Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

This evening I was fixing dinner and suddenly Henry cried out, “You have to clean my boots!”  I said, “I have to?  I think you have to.”  “Okay, but can you help me?”  He went and got Elisabeth and I gave them a brush and a rag, and they got to work.  I thought it was a really cute scene, the two of them cleaning their boots for St. Nikolaus.  I’ve never made it a point to foster our children’s belief in Santa Claus, but the St. Nikolaus tradition somehow seemed more grounded in reality, maybe because his name wasn’t changed around so much.  Last year Elisabeth asked if she could put out her boots and I said sure.  So this year they took it for granted that they would do so again, and so did I.  I just sort of figured they knew I filled the boots. Boot Cleaning The kids were cleaning away, and I’ve never seen Henry so concerned about the cleanliness of his boots.  Then suddenly he cried out, “What if my boots aren’t cle...

In December we took Elisabeth to her first ballet, a local production of The Nutcracker. She was very excited about it—getting to wear her purple dress, getting to see the dancers. She loved the first half and watched intently from her father’s lap. The second half, however, had a back drop with a picture of a great big ice cream sundae on it. John whispered to me, “How do they keep the ice cream from melting?” and from then on Elisabeth was asking, “When are we getting ice cream?” (never mind that the day was more on the order of hot cocoa weather). I tried to quiet her down, but she wasn’t as into the dance of the Snow Queen etc etc. as I was. Eventually in her wiggling she hit her head on the arm rest and cried. We were able to reach the exit just as the second wail came, and that was it. A sad ending to a fun performance, but Elisabeth has happy memories. She is forever asking when she can be in the Nutcracker. Douwe is Elisabeth’s best friend. We go to the same church a...