Anticipation

sprinkling reindeer food on the front lawn

Somewhere Hudson heard the word "anticipate." He skipped around all of Christmas Eve saying "anticipate." I asked him what it meant and he didn't know. When I explained that it was to look forward with excitement, he continued to bounce around saying "anticipate, anticipate." For the two littlest kids, nothing could have described our day before the big event better.

We spent the day delivering the last of our gifts and making a few visits. The excitement in the air was so thick. As the evening approached, we sat down to a nice dinner. Brent and I were drilled with questions about the Big Guy. We decided to track Santa's progress on the internet. Hudson checked it about every minute. He'd run out of the office shouting "He's in Idaho." When I'd look, Santa was somewhere in South America, Bolivia, Argentina, or Uruguay.

The kids acted out the Christmas story as we read from Luke 2. Many times Hudson would tell us how the story went, making sure not to leave out any of the characters. He pulled Dalanie across the rug on the rocking horse and when it was time, we laid Ruby in the manger. Dalanie pulled a baby gift out from under the tree and placed it next to the manger. I was moved to tears and amazed at the kids' knowledge of this most wonderful event, our Savior's birth.

A note was left for Santa, along with cookies and hot chocolate. Reindeer food was sprinkled on the front lawn and a flashlight was tucked into bed along with Hudson. Dalanie was too afraid of "HoHo's" visit, so she slept with us. What a wonderful night of anticipation.

Christmas Morning