Today marked a new stage for the girls and for us. This afternoon we all went to the movies! I haven't sat in a real theater with the girls since they were small enough to sleep the whole way through. I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant. Is 2 1/2 really old enough to sit through an entire movie? Will they start talking? Want to run around? Annoy other people? All of these worries...and for nothing. They were great.
We took them to see Tangled, the new Disney Rapunzel film. I'm normally opposed to the way Disney changes the original story. I'm probably one of the few people who think The Little Mermaid should have followed Hans Christian Anderson's version right down to her little mermaid death at the end. Yet I really liked Tangled. I found it more interesting than the original story without losing the fairytale quality.
The girls seemed so grown up today. I know, I know, they're still only 2; but there is something that is very untoddler-like about your child sitting quietly except for the occasional whisper of "more popcorn."
Now, let me tell you about Christmas this year. Christmas, as you can imagine, was a great success. Rowan woke up at 7:30 and crawled into bed with us. As soon as she figured out it was Christmas morning...aka, day of toys, her next thought was, 'Evey needs to wake up.'
Once everyone was up, we all went downstairs. Christmas is so incredible with children. Their excitement is overflowing. They love each toy so fully, so completely, and then it's onto the next gift to unwrap. Green and red paper littered the floor.
Evelyn loved her doll the most. Her "baby." She doesn't have a name, just "baby." I thought she would replace the old doll with this new one, but instead she just carries them both around with her. She looks like me carrying the twins when they were babies, one under each arm.
Rowan's favorite gift has been a barbie "Belle" from Disney's Beauty and the Beast and a plastic horse that came with her. Evelyn got a plastic horse at the circus, and so now Rowan has one too. She still seems more connected to animals, whereas Evelyn is to people.
They also loved these little key chain flashlights I put in their stockings. They were given to me from a local business, you know just business swag with the company name. Both girls thought they were the most awesome toys. Evelyn has been inspecting everything in the house with those little flashlights. She's a little detective.
A friend of mine was commenting on her children this time of year and said that Christmas magic takes a lot of work. There's some truth in that. I had some old home movies converted into DVD format recently and among them was "Christmas 1979." Its just this grainy Super 8 film without any sound and only about 10 minutes long, but I realized that is my idea of what Christmas should be and certainly what my childhood Christmases were. It is the gold standard. Laura and I opening gifts at my grandparents. The handmade stockings hung on the mantle. My aunts and uncles coming over.
My grandparents were youthful and healthy. Everything was there just as I remembered it to be. Even their old collie waging her tail by the door. It is kind of sad that that time is gone now. As a child you think that every year will be as every year has always been, but it isn't so. Little bit, by little bit, it all changes until nothing is the way it once was.
Most adults know this. The impermanence of all things. They give "thanks" because good times are not sure things. And they realize the work that goes into Christmas magic for little children. I hope the girls will look back on these times with fond memories and I hope that as the times change we will remember how beautiful it was when they were small enough to wake up on Christmas morning in our home and open toys and dolls and other childhood things while we drank coffee and laughed.
