But Todd, how could that be? You love Christmas. You love the decorations, the lights, the weather, the tree and all of that. This is not to exclude my love for the Lord and celebrating His birth.

No, what I am not looking forward to is presents.

Liana has now noticed commercials. She has taken to watching them, intently, and memorizing every little nuance of the toy displayed. So far, Saturday mornings have become “Oh, I want that, you can put the Barbie on the handlebars.” OH, I want that, it looks reawy reawy (L’s are still a little difficult for her) fun.”

I now understand how crazy it drove my parents. I remember that, as a small child, before Christmas they would set my down, in front of a TV with a pad and pencil and make me write out what I wanted for Christmas. I would sit there for hours, waiting for commercials. I now see through their wicked ways!

Now there is one benefit from this and that is, she has realized things that the Atomikblonde and I “need”. So I have ended up with some pretty sweet Hotwheels cars. Now if she’ll see the new Speedracer set and convince mommy to buy them for me.