Hand-it

Our Christmas tree has been up since November and every day we seem to redecorate it. Eva was thrilled to have all the new toys to play with (we kept our delicate German hand-blown glass ornaments in the box this year and hung up all the cheapo stuff instead). So far the damage has been minimal, even though Eva has no qualms about pulling ornaments off the tree. If she cannot reach she demands "hand-it" from us and we have to get it for her. She loves deer (which she calls goats accompanied by 'meee-meee'). "Snow", i.e. snowmen are popular, and of course she adores "santy" - all incarnations of him, in fact. She loves the ornaments and all the toy versions in the windows, and she loves him in the movie "Santa Clause" (which is by the way one of the hokiest movies I have seen). After we watched the movie, without thinking that we are now in a company of a thinking human being, I said to Chris that it was the worst movie I have seen and Eva got upset and started crying. I think that she liked the movie and was mad that we didn't. And I still have this sinking feeling in my stomach that she understands sooooo much more than we give her credit for and we can no longer talk around her.

And speaking of Santy, and Snow and Choo-choos - Philadelphia has a lot to offer in the holiday cheer department, including a good old-fashioned light show, decorated windows, a holiday railroad, lots of pretty lights and a Christmas Carol village, complete with a live Father Christmas at the end. Eva eats it all up (actually sometimes literally, because we do have a chocolate-filled advent calendar, and St. Nicholas came, allbeit 3 days late, because we did not have a chance to buy little chocolates on time, but he did come and Eva is pumped up on sugar from eating ALL of the little santas he brought, also we have started eating our gingerbread house).

The light show is a big hit because it has an image of Santa riding a train and also a "frosty the snoman" act. And the Dickensian Christmas Carol village has windows with ornaments and you can peak on the "chi-chi" (chiken) dinner, dancing, school, and other scenes inside frosted windows. The only thing Eva would not go for is meeting the actual Father Christmas, we had to rush her through his room and get her out before she threw a big fit. Chris took Eva to see the windows again and they "watered" all the Christmas trees (the theme this year is trees, as in tree of joy, tree of beauty, etc.) and they even gave pretend sips of water to the lion and the lamb in the "tree of peace" window. And while I am listing things - Eva was mesmorized by the holiday railroad, even though it is a pathetic reincarnation of the giant one that used to be about 4-5 years ago. But it has a polar express train and 4 others and she cannot get enough of staring at it.

And on this note, I am going to stop, because I am just not capturing the true magic of introducing a child to Christmas with all of its trappings and rituals. Because most of what we do is such a long-standing tradition and we love it so much, Eva is falling for it head over heels and we are falling even more madly in love with her as we watch various holiday lights reflect in her eyes.

This year is too early to make Chris's patient dad take out a grate from the fireplace so that Santa can visit, but next year, you better believe it, Eva will be doing just what her dad did almost 30 years ago and asking to take it out so that Santa can come. And with any luck she will keep asking for many many years because I want her so desperately to keep believeing this wonderful tale, because I think that every kid needs to, as long as they can.