A visit from Santa

We tracked Santa last night on NORAD and Grace even called them to chat about whether Santa would visit if she was still awake. The NORAD tracker told Grace that Santa would be in Florida between 9 p.m. and midnight and no, he would not stop here if she was still awake. Grace became very concerned that Santa wouldn't find our stockings so she made a sign with a sleigh and an arrow that read "socks," as stockings was too long a word for her to spell by herself. She woke up this morning, utterly delighted with all of the signs that Santa was here--her very full "socks," the Christmas tree lights were already on, there were only cookie crumbs on the plate, and her sheep in the nativity scene had been moved. It is bitter-sweet for us to see all of this enthusiasm, as it is almost certainly the last year she will believe so strongly in Santa.