Two years ago, my nearly-three-year-old son Eli had a very specific Christmas list:
- A door
- Some steps
- A hardware store
- Toast
- Rocks
Even when the Santa Claus at the mall asked Eli what he wanted for Christmas, this is exactly the list he rattled off. (Needless to say, Santa was both confused and delighted by these requests.)
Now, who am I to deny a toddler his deepest desires for Christmas? The rocks were an easy find on Amazon, as was a toy toolbox for his “hardware store” and, after much searching, a tiny set of steps intended for a hamster. I picked up a wooden plaque at our local craft store and painted it to look like our front door. We took care of the toast by having that as breakfast on Christmas morning.
Eli literally got everything on his list. Even so, the highlight of his presents was a bunch of toilet paper rolls my sister had saved for him and wrapped up. Those were tunnels, binoculars, telescopes, megaphones, instruments, bowling pins… The world was his oyster with those cardboard cylinders. We couldn’t get him to finish opening the rest of his presents after the toilet paper rolls made their appearance.
Read the rest at The Glorious Table!