Peace and Good Will to All!

I spent the morning with Bella and Evan and their parents. Evan's gift for his father was a kalimba also called mbira, or in English, a thumb piano. His dad was, exactly as Evan predicted (2nd Extra), unable to put it down, and all Evan's gifts were great hits, as were Bella's. Her fracture is healing, and she was able to go without the sling all day, though she still kept her arm close to her side. She had choreographed a song-and-dance routine to a medley of Christmas songs, and she had taped it and rehearsed it with Evan till they had it perfected to exactly eight minutes. The choreography pre-dated the broken collar bone, but she was able to modify it to suit the injury, and I was dazzled by her careful planning, costume changes, and skill. Her mom, dad, and I each got tickets in our stockings for "couch seats," and her other grandparents watched by FaceTime from Arizona. After their morning celebration, I joined Sue for another celebration with her granddaughter and Sue's son and daughter-in-law. In the first Extra, their family is enjoying the Blurb book Sue made of Eliana's year. She has made them a book each year since E was born. Eliana's mom said, "My parents used to make us photo albums, but all my photos are on my phone or in the cloud, so I'm really glad Sue makes these, because it's great to be able to have a record on paper." I do the same for Bella and Evan. Nobody felt like cooking, so we had some finger foods and a few cookies.

May we all be safe, peaceful, and moved by good will to care for all children everywhere. They are all our children.