12/6

From Mom: Madeline enjoys celebrating Advent with much anticipation. Every morning she runs straight over to where the advent calendar hangs on the wall and shouts "up ... up" to ask to open that day's window. We've started advent tradition where every morning we sit as a family, light the advent candles and then talk about the nativity set. We look at baby Jesus and when I ask "Where does Jesus live?" Madeline points to her heart. Despite her sophisticated grasp of Christian theology, her favorite part of the nativity set is the goat, which she likes to hold up to her ear like a telephone. After Maddie and I light the candles, the three of us then gather on the couch where we open new door on the advent calendar and talk about the pictures behind the flaps and the fact that we are waiting for Jesus' birthday. We are allow getting to enjoy this start to our day - I'm not sure how we are going to explain it to her when Advent is over. Adam and I joke that Easter is going to be a little more difficult to explain.