Are You Ready?

"Christmas is just around the corner". Shortly before Nancy's 5th birthday (Dec. 24th), Mom made that statement. Of course, we older kids understood what she meant. Christmas was nearly here and we still had lots to do to get ready. We had to get the tree and decorate it; walnut cakes and applesauce cakes had to be made; presents for our cousins had to be wrapped; letters to Santa had to be written, or rewritten - it depended on how many times we read and reread the Sears toy catalog.

It was then that someone noticed Nancy was running out the door, down the street and was skidding to a stop at the corner of Cloud St. and Shipe St. She looked up and down the street several times. When she trudged back home with a very sad look on her face, she informed us that NOTHING was just around the corner.

How funny it was to all of us (and to her when she was older) that she misunderstood what Mom meant. When you are 5 (or almost!) you tend to take things literally.

My granddaughters think it's very sad that Santa doesn't come to our house and leave presents. They don't understand that THEY are our presents.