The first gift of Christmas

The Polar Express is a beautiful book - and an equally wonderful film. Niranjana has enjoyed watching the movie for the past couple of weeks, and she did something the other night that was beyond adorable.

When the film was near its conclusion and the boy was saying, "I believe! I believe!" as he tried to hear the bell, Niranjana held up a little bell we gave her and rang it next to her ear.

This afternoon, we were at a party, where dear friend Hank Sauer brought out a copy of the book. Each Christmas season, Hank reads the book throughout Eastern Washington to hundreds of children. He's been doing this for years. About halfway through the reading today, Niranjana made her way up to where Hank was reading so she could see the pictures as Hank told the story.

As usual, Niranjana had the room in the palm of her tiny hands.

While we haven't gotten around to doing much more with our tree than string up some lights, Niranjana has hung up one ornament: a silver bell from Hank.

The first gift of Christmas indeed.