To you and yours

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper packages tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things."

It is Christmas time and Santa is being blurted out of the mouths of boys every .10 seconds and talks of presents and candy are all abound.  It's the sweet loving talk that gives you the warm fuzzies and makes you feel all cozy at home beside the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree and decorated mantel. 

This morning I told the boys to have fun at their Christmas party at the babysitters.  And that's when our four year old little boy makes my mouth drop to the ground in pride.  "Mom, it's not OUR party.  This party is for Jesus."  We have had only one trip to church in the past several months usually we are regular attenders, but since the Bill's accident it has been way too busy to get there and visit grandpa all in one weekend.  I admit, I have not done my best this year to tell the boys about the true meaning, but someone has. And I couldn't be more grateful.  What a gift especially after the talk the night before:

"Mom, come look at this!"
"Hun, I gotta get dinner done, can it wait just a minute."
"Mom, you gotta come now and look at this."
"Ok!" As I dry my hands and start towards our entryway where he is urging me to.
"LOOK" as he points to the empty bench.
"What is it?"
"Uh, (like I am the biggest idiot) my cop died"
"Your cop died?  What happened?"
"He was killed by a man with a switch blade knife"
I burst into laughter thinking I had too many questions to blurt any of them out.
"It's not funny.  My cop died and you aren't supposed to laugh."
"I'm sorry hun."  I had to end it there as I couldn't keep a straight face.

He went on to describe the scene to his brother who was repeating the last two words of every sentence with all the body language and hand motions big bro was doing.  Talk about cute.  We don't watch COPS and we try not to let them watch any horribly graphic shows.  This left me puzzled.  Where in the world did he get that?  How does a 4 year old know about a switch blade knife?  Were my gang suspicions onto something?  No, surely in our little town a four year old doesn't start initiation that young.  (kidding) I finally got the chance to ask Dale where the heck that came from.  He blurted it right out, "For 43 dollars my friend lost his life."  A Country Boy Can Survive by Hank Williams Jr.  Oh thank God!  This has been one of Wyatt's favorite songs since he was about 18 months old!

So that's how it goes in the house of boys!  And with that I want to wish you all a warm fuzzy Merry Christmas and I overnighted your switch blade knives.  Happy Holidays, all!