One cold night with the stars brightly shining Ma Ma  and I put up our
Christmas tree with little Mary  who will be TWO (hold up two fingers)
helping as the adjunct set designer.she is..
A little background
We live in an old farm house (pyramid with tin roof ) French Caribbean style
with wrap around porch and  tray ceilings of long leaf heart pine ; The rooms
are well oiled in tung and sit on a parcel of 65 acres nestled in deep woods
Mississippi.
The ambiance of the apartments(rooms) are a crude attempt of late 19 cent
rural refinement and there fore are cabin like with back to back fire places
and have a bucolic grace of the frontier...with windows you can step out on
the porch from...
 We placed the tree in our sitting room which adjoins our kitchen
This was Mary's first tree in memory and I was her willing surrogate
"Nooo Da-Da the big one dere"  she says to Daddy on the step stool  with tiny
fingers  raised.... I take focus on her from my lofty step stool   while
holding  a silver bulb deftly aged from the second world war

This  little elf is barely 30" tall  and when she directs she  mimic's  the
quarryman  pit boss with little smiles of wrong doing..I squint to make sure
of her intention ..and she bats those baby blues... raises her fingers at
Da-Da ...and  rolls  her  Di Di  ( passy fy) to   the corner of her mouth
...parking it there in defiance

"Nooo Da-Da  Dat- Mary's"  she says     hugging a Santa ornament and scampers
 off to a hidden treasure trove of jumble behind the couch.
Da-Da  is no dope he  busies himself  performing  necessary surgery by
blanching  the base of the tree. Ignoring the cares and wants of little girls
.....
when all of a sudden  little hands sprint from hiding and  begin to wrap
Da-Da 's feet with bubble lights and tinsel to squeals of delight ..
Da-da now holds the tree base as the house electrician  hog ties Da-Da in a
fete complete before a daring rescue by Mommy..
I am not a young man anymore ;29 was a long time ago
Having sais that everyone knows the yarn of 99 bottles of beer on the wall
 but nobody knows how many times this two year old has asked me to read "Twas
the night brfore Christmas in the past two weeks
I don't have an exact figure but it beats the 99 bottles of beer hands down.

Golden books 1960 by Clement Moore (1870) has been the trick  to get her
ready for bed.
But now Just when we finish the story we start all over again ;
on and on it goes ...through Bop-bops (bottles of milk)..
. and various measures  of slumber  hoo-doo  that would
mystifiy your best babysitter..

Tonight after only two readings I decided on a new tactic revolutionary in
child psychology.
I sensed we were in it for the long haul of repitition  and I suggested to
Mary we get flashlights and lay next to the tree and look up the chimney flue
This was a hit; we lay flat on our backs then using our flashlights peered up
the chimney and discussed the physics of  what Santa must do to get here .

First; with lights going every which way I explained how Santa who we saw at
Wall Mart (with Barney )was a rotund and jolly chap like Mr. Fields who was
from  our post office.

Mary gummed this over and then wanted the low down on Fields...was he SANTA?
No  but he had a white beard and a red face on which I failed to  elaborate
on.

"Noo Mary"..." Santa  follows our smoke from "our"  chimney ...so he knows
its OUR house" and that MARY lives here....
Mary cast the light far afield and seemed  to digest this with sugar plums
but I could see she wasn't buying any fairees just yet .
"Rain-deer?" ...She asks ....My light caught hers way up the chimney eyeing
the smoke chamber
"Oh "
"the reindeer stay on the roof  and Santa comes down chimney " I said...With
toys ..lots and lots of toys........( I could see I was digging a future hole
of no return )..
She studied these answers with her flashlight the way a punter considers the
odds at Aquaduct..satisfied  she placed her head in my arm
and I discussed how Santa was able to shrink down chimneys and Ma-Ma would
lay out the cookies and Milk ...the little peepers began to fade  .and  then
I began.
."Twas the night before Christmas... and all through the house....not a
creature was stirring not even a"
 ....Late Breaking news ..
Reuters reports a mouse in the Davidson farm kithen near Christmas tree
Panic erupts ....Christmas Mouse  scurried past Baby  and old man takes up
fire poker

...Baby pleads for the Christmas mouse as Ma-Ma takes to a chair ....Da-Da in
dilemma but bows to the pressure of the creshe and the nativity  with live
crying baby pleading for the innocence of world peace ....

Negotiations with Christmas mouse satisfactory with Peace commission
All is well send milk and cookies( and a little cheese) Michael
Ma-Ma  and Mary

  and that he would follow our smoke from our fire to know that this was
Marys house.
Mary wanted to know if Santa was in fact Mr. Fields; I said no but Mr. Fields
had a red face