High Five!

Do you remember this one? You say "Gimme Five!" and the other person slaps your hand. Then you say "Up High!" and hold your hand up higher and the other person slaps your hand. Then you say "Down Low!" and hold your hand down by your waits and the other person goes to slap it and you PULL IT AWAY AT THE LAST SECOND and say "Too Slow!"

Steve has been doing that to Nicholas for over a year. And every single time Nicholas dissolves in a fit of giggles, as though it is the height of humor.

Yesterday, Nicholas came over to me. "Gimme FIve, Mama!" he said, holding out his hand. " I slapped his open palm. The he held his hand a good inch lower. "Down here, Mama!" I no sooner twitched my hand that he stepped away from me, throwing both arms into the air "Da daaaaa!" he shouted, laughing his head off.

It kind of reminded me of the time we played "Make Me Laugh" at home, and Winston got us all to laugh a bit by doing a George Jefferson bit and jumping on the bed, and then Jamie, who has been the last to laugh because he was only 2 and had never SEEN the Jeffersons, got to go, and he just started jumping on the bed and it was the FUNNIEST THING WE'D EVER SEEN. So we all laughed and lost, and Jamie won, but mostly because he was so cute.



Today's "ICKY CAROL OF THE DAY" is a song that, I think, is called the Christmas Shoes. It's kind of new, relatively. I think. The story is about this boy, who wants to buy shoes for his mother because she is dying, and it's Christmas Eve, and the family has no money, and it's really sad and you remember all the important things in life. Which is great. I HATE THIS SONG! I mean, it starts out all sappy, with the guy singing in that whispery white-noise kind of way, and it has the chorus of children singing, all pure and sugary and the REAL reason I hate this song is because, even though I know it's a sappy song, and I know what's coming, and I hate it, by the fourth measure I am always SOBBING MY EYES OUT. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard the song all the way through to the end, because I end up changing the station or turning the radio off. I can't bake cookies while I'm sobbing my eyes out. I have no time for crazy emotion. I shall sob over something real, like how I have nothing to wear to Steve's Christmas party, and how I am too disorganized to put up Christmas decorations like the other people on my street.
Besides, if you want the real story, just read The Little Match Girl. Just thinking of that story brings tears to my eyes.