I Tivoed "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the animated one) for the kids to watch over the weekend. I was all excited for them to see it because they've never seen it before. I also bought the story. As we watched, they looked at the pictures in the story. They loved it! But my Tivo cut off the last few minutes, so it ended just as the Grinch was deciding that Christmas was about more than just stuff.

So, I read them the story and Alex was just so excited when he realized that at the end, the Grinch is happy and brings back their Christmas tree.

This is the first Christmas that Alex actually gets that something is going on. But he's *terrified* of Santa Claus. When we took the kids to see Santa at Disneyland, not only did he not want to sit on his lap, he didn't want to be in the same room as Santa. But, the guy that was Santa was really really good. Marcelo convinced Alex to talk to Santa from Marcelo's arms and by the time he was done, he felt so much more comfortable and sat next to him for a picture.

To Alex, though, probably until he really realizes that there are *PRESENTS!* involved, Christmas is about the tree and the lights and going to Disneyland with cousins that he hasn't seen in a long time. Which is exactly what I love about Christmas too. :)





Another quote worth mentioning is from this morning. As Marc stood at the sliding glass door, looking out at the rain, he was talking to himself. I overheard him say "Why is it raining? It's supposed to be white."

And the poor thing has never even lived anywhere that it actually could snow at Christmas time! I think he's had a white Christmas once or twice in Chicago, but I can't say for sure if he'd remember it. Though, with his memory, I wouldn't be surprised if he remembered his first white Christmas when he was 1!