Happy New Year!

Well it's a new year but I sadly have nothing new to report. Well, unless you count the coolest reaction by a child for a Christmas present. See, Andrew really wanted a bike, and after spotting the one he REALLY wanted at Wal-Mart just a few days before Christmas, I told him we'd wait and see if it would be on sale after Christmas. He said that was fine. As we walked away, he reminded me he didn't really HAVE to have a bike, he was riding Matt's old one now. The further we got from the bike and the more he thought on it, he also reminded me that while he didn't need a new bike the one he had was hard to pedal because the tires were always going flat and one of the brakes didn't work anymore. I said I knew but we'd still wait. Later that evening he went to spend the night with a friend and Matt was more excited than me about returning to the store to get the bike and hide it and make it a surprise for Andrew. So Matt went it got it himself, hid it in the basement (because no one ever goes in the dark scary basement to snoop), and then brought it up Christmas Eve and put it in the mudroom off of the kitchen.

Christmas morning when all other presents were opened I asked Andrew to get me something to drink (knowing this would force him to the room where the bike would be seen). As he went to get my drink (what a good kid for doing that) Matt, my mom and I sat silent waiting to hear his reaction. His reaction was completely unexpected...while I was expecting wails of excitement what he did instead was come running back into the living, jumping probably 5 feet in the air into my arms as I sat on the sofa. Then he burst into tears while giving me the biggest bear hug of his life. It's the stuff dreams are made of, it's the reaction every parent wants when they give their child a gift. Even Matt and my Mom were misty when they saw his pure and innocent gratitude for the gift he didn't know he was getting.

I told him how Matt had worked to get his gift and he gave Matt the same big bear hug and has told us both countless times, "Thank You!". It was definitely a Christmas to remember, and though the surprise was for Andrew, Matt also learned how much fun it is to give rather than receive.