In the process of de-cluttering i came across a scratch piece of paper that i had written down cute kids quotes from when i worked as a child life specialist at a children's hospital....they are too priceless not to preserve somewhere, here they are:

"I wish my sister didn't put the chapstick in her cast!" -a patient's sibling in the ED

"Ok, I'll play with you. I like to play with old ladies." -a patient to my co-worker(who is not that old!)

"You're an adult. You should go talk to those adults.  I'm a kid and i don't know you." -a patient to my co-worker:)

"If it were BYU i'd let them in!" -a patient to the Jazz B-ball players that wanted to visit her in her hospital room:)

"The blood pressure cuff feels like an anaconda squeezing my arm" -a boy about to have surgery

"So, when are you going to bring out the dead bodies for us to practice on?" -a 9 year old boy at our pre-surgery class

"What do you like to do outside?" (me) "Oh, I like slaying dragons" (3 year old boy)

"A blood pressure cuff is what they use to squeeze air into your body" -a 4 yr old patient

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

                  Christmas Bells

    I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet
        The words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    And thought how, as the day had come,
    The belfries of all Christendom
        Had rolled along
        The unbroken song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    Till ringing, singing on its way,
    The world revolved from night to day,
        A voice, a chime,
        A chant sublime
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    Then from each black, accursed mouth
    The cannon thundered in the South,
        And with the sound
        The carols drowned
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    It was as if an earthquake rent
    The hearth-stones of a continent,
        And made forlorn
        The households born
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    And in despair I bowed my head;
    "There is no peace on earth," I said;
        "For hate is strong,
        And mocks the song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

    Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
    "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
        The Wrong shall fail,
        The Right prevail,
    With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the words to "Christmas Bells" following the death of his beloved wife Fanny and also hearing the news of his son being injured in the civil war. This poem later became the well-known Christmas hymn, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."  I love the rich history that Boston holds and remember touring the Longfellow home on Brattle street (just across the street from where i went to church while in a singles ward there)  I love Henry's humble testimony in this hymn of Christmas praise. 

Here is a shout out to my parents. My heart brims with love when i think of them. They are so good. So warm. So celestial. They are human too, but somehow keep the eternal perspective so present in their daily lives. They have created something so magical in their home and in their lives. They love Family, they love God, they love Life. I am so grateful for their happy influence in my life and in my children's lives!
(thanks to my sister for this great instagram of them:)