I think that this is the first year that Butterfly has been able to anticipate and appreciate all that is entailed with the holidays.  I would like to write eloquently like my wife so that the perfect representations of the scenes swirl in your head and the emotions are almost palatable.  If you’ve ever read my blog before, you’re aware that I do not have this ability.  But that won’t stop me from trying!  (I’m a slow learner.)

Butterfly woke up like any other morning and played quietly in her room.  I crept in and found her sitting by her lamp reading to Mickie Mouse.  After playing for a few minutes, Kelley and I escorted her down the stairs while Ladybug slept soundly.  (We figured that Ladybug wouldn’t care one way or the other…we were right.)  I knew that she must have forgotten about what was to come, so I knelt down beside her and asked “What’s today?”  And she responded, “Christmas.”  Then I pressed “Do you think anyone visited last night?”  The biggest and cutest grin swept across her face.  As she whispered “Santa Clause”, her hand gripped mine.  She pounced into the den and discovered the selection of things that awaited her.  The astonishment and enjoyment on her face was priceless.

Eventually, Ladybug  joined the fun.  Butterfly did a great job helping her sister find her little toys.  I’m not sure if she was really excited for her sister or just trying to keep her away from her own stuff.  It’s tough to tell with sisters.  We eventually weaned them away from their piles to have a complete breakfast of cinnamon roles.  We finished out the morning by exchanging our wrapped gifts and playing as hard as we could so that each minute was filled with the most toyness that it could hold.  The biggest gift that I received this Christmas was the joy of my oldest daughter.  I relished her unbridled enthusiasm mixed with complete innocence.

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In stark contrast to our setting, the news blares stories about a “Santa Killing Spree” and other stories that make your skin crawl.  Can we really be living in the same world?  After special times like this with my girls, I flinch when the cruelties of society are mentioned.  I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s almost as if my time bathed in the innocence and love of my children make me more sensitive to the harshness around me.

I’m no theologian or philosopher, but in my little world that’s the biggest story of Christmas.  This world is harsh and full of evils that I could never dream of in my worst nightmare.  We have tried for centuries on end to combat those evils using our own devices.  Legislation. War. Punishment.  They seem to only make matters worse and to divide people further.  In what seems like a lost cause of society, the only way to melt the hearts of those around us starts with the innocence of a child.