Moon Fishin'...and Jesus

From Dreamworks Animation

This morning my little guy comes to the door of my room at o'dark thirty and whispers, "Papa, I see Jesus fishin' outside." In a fog I say something to the effect of "huh?" He, hearing my confusion, asks to come in and snuggle and show me what he's talking about. I agree and he climbs up on my bed, standing at my head and looking out the window. He proceeds to whisper that I should join him in looking out the window at the quarter moon where Jesus has, apparently, been fishing all night...but I need to be very quiet so I don't scare him away. I rise to my knees, peer out the window at the waning crescent sliver of a moon and it looks beautiful in the clear night sky filled to overflowing with stars, the faintest of light starting to color the sky a deep, dark blue. Jeremiah says to me, "See Him, Papa?" I do not but that's OK. He does. And in his mind, that's really all that matters right now. I'm just glad I got to share this little moment with him.

Finn and the Three Wisemen

Every night we go into the kids' room after they've been in bed for a couple of hours. You know, to tuck them in, wonder at their shear marvelousness, kiss the tops of their heads, that sort of thing. So we go in to their room this evening and Finn's head is at the foot of her bed, she's out of her covers but covered in her favorite blanket (she calls it "mimi"), the curtains are wide open (I told her when she went to bed they needed to stay closed tonight), the window's wide open (it's raining buckets outside), and she's wide awake, looking longingly - and expectantly - out the window. I whisper to her - in a slightly reprimanding but loving and playful tone - "What are you doing?!" And she says, "Shhh! I'm watching for 'The Star' and waiting for the Wise Men to come." Mind you - it's a howling storm outside and you can't even come close to seeing any stars right now and the rain is spattering into the window with each gust of wind. I tell her it's cold and raining and that she needs to have the window only open a crack (for the fresh breeze, don'tcha know) and to close her curtains (to keep the morning light from waking them too early). She protests - "But Papa!" She's too cute and awful imaginative and totally in her own world so we find a compromise that works (window mostly closed, curtains open a crack). We tuck them in, say our goodnights and give kisses. As Cat's leaving the room Finn says, very matter-of-factually "Good night. I love you. I'll probably be waiting here for a long time. They're coming from the desert..."

Good night, indeed!