My eldest was thrilled to go to school on the last day of the Christmas semester because she would be carrying gifts. We had both studiously wrapped them the night before while she worked to the best of her six year old ability to label the presents with the correct spellings of the names of her friends (this can be quite the chore given how creative some of us parents can get with the spelling of our children's names). The next day she marched proudly off to school gift bag in hand merrily swinging it from left to right reminiscent of some sort of happiness meter with its pendulum semi-circling between joyous and excitedly ecstatic with one carefree swing of her little hand.
When I picked her up at the end of the day, I expected to see her backpack chock full of gifts which in my mind would have reciprocated her good intentions. Given that she bounced into the car that afternoon with her dimpled no teeth smile just as happy as a lark I thought, good no disappointments. So I inquired, " What did you get from your friends Honey?" She happily replied "nothing." I was perplexed, I immediately started to construct an argument in my mind that would convince her that it was okay to not get anything because Christmas was for giving, we were celebrating the gift to world of our Lord .... But hold the phone Mom, just then it occurred to me that she was quite content with her gift less status gnawing on a candy cane from her teacher, with those fat pink front toothless gums- no complaints from her.
Intrigued, I asked timidly, unsure whether my insistence on delving into the matter would incite a deluge of tears, or not ..."Honey, how do you feel about them not giving you anything?" In one the proudest moments of my life, my candy stained face, gummy mouthed daughter stopped sugar amping up her little sister (or sharing as our culture dictates) and said " but Mummy they did give me gifts, they gave me hugs." I fought back the tears of pride as I replied "that's great My Love, you make me very proud."
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1 comment:
AAWWW!!!
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