Missing the Grandchildren...

 So I thought I'd post a few pictures from Christmas week that I never got around to posting. (Hey, I only took the tree down and undecorated the house a week ago!)

Princess in a Box

 Once he gets a book, the rest of the world fades away.

 ...and he is left in another dimension...I think the reindeer, Moses, Frodo and the stuffed orc on the organ all contribute.

 I talked them into posing with their mom...Carina, of blog fame, although known to us by her real name.

 Zaya and his Dad. He's just a little skeptical.

 They both played solos for church.

 And sang "Away in a Manger"

And these two are my brother and his wife. She was playing a trick on him concerning his present. I know they aren't grandchildren, but I thought they were cute. So they made the list of cute Christmas Pictures.

Boxcar Children

Zaya has discovered the Boxcar Children Books. Someone donated a couple of them to his school and his teacher thought maybe he would enjoy having them read to him. So his mom handed him the first one on their way to see me this afternoon. He read all the way into town.

Later this afternoon, I read him a couple of the middle chapters. After supper, he stretched out on the floor while his mom visited with Turtle and me and his sister built towers and composed loud, lively songs on the organ.

He remained oblivious to everything , mesmerized by the idea of children living on their own and solving all their own problems. By the time his mom was ready to leave he had finished the first book, and proudly filled us in on the ending. The children had discovered that their grandfather wasn't mean after all and had moved into the house with him, but "guess what? He had the box-car moved into the back yard so they wouldn't be so sad and miss it!" Whew.


We smiled. It took us all back. Carina said when she gets home she is going to dig a box out of her attic--every boxcar book ever written, lovingly packed away by Zaya's other grandma when her son, Zaya's dad, outgrew them years ago.

...For a Mom Who Read to Us

Thanks God,
for a Mom who read to us--
showed us Daniel, fearless in Babylon;
Jorli, alone in the white, cold Alps;
read us Little Pilgrim's Progress,
Christian and Faithful on the perilous path.

We heard about Ruth and Esther and Joseph
About Joan of Arc and Pollyanna, the glad girl.

"Oh Please," we'd cry, "Just one more chapter!"
thus begging our way through many a book--
through Hiawatha's lyrical childhood,
down the Highwayman's "ribbon of moonlight" road,
into dark Sherwood with Robin Hood.

We listened to songs of Arabian Nights,
Heard about King Arthur and his friends:
Lancelot, Merlin, and righteous Galahad!
Dragons! Damsels! Mighty Men!

She taught us courage!
Our slumber was brave,
and our dreams intrepid!

Thanks, God.
Thanks, Mom.