"Happy Christmas Eve Gift On You!"

...is what my Granny would always say. Unfortunately, I don't recall the whole story but from what I can remember this was a saying that my mother's family always used with each other on Chrismas Eve. My mother's mother, whom I affectionately called Granny, had nine children. How she did it, I will never know. But in her later years she would always call on Christmas Eve and when whichever one of her kids answered with "Hello." She would quickly say, "Christmas Eve gift on you." So, now with my mom and dad we have always had a "race" on Christmas Eve to see who can say it first. Well, I win this year, Mama, because I am saying it first here:

"Happy Christmas Eve Gift On You!"

New Secret Spot.

Now that we have moved back into our house, Nathan has had to find a new secret spot. It didn't take him long. At least he waited until the carpet was dry after Stanley Steemer's visit. Most of his "treasures" were strategically placed between the wall and the closet door.

But, not all his special items were placed in plain view. This item was tucked away behind his laptop, which he moved before I could get a picture, in the cabinet.

I'm glad he knows that his tooth fairy money is a little more valuable than a used toothbrush.

A Lone Pair Of Crocs.

Nathan is thrilled to be back in his own house. We moved back in last week with only a few household items. So, we have been camping inside. He couldn't wait to get in and see things. I had to let him in to "see the inside" before the carpet was even dry after Stanley Steemer's visit. The first few nights that we stayed here he had to sleep with me because he didn't have a bed yet. I have since gotten him bunk beds and he loves sleeping on the top bunk. After getting him off to school our first morning here, I went into his room and looked around. He had neatly aligned his Crocs against the back wall of his closet. Most kids especially boys would have tossed them in the room and been gone. But, one thing his Jamaica school taught him was to "tidy" up his office. He is very good at it, too. He is constantly telling me that he is going to "tidy" up his room, or his desk, or his closet. I hope he continues to keep his "areas" tidy.Because, goodness knows I don't like to tidy. I would rather throw away than have to tidy. He also has new secret spots. I'll post them later.

Secret Spot

Nathan has always been a collector of incidental items he deems special. To most of us these items would be things we would normally put in the trash...things like metal juice bottle caps. Most of the time he thinks they are special because they are colorful or because they make a cool noise. All the more reason in my opinion to throw them away. We surely don't need anymore noise in our lives. Most of his secret spots are truly secret. Some of them are just under a piece of furniture or behind a planter. And, he makes a secret spot anywhere he spends the night. In August, we stayed with my parents for a few weeks and there were several items that went missing. I couldn't find my bright pink and purple hair clips, and Grandaddy couldn't find his small pocket knife. We looked high and low for these items. We never found them even after drilling Nathan about their where abouts. He didn't know anything about them. A few weeks later my mother called me and told me that she had found the missing items. I asked her where they were and she said that she was vacuuming and moved a small table and the clips were under it. She said she also found a few items that we had not missed behind her dresser. Those of us that know my mother know these items were not casualties of falling behind the dresser. They were put there by a little boy that always has a secret spot.

Now we are staying with my in-laws for a few days and of course Nathan has another secret spot. This one however is a little more visible than most of his other secret spots. It is just under the corner of his little bed.

He has all of his Madagascar toys from McDonalds lined up, his special pens, pencils and eraser, his tooth fairy money and an old used toothbrush that should be in the garbage.

The other morning we were headed to town and I happen to look in my purse and realized that I didn't have my little leather credit card carrier. I pulled the car over and searched my purse to no avail. I told Nathan that I couldn't find it and that we would need to return home to find it. I made a few more worried comments about not knowing where it was. He said, "Maybe it's in my secret spot." I told him that it better not be. He assured me that it wasn't. And it wasn't. I had left it in my jacket pocket. But, I have learned that when something does go missing to look in one of his secret spots. If I could only find them all.