December Sayings by Peyton

It's hard to go back to the details of Christmas even though it's only two weeks later. Once January comes, I guess I unwittingly try to clean off my mental plate of the previous year. But, before I forget these few cute things Peyton said over Christmas, I must record them.

Leading up to Christmas, Peyton enjoyed our Christmas decorations very much. She picked off certain ornaments from the tree to play with--a snowflake, a trolley car. Before we put it on the tree, she played with the red, wooden bead garland, too. I have plush snowmen I set out each year, and she has her favorite one. She slept with him some December nights, but now she puts him to sleep on her chair, covered with one of Harper's blankets. One nap time in particular, I kept hearing her talking to herself (before she fell asleep). After what I thought was too much of this, I went in there to encourage her to get to sleep. She told me she was "talking to Christmas." Maybe she meant the snowman? She also said something like "the tree is wearing a pretty dress." As you know, most trees have skirts, but how many do you know wear dresses?

Peyton received a kitchen set for Christmas. One night after we had gotten back home from our South Carolina Christmas vacation, I asked Peyton what I should make for dinner. She suggested, "You can make dinner in my kitchen....if you want to." What a kind offer. She then mumbled something about making a salad.

And mine and Blake's favorite December saying is this: One evening a few weeks before Christmas, Peyton was misbehaving and being particularly sassy at dinner. I was tired of the same ol' discipline tactics we normly employ on these occasions. So I thought I would try to turn things around like this, "Peyton, you are not being very nice to me or Daddy, and really acting up. What do you think we should do with a girl who is not listening and is talking so meanly to her Mommy?" I was hoping for something like a time-out or a go-to-your-room. But that blonde little fox said with half a smile, "You should give her some chocolate-chip cookies!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HA. HA.

And you know what, we all laughed so hard that it did turn things around. We finished up without a fight, or a time-out, or a go-to-your-room, OR a chocolate-chip cookie.