Thank You, Berra!

For the past few days I have been coming up blank as I've been trying to come up with an idea for a blog about Christmas.  I've had many ideas go through my head, but nothing that I felt was right.

Until this morning.

 I was watching a talk show on TV about great children's books for Christmas when I found it.

Let's back up a little.

My 19 year old daughter Kerry has been holed up in her room since I picked her up from college a week ago.

What has she been doing?

She's been making my Christmas gift!

Every day she comes downstairs and comments on how it's coming.

Sometimes she seems excited about her creation.

Other times she seems discouraged, and tells me not to get my hopes up.

Annie told me there's no way she can come up with a better idea than Kerry.

Then, this morning, I heard about a children's book called Thank You, Bear.

Early one morning, a little bear found a little box.

He looked inside. Then he exclaimed,

“Why, it's the greatest thing ever! Mouse will love this.”

Bear's friends aren't so sure of his newfound treasure, however. “That's not so great,” says Monkey. “I've seen those before,” says Owl.

  You can see, through Bear's face and posture, that he was becoming discouraged by his friend's words. We all can relate to Bear as he sits wondering if his treasure is so great after all.

  

 But Mouse has the last say.  

 Mouse looked at it this way and that.

Then Mouse crawled inside the empty box 

and said,

"It's the greatest thing ever!"

“Thank you, Bear.”

There is a simple, powerful message in this story.

"It's all in how you look at it."

So as Christmas approaches, I can't wait to see the treasure that Kerry has for me!

But no matter what it is,  I'm sure I will love it!

I already know what the beauty of the gift really is.

By the way, our nickname for Kerry has always been "Berra".

Thank you, Berra!