This morning, I sent the boys upstairs to get ready for our Christmas brunch with the Just side of the family. They were pestering me about playing their Nintendo DS’s, so I stipulated that they must first be dressed and ready to leave for the party.
I had the foresight last night to lay out Samuel’s clothes, but didn’t make it to Peter and Matthew’s rooms, so I told them to find something “Christmas-y”. After a few minutes of wondering what they might find in their closets that qualified, I decided to head upstairs and help.
Peter was standing in his room, trying to figure out how to tie a green bandana around his waist (still clad in pajamas) to make him look like a Christmas tree.
Seriously.
So after redirecting Peter toward his lovely plaid Christmas shirt with matching red vest Grammy sent him just for this occasion, I headed to Matthew’s room. Only, Matthew met me in the hallway, fully dressed to his shoes. Here is what he was wearing:
My first thought was “Great job, but not exactly Christmas-y.” Thankfully, for once I kept my mouth shut long enough for him to tell me why he picked out this particular outfit.
Standing in the hallway, he said to me, “Mommy, I picked out these clothes because they show how God [pointing to his white shirt] came down to earth to save the world from their sins [pointing to his dark pants].”
Seriously.
I told him to stand right there while I took his picture because I knew this had to go on the blog immediately. As I ran for my camera, I marveled to myself at how my seven-year-old son has a greater grasp on what today means than I do. As I have been scrambling to prepare for today and tomorrow, I confess – I have not spent much time thinking about why we celebrate December the 25th. But for Matthew, the truth was as present and real to him as any other.
Of course, lest the moment become to holy, while I was taking Matthew’s picture, Samuel showed up and started complaining that I wasn’t taking his picture too. So, being the diplomat that I am, I had him stand in for a shot with Matthew.
Yeah, I don’t think Samuel was thinking exactly along the same lines as Matthew.
