Reader beware...this is darn cute...
I was taking in a service @hopewdm on Sun. night & I was sitting next to a 6 yr old little Hopester, Hannah, that I've baby-sat off and on since she was born. There was another little girl sitting directly in front of us that kept turning around and staring at us during the opening music. I asked her if she wanted to come back and sit with us and color. Her parents said yes so she came back, we ripped a couple pages out of Hannah's coloring book, and they went to town. My job was to hold the bag of colors (after they had already spilled all over while they were trying to hold them) and to throughout the service admire their coloring jobs. Hannah had her coloring book--but she also had a white piece of paper that she was coloring on every so often. I was trying to pay attention to the sermon, so I didn't really notice what she was drawing. I saw her put something on the floor and when I looked down I saw this on top of my purse:
I could decipher that 'Happy Krismis' =Happy Christmas and then I had a ring on so I think that is what the hand picture is of. I opened the card and saw this:
I've learned from 13 yrs of baby-sitting that if you can't read or tell what something is that a small child has done then you simply reply, 'This looks great...tell me about it' The other little girl was trying to read it too and told Hannah that she didn't get it. Hannah looked at us both like Duh, guys and replies 'Tara, it's what I got you for Christmas. Hawaii. And the hearts are for love.'
Oh, so it's the ocean, the sun, and 'hwiuee'=hawaii....
The back is a self-portrait of herself.
I think that the reason that she 'gifted' this to me is because of a conversation I had when I came back from my cruise a few weeks ago. I was telling her mom how I didn't want to come back to the Iowa cold she must have overheard. When she said something later I told Hannah part of the reason I came back was because I love her a lot and missed her. (I hang with her a ton:) So, she wanted to 'give' me a warm place like Hawaii for Christmas--makes sense to me!
I told her this was the most precious card/gift I'd gotten for Christmas and I was going to tuck it in my Bible so I would see it often and think of her.
I got a huge smile and a huge hug.
This is the cute little munchkin herself. The first pic is from when she came over to my parent's house on Thanksgiving last year. (she has it framed in her room--yes--we're tight;) & the next pic is doing one of her fav activities w. her siblings: cookie baking. Yes, in addition to Cute Christmas Card/Gift making this gal is one heck of a baker for a 6 yr old!
And this is exactly why I never tire of hanging-out with little people;)
Moral of the story: The Cutest Christmas present I've received so far came from a 6 yr old that can't spell yet, and made on a scratch piece of paper during a church service. God can use you to bless others no matter your age, abilities, or resources. Remember that this Christmas season!
