Dearest Charlie,
You probably won’t remember this, but I got to spend the day with you recently celebrating the birth of our Lord. This year was the 2nd Christmas that you have been part of my world… and it was so much better than last year.
Last year, you didn’t have much interest in presents. You simply crawled around the floor wondering what the fuss was all about. Sure you liked playing with the rocking doe, and the other toys you got from Santa Claus, but you just didn’t seem to understand too much of the holiday.
This year, you entered the house… you went straight for the toy box… then out of the corner of your eye – and with a little coaxing by me and Grandma Plaintiff – you noticed the Christmas tree and all of the presents that had been left by Santa Claus at our house for you, your parents and the rest of the family. Of course the race was on!
You helped us deliver each of the presents to the proper person. Often stopping along the way to try to open it yourself to be sure it wasn’t actually meant for you. I never realized how smart you are, until I saw you helping each of us open our presents from Santa – ensuring that the present was actually for the person you delivered it to and not something meant for you.
You celebrated with candy. Your evil Mommy took the candy away from you, only to turn around and discover your pretty little chocolate covered hands and face had somehow received another tiny little Kit-Kat from an unknown source. (Hey – Santa Claus moves in mysterious ways!)
Of course, we had a great feast to celebrate the holiday. We discovered that you absolutely love mashed potatoes. I think you had more of them rubbed around your face than you managed to eat, but it was fun watching you eat.
Your day was made complete by ignoring Nana during facetime. Perhaps it was because your Great Uncle was in the background with Nana…
You let us all know the day was over when you said “Bye Bye”, went down and got your favorite two presents and dragged them to the door. I love you. I hope that your new baby doll and Elmo provide you with lots of play time and enjoyment.
The magic of the holiday was reborn in me simply by watching the joy and wonderment contained in that pretty little face of yours. Thank you for sharing your 2nd Christmas with me. I look forward to watching you open many more presents in the years ahead…
Love you to the moon and back.
Grandpa Boltz