The sweetest music I’ve ever heard. Happy Birthday, Jesus.

The reason we considered skipping the tree this year.

I just can’t get enough of his sweet little chubby baby hands.

The kids’ Christmas program tonight at church was sweet—and complete with all the goofy things kids do during such things.

Marriage is funny. Jason and I are extremely compatible, but I am often astounded by how different we are.  Generally speaking, I am more permissive with the boys than Jason is, and I’m specifically thinking of the fact that I tend to let them make more messes or to let them try things that will make a mess. Today, though, as Jason was painting the dining room, I was surprised to hear him offer a paintbrush to our eight-year-old friend who was over and then even more surprised when he said yes to Simon’s request for a “brush like Rev’s.” I don’t think I ever would have let a two-year-old come near that kind of paint. But, as it turns out, I’m so glad Jason did.

Yes, he made a bit of a mess—he splattered some paint on the baseboards and “ruined” a four-dollar Target shirt. Big deal. He had so much fun, and he was so, so, so proud of himself. His (constant) running commentary went something like this: “I big. I have strong muscles. I painting a snowman. I have a big brush. I painting hard. I helping. I big. I painting a snowman. I paint ovah there. My muscles are big. I painting so hard.” It was precious. And now we have a dining room that has a bit of extra drippage behind the piano and maybe on the baseboards, which in my mind makes it pretty much perfect.

For some time now I’ve been meaning to write about Simon’s obsession with guitars. It approaches (and occasionally even supersedes) his obsession with trains.

He pays careful attention to things like who has a guitar at their house and whose mommy or daddy knows how to play. Since we don’t have one at our house (yet!), he pretends one of the heating vents is a guitar and happily strums away, singing his original songs (usually about choochoos or Jonah).

Today, I finally got some Christmas shopping done. I wrapped one present for each of the boys and put them under the tree. To my great delight, Simon pulled his gift out and said he was going to pretend it was a guitar. When asked what he thought was actually inside the box, his response was, “I not know! It’s a present. Maybe it’s Scooby Dooby.” Well, maybe, kid, but I suspect you’re going to be one happy little dude on Christmas morning.