That Good 'Ol Holiday Feeling

Dear Mom and Dad,

    Hellooooooo December! Ah, that good ‘ol holiday feeling is in the air!
    We had our big Lego blocks on the carpet today; we saw Y standing on top of a big chair, trying to complete a tower that was taller than some of our teachers! It looked so cool, so we decided to help her out. We made a tower that was as tall as Kai! “It’s our Christmas Tree!” G said.
    When our tower toppled over, we surrounded the fallen Lego blocks with chairs. “It’s a private onsen,” J explained. The boys were pretending to swim in it, having “onsen” conversations with Kai. When they got tired, they started to make some-thing else. “This is my child,” J said. “This is my baby,” G said. “This is my baby, too.” Y said. Heehee, that was really interesting. The boys wanted to be daddies!
    We had our snacks, then before going to the park, we sang “Happy Birthday” to T, whose birthday is tomorrow, and R, whose birth-day is on Sunday. Then we talked about what else happens in December.
    “Christmas!” some of chimed in. There were some who answered “Hannukah!”
    “Oh yes!” Pauline’s eyes lit up with excitement. We celebrate lots of holidays in December.         “You know, that’s why I thought of this book,” she said, holding up a “Just so Thankful” book.      “What does ‘thankful’ mean?” she asked us.
   “It means…. Being just happy,” M replied.
   “Yes, that’s right,” Pauline agreed. “Being happy and saying ‘Thank you!’ to a lot of things, like….” she pointed to her jacket. “Thank you for my jacket, because without it, I’ll feel cold!” she said.
    “Thank you for my clothes, because if I don’t have it, I’ll be naked!” J piped up. This made us laugh, but, hey, he was right.
   “Thank you for my pants!” D added.
   “Thank you for my shoes, or else I’ll be barefoot!” M said. Pauline asked why are we talking about being thankful, when Thanksgiving is over? Well, she said, holidays also remind us to be thankful.
   “Oh, my family!” Y said. Oh, was he ever so right. Holidays are special days spent with our family, who we love so dearly, and loves us back a hundredfold in return.
   “Presents!” a lot of us said. Yes, we do get a lot of presents, and for that we are thankful.
   “But we don’t just receive presents,” G began. “It’s important to give presents, too.” He stated.
   “Of course! Holidays are the happiest time in the year, so we must give presents to others to share that happiness,” Pauline agreed.
   “Pauline,” D suddenly said. “I want a shinkansen for Christmas,” he said in a tiny voice, and hid his face behind Jotaro. We all laughed.
   “Maybe you can start writing to Santa now,” Pauline suggested, grinning at him. Then , she be-gan to read the book….
   It all started with Little Critter, who wanted a cool scooter called the Super Streak. But, his mom didn’t buy it for him, so he ended up be-ing grumpy. Mom told him that he has already a lot of other toys, which he should learn to appreciate. Along the way, they saw a new neighbor moving in, and, guess what? He was on a Super Streak, plus he had boxes and boxes of toys! Little Critter was envious.
   The new neighbor named HH, became his new classmate, and he invited everyone for a sleepover. They swam in his big pool, watched in his big T.V., and had the biggest breakfast ever. Little Critter thought he was the luckiest kid ever. Mom thought to invite HH over to their house. When he came, he was happy getting messy in the mud as they played football, he played with Little Sister, and he even helped around doing the household chores. After the visit, HH told Little Critter, “You are so lucky!”, which confused him. But, he looked back at his fam-ily: mommy, daddy, little sister, grandma, and grandpa– he realized that having lots of toys or a Super Streak isn’t important– what’s important is a family that is always there for him.
   “Family is more important,” Junto agreed.
   “Not lots of toys,” Griffin added, and we all nodded in agreement. At that moment, we thought of them.
   “I only have a big sis-
ter,” Jotaro said.
   “I have two big sisters!” Riou said.
   “I don’t have a brother or a sister,” Mirai said. “But I have mommy and daddy,”
   So, that concluded our first day of December. We can’t wait for the holidays!

Love,
All festive children in Flowers Class