This is the first Christmas he's really been old enough to understand anything, and his take on everything has been a source of never ending amusement for John and me.

We got out our few decorations the day after Thanksgiving. Jason spent the next few days stealing unused light strings and plugging them in all over the house. We finally found somewhere to keep them out of reach (which is getting progressively harder), and I let him make a wreath with me. He loved making the "tree kircle" and enthusiastically points them out where ever we go. I tried telling him what they were really called, but he insists on "tree kircle" and I think he has a point: they are just tree circles. What kind of word is "wreath" anyway?

I was wrapping presents the other day and had to remind Jason not to touch the scissors. He pouted a little and disappeared for a few minutes. He returned with the pliers from his toy tool set, calmly knelt down next to me and started trying to cut some wrapping paper. When he got tired of that, I tried giving him a piece of tape and some ribbon. I looked up again when he shouted "Look, a bape a kitty! ha HA!" Sure enough, the kitty was batting a piece of ribbon Jason had just taped to its back.

One of Jason's favorite parts of Christmas so far is the tree. For a couple days, he told me and John the story of how we got it over and over again. To get the full effect you would have to hear him tell it as fast as he possibly can, complete with hand gestures. "A tree outside. A Daddy, a (tilts head to one side and swings arm back and forth like he is wildly hacking at something with a saw). Tree a fall down! Oh no (grabs head like the world is ending)! A in car (makes vrooming noise and mimes steering an out of control car)! A tree inside! ha HA! a light (waving all over in the direction of the tree)! a this a here, a here a here, right here! a gar (star), bear, bird, baby Dason! (pointing to ornaments)!! hahaha HA HA HA!!! A LOOK A TREE!!!!"

My mom sent Jason a book of bible stories for pre-shoolers a while a go, which I was convinced he wouldn't be interested in for at least another year. Wrong! The "Sesus" (Jesus) book quickly became one of his favorites. In fact, he is excited about "Sesus" anything. The other day he stole a sermon on CD I had sitting on my nightstand, got his CD player, and turned it on. When I asked what he was doing, he said in a very matter-of-fact voice "A Sesus CD on." Since he is so interested in "Sesus," I decided to try to explain the Christmas story to him using a Nativity set of fabric dolls my mom gave us. At first, I could tell he was tracking at least a little of the the story as he gently laid the baby Jesus doll on the Mary doll's arms. "A Sesus mommy" he said. It was very sweet, but apparently not exciting enough for him. He then took baby Jesus, threw him into his box of stuffed animals, mixed it around, and dramatically gesturing yelled, "oh no! Where baby Sesus go? OH NO!!" He then wildly dug through the mess, triumphantly grabbed Jesus and said "There baby Sesus is. Here are!" At first I just laughedand shook my head. So much for teaching a 2-year-old what Christmas is about. But after I thought about it, it occured to me that, without realizing it, Jason had said something profound. Isn't that what Christmas is all about? "Baby Sesus here are!" I hope that as my son grows up he remembers that Christmas is just that simple and just that exciting.
Merry Christmas!