Holiday Home Days

The Monday after our trip to Pittsburgh, Bryn decorated the lower half of the Christmas tree. Luke tried to help, too, but he doesn't yet have the motor skills to put a loop over a branch. Bryn surprised me in walking around the tree to space out the ornaments; in years' past, she's clumped them all together on a single branch, as Luke had tried to do.

On one of our days together, Bryn decorated her first gingerbread house

And she helped me to deliver some gently used plastic toys to the pediatric ward of Bryn Mawr Hospital. After our most recent stay there, I was incredibly grateful for their playroom, but its shelves were sparse. After talking to one of the nurses and doctors about it, they said they would accept used toys, so long as they were made exclusively of plastic and could be dunked in a disinfectant. I e-mailed more than a handful of friends with young children, hoping that they might be able to contribute to the cause as well, but I got only two takers. Thanks go out to the Greens and Shaffers. In all, Bryn and I delivered four bags of toys, and I feel really good about giving these toys a second life. Bryn, meanwhile, was happy to come along. She's currently fascinated by doctors, and surgeons, in particular, and she was delighted to ride the elevator with a woman -- whom Bryn presumed to be a surgeon -- in scrubs.

I made gingerbread cookies today, and they're awaiting Bryn's expertise in decorating them. But Luke has been sick since Sunday with diarrhea, so he'll be home with me again tomorrow, and on those days very little gets done. Christmas Eve is just a week from tomorrow. Bryn hasn't been beside herself with excitement as I had expected, but tonight, when Jeannie was here, Bryn pretended that it was Christmas Eve and she awoke to a bunch of new toys from Santa.