Merry Christmas Eve

We were putting the nativity scene on the hearth tonight with me reading from Luke and then Matthew while Amelia put the pieces in place when they were mentioned. It was a really, really abbreviated version - like we skipped the whole census by Caesar Augustus thing. When we got to the wise men/three kings bringing gifts I paused and asked Amelia, who had been marching the kings one by one up the bricks to the hearth, what the kings gave Jesus. "A party!" she replied. She cracks me up.

Earlier in the day she opened a gift courtesy of Tallulah who had walked across it, causing it to make noise. Amelia kept putting her foot on it to repeat the noise, so I thought it was safer to go ahead and let her open the gift from Uncle Stephen & Aunt Jennifer. It was a Princess mirror, comb & brush set. She had fun combing her hair and thought the mirror was neat - you push a button, one of the princesses lights up and the mirror says things like, "You have beautiful hair!" Oh great, another reminder that I need to work on the manners thing when people compliment her.

I keep forgetting she knows how to talk and when a stranger says, "You look so cute in that hat!" She simply says, "I know." She's not a complete brat, though, she's just being honest. When someone gives her something she says, "Thank you," without being prompted about 80% of the time. She will also tell the person to say, "You're welcome," if they don't, however. Like I said, it's a work in progress.