Ben got so excited to get the Christmas tree and bring it home "on top of the car! it fall off!" (it didn't, but that was the natural worry). He has a few loved books that talk about Christmastime, so I think he's been getting into the spirit. Once the tree was up in the house, he very determinedly opened the closet door, and pushed the wagon with all the outside play balls next to the tree, and proceed to balance all the balls on the lower limbs, including a small basketball! He must have heard Daddy say that we were going to decorate the tree with balls!

Time is relative for a toddler. As soon as the tree was up, he asked when Uncle Slydog was going to get here (we had told him Uncle Slydog was coming for Christmas). So this has been a true process of delayed gratification.