Time Will Tell and Time Will Fly

Notice the pink polish on the toes to match her cast!

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas
 if you stop opening presents and listen. 
–Anonymous

I wish I could say that Kinley was pointing at wonder to the overflowing stockings and the full array of presents under the tree.

 

But that would be a falsehood. (That sounds so much better than a lie, doesn't it?)

 

Instead, I believe she was pointing to her favorite television show, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, while we waited on the rest of the family to wake up.

Instead, I was the one staring in wonder.

How times have changed in the past two years! Our belated family Christmas of 2011 was interrupted by a little girl who couldn't wait until her January due date to make an appearance. She was scarcely bigger than her stocking when our little family opened presents on January 1, 2012.

And, two years later, she's a go-getter who doesn't even let a bulky cast slow her down.

Does her fascination with lip balm portend a love for make-up during her teen years? Time will tell. And time will fly.

She is a helper - whether it's in the kitchen, dusting the furniture, sweeping the floor or constructing with Grandpa and Daddy on Christmas morning (or on December 23, which is when we had our little family Christmas).

As I quipped on Facebook: "How many engineers, farmers and toddlers does it take to successfully complete the construction of one doll nursery?" Evidently, one of each, since Kinley was able to use it to feed and sleep her dolly later in the day.\

As I watched her loving her baby dolls, I thought of another little girl.

It doesn't seem that long ago. 

Jill & her dolly

As she ripped into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that Uncle Brent was sure would be the best gift of the year, I thought about the little boy the gift giver used to be.

And I remembered a gift that he thought was the best Christmas gift of all time. I can still hear him say, "I'm naming him Lucky because I'm so lucky to have him!"

Amidst the empty boxes and torn paper were other memories, too, especially of a very special Santa's helper in our lives. Christmas itself would be emptier without the memories.

Brent & Santa's helper - AKA Grandpa Melvin at a long-ago Stafford Santaland

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit

in jars and open a jar of it every month. 

–Harlan Miller, author

Isn't that kind of what we do when we remember? I think so.

(I know it's January 2014, but I took a vacation from the blog during the last week of December. I'm still playing catch up!)