An Early Christmas - 2009...

Grant Gerner's first Christmas

This picture was made one year before we actually got to see him.

Second Christmas

Sixteen-month-old Grant - Phillip's grandson - came to Murfreesboro recently, bringing great excitement into our household. It was our first face-to-face meeting. He and his parents stayed three nights at a nearby motel, and came to visit late each afternoon. We think those were his parents with him. We didn't see them clearly. Our eyes were glued to the baby.

Phillip and I had tried to plan some entertainment. With not one single toy in our entire apartment, we were forced to improvise. I filled a plastic tray with measuring cups and spoons and we considered throwing in a few dried beans so he'd have something to pour from one container to another, but, no, we agreed he'd probably stick beans up his nose and in his ears and down his throat. Cancel beans. Later, thanks to his mother, Becky, I learned that cheerios work just as well.

It turned out Grant wasn't into cooking anyway. He was more into rubbing cheerios, one at a time, across the floor until they were nicely covered with invisible germs and then popping them into his sweet mouth and saying, "ummmm."

Phillip and I had carefully saved toy advertisements from the Sunday paper. We just knew Grant would be interested in pictures of small boys riding bikes. He wasn't. But the toy pictures weren't a total flop. He spent some time studying a thumb-nail size picture of "Square Bob Big Britches," or some such creature with some such name.

Long sigh here ... Phillip and I haven't a clue about what's popular in our grandchildren's world today.

Grant was full of tricks. With laughing eyes, he pulled up his shirt and showed his belly, said HoHoHo just like Santa, and, best of all, he snapped his fingers and danced.

His grandfather and I were enchanted.

Busy every minute, Grant removed decorative magnets from the refrigerator door and rearranged the kitchen shelves.

Busy every minute, his parents were hot on his heels, trying to protect our home from invasion.

Phillip and I relaxed and enjoyed the show.

The thing that held Grant's interest longest ... the thing he enjoyed most ... was a container of raw red potatoes he found on a bottom kitchen shelf. He pitched potatoes to invisible batters ... tossed potatoes to invisible receivers and rolled potatoes across the floor like wobbly cars.

Next visit Phillip and I will be better prepared. We'll buy Kroger's biggest sack of Irish potatoes, pour them into a laundry basket and set them in the middle of the floor.

Nothing to do after that but sit back and enjoy.