Imaginary Friends

I have to take a moment to first express how much I just adore the Christmas season! Ohhhhh I love it. Everywhere I go people are in a good mood! I even received excellent customer service from a college student at a restaurant on campus...it is that happy around here! Christmas lights make me feel warm and tingly inside. It's so nice :)

The kids are loving it, too (of course). Not only are they excited about gifts and counting down the days with their chocolate-a-day calendars and our felt magnet calendar we hang up every year, but they are learning so much about Jesus. It has been a great opportunity to explain to them why we have Christmas and what it's all about. Honestly, I think they get it better than some adults - lol! It's a wonderful feeling to start them out right.

The kids have also had a lot of fun talking about their imaginary friends and sharing elaborate stories with me. For many months now, Luke has had lots of imaginary friends, all named Luke Ferraro...they always plan to come over in one big group.

His other friend's name is grandpa. Yes, he has a friend named grandpa who lives very far away. Mind you, neither mine nor David's dad are called this. They are pop-pop (my dad) and granddaddy (David's) but grandpa is one of Luke's best friends ever. He's coming for Christmas, or so I've heard.

Every tiny animal or doll that Natalie has is her baby. Actually, she refers to most things as hers. At church Sunday, she told me she needed to tell her Santa Claus that she loved him (he gave her a Minnie Mouse doll, pardon me, baby.) She can tuck them in for hours. She's also developed an intense love for dresses (princesses) and shoes. I did not influence this! Ever since Halloween all she wants to do is be a princess!

It's funny to see how they are very similar and yet, so very different. Luke is puzzles, numbers, and tinkering with things. Natalie is words, letters, and songs. They do their fair share of memorization, but in different areas (Luke counts perfectly in english and much in spanish while Natalie can recite the entire alphabet. Luke memorizes more stories, Natalie, more songs). But they both do their fair share of imaginative story telling and pretending!

Gosh I love them. I feel like I should invent a new word for how infatuated I am with them because I can't think of anything that really says it!

Anyway! Hope you're enjoying counting down to Christmas just as we are and will be sharing it with your own wonderful people! (real...or imaginary:))

~Tanya