LIGHTS!

That's what Rachel yells out every night after we turn into our street. She LOVES the Christmas lights.

"Christmas tree!" she said delightedly last night.

"Look dere," she said. "And dere! And dere!'

"Do you see it? Do you see it??" she demanded tonight.

Oh, what a delight awaits her this weekend. I'm going to take her to the Grotto, a Christmas light extravaganza, with Linda and the kids. And then when Drew gets home, we'll take Rachel to Zoolights -- the Oregon Zoo, all lit up, and we can take a choo-choo ride around the zoo, and see all the animals, and Mommy will make sure to pack homemade hot chocolate in a warm Thermos so the outing will be cozy and warm...

I was talking to Drew as I took an extra turn around the block tonight and he remarked how wonderful it is that Rachel is discovering everything for the first time, and I seconded that, saying that now I finally understand (now that Rachel is old enough to actually take joy in something) when parents say that children remind us how to have fun and we get to find out everything again through their eyes.

It reminded me of a story a former colleague with a daughter about Rachel's age posted on Facebook not long ago. Helen was driving Tessa home from preschool, and Tessa was hungry, and Helen fished around in her purse and came up with two broken-up cookies. "Moon cookies!" Tessa said delightedly. No, she didn't notice that the cookies were broken. She just saw what she wanted to see.

"That's why I love my daughter with all my heart," Helen wrote, and I couldn't agree more.