Christmas Cookies

We have been enjoying Christmas so much this year. Grantham is starting to understand Christmas (Santa, giving, and even Jesus’s birth). We started by adopting a family with a group here in MS, something we love to do and would encourage everyone to try. It is always a little overwhelming buying undershirts, coats, and clothes for an unknown family. But it is such a blessing to know that they will get to experience a little of the Christmas spirit because God has blessed us with so much. This year we threw a little Christmas party for the neighborhood kids. The pictures are of us making cookies for the party. The kids enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate while making ornaments for a local nursing home. If you read our previous blog you know that we visited Santa (pretty successfully- without tears), but somewhere along the way Grantham realized that he forgot to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. After a few days of him being very concerned that Santa would not know what to bring him, I took him to see the Santa at the mall. Grantham was not so warm to this Santa as the one at Bass Proshop but insisted that I tell Santa for him what he wanted. I did and we began to leave Santa’s “designated” area. A tantrum began??? What is wrong we just saw Santa and now we are having a meltdown. Grantham began begging to see Santa again but there were other people behind us that I did not think would appreciate us returning to Santa’s chair. I bent down and asked him what was the problem? He started saying "I need to tell Santa I want a basketball. He didn’t know that I wanted a basketball." Then I realized that Grantham thought that Santa would give him his gift right then and there. After explaining that Santa would bring his gift in a few days on Christmas the meltdown ended and we continued our mall shopping. Oh the things we never think about as parents!
Enjoy the Christmas cookie pictures:

Notice that John is home for the baking of the cookies, even though he didn't get to participate in the icing and decorating. For those of you still in residency, life does get soooo much better:)

Grantham's cookie creation

But two of the greatest blessings have been watching Grantham understand the true meaning of Christmas (in his own two year old way). About a week before Christmas I realized that I still needed to purchase a few gifts and so we returned to the craziness of mall shoppers. At lunch we stopped at a pizza shop for a quick bit to eat and then to the cookie shop right across the mall walkway. While waiting in line for our cookie Grantham said, “I think that Santa likes to eat pizza too Mommy!” I told him that I was not sure if Santa liked pizza. And Grantham insisted “yes he does,” while pointing to the pizza shop we had just left. I laughed and said, “I guess he does.” Santa was in line for lunch at the pizza shop we had just eaten at. G said “Santa likes pizza like me, I think he would like a cookie too.” I replied, “would you like to get Santa a cookie?” And that is just what we did. Grantham took the cookie over to Santa, handed him the bag and said, “Happy Christmas!” Santa got the biggest grin on his face and said, “thanks I will eat it after I finish my lunch.” (side note I made sure that Santa realized we just bought the cookie at the shop across the way and told him about the above story) I think my son made Santa’s day:) Secondly, Grantham has begun to ask a lot of questions about Jesus. And hopes to receive a Bible for Christmas (how could any parent say no to a Bible?) Mostly he has been asking questions because of the songs we sing. Like Away in a Manger – “Why was there no crib for Jesus?” (no crib for a bed) or Crucified – “Why did the people stomp on Jesus?” (like a rose tramped on the ground, he took the fall). We have had the opportunity to explain ideas about salvation that I never thought a two year old could understand. God is so good! I am so glad that as Christmas becomes an exciting time with presents and Santa that it has also become a time that we can explain the true meaning of the season! Hope you all had a very merry Christmas.