Audrey and I found ourselves singing Christmas songs this evening.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

This cheerful Christmas burst was instigated when I asked Audrey to go find me a clean table cloth for the kitchen nook. Off she went, the little decorator in her full of glee, and returned with a table cloth that says all over it, “Let it snow!”. And that is what we put on our table this Memorial Day. And the singing began and just couldn’t be put to a stop.

All this singing of Christmas led to a wonderful little conversation at the kitchen nook while Audrey ate her apple pie (leftover filling from last years pickings at the orchard). It was preceded by me making up a song (at Audrey’s request) about Christmas and how it is all about celebrating Jesus’ birthday. The conversation went something like this:

Shanel: “Audrey, Christmas is a big birthday celebration for Jesus, isn’t it?”
Audrey nods her head in agreement.
Shanel: “Audrey, who is Jesus?” (What kind of mother asks these big questions of her four year old? It just kind of came out; I was curious to hear her answer.)
Audrey shrugs her shoulders.
Shanel: “He’s God isn’t he? He came to be with us on the earth as a man.”
More shrungging of shoulders.
And then she starts talking. “Jesus came to wash our sins away.” (She got this after watching a video of her cousin singing in her old lady voice, “O Happy Day”.)
Shanel: “Yes, and our sins are those bad things we do and say sometimes.”
Audrey: “Yes, mommy, like when you talk mean to me sometimes.”

Oh dear.
Yes, daughter, like when I talk mean to you sometimes.
O, happy day, he’s washed my mother sins away, all my impatience, anger, hostility and aggression, and straight up rage at times.
O, happy day.

And as Audrey insists conclucing every dinner prayer, we say, “Thank you, God, for Christmas.”