Some fun tot tidbits to start off Christmas week the right way…

• Our all-time favorite “Emism” was the emphatic “TURNITON, Papi! TURNITON!,” said while pointing at the television. Now that she’s getting older and her annunciation is (sadly) improving, she says, “Turn it on, Papi!” On the bright side, it’s easier to understand her now, but we’re still sad that the days of running several words together into mega-cute mega-words is over. Sigh.

• Ana told me the other day that she wants to be a missionary when she grows up. That or a gorilla. It’s good that she’s leaving ALL of her options open at this point.

• Emmy is a big fan of Christmas lights. While we were driving to church the other night, I told her to tell me whenever she saw a house with Christmas lights. She did so, yelling, “I SEE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!” every time we’d pass a house with them on. I’d tell her, “Way to go, Emmy!” And she’d say, “Thank you, Mommy. I SEE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!” On and on she went without ceasing, so much so that poor Ana couldn’t point out any of her own Christmas lights and decided instead to stump me with questions, like the one below…

• Ana asked me, “Where is God?” I know she’s a literal thinker at this age and that it’s impossible to explain some spiritual concepts to her. So, I said, “Well, God is with us because the Bible says that He will always be with us.” Ana responded with, “No! He’s right there!” She pointed to a nativity scene in a yard, saying, “The baby Jesus is right there!” Which prompted me to say, “No, dear, that’s merely a graven image.” Ha! (I seriously don’t have anything against nativity scenes, but that was honestly the first response that came to mind.) I could see Ana’s confusion through the rearview mirror and clarified, saying, “It’s just a decoration. That’s not the real baby Jesus. God is with us, all the time, even though we can’t see Him.” Ana didn’t have any response to this which means either A) She understood, B) I had confused her into silence, or C) She had simply grown bored with the conversation. (The answer is C, probably with a side of B, for those who are wondering.)

• My parents told me that every time they would tell Emmy that they loved her this weekend, she would smile and say, “Papi say that.” (Awww! And aww?! What about the million times that Mommy tells her that?!)

• Ana came into the kitchen last night and shrieked to Wes, “PAPI! I gotta tell you something!” Wes said, “What? What?” And Ana responded, with her arms open wide, “I love you, Papi.” (Awww! And again… oh, forget it.)

• The girls figured out that we had an anniversary and that “anniversary” had something to do with getting married. So, when they pulled up to the church yesterday morning with my parents, Ana proudly proclaimed, “My Mommy and Papi are getting married!” Finally, right?

Hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas and a great start to 2010!