Hazy Memory Little Credit

Prior to Christmas this past December we talked quite a bit about how to handle opening a present you don't like.  We discussed that all you have to do is say, "Thank you so much for giving me a present" - no need to pretend you like it, but you certainly don't let on that you hate it.  On Christmas Eve morning, my Dad and Carrie came over to give the kids their gifts.  To Lia, they gave a large wrapped present.  She opened it, and found it was a full size mailbox with her name on it.  She looked at my parents and said "Thank you so much for giving me a present". 

Little did she know, that was only the intro to her real present.  You see, my parents had ordered a playhouse kit online so that Lia would have her very own playhouse in our backyard.  The kit supposedly came with all the pieces which the website said would take two people 4 to 8 hours.  The catch was that my husband got to put it together.  The kit arrived on a shrink-wrapped pallet.  We stripped the wrap and started assembling.  My job was to read the directions (cross referencing two different sets of directions) and Darrin put the things together.  That first night we got the floor boards built. 

A week later, several trips to the hardware store to buy missing screws, boards, roof shingles, drain spouts, etc., Darrin finished the project.  (I only helped that first night.)  We tried to hide it from Lia, but really, how do you hide a playhouse?!?  When she saw it I told her that Daddy was building a new chicken coop. 

On Christmas Eve morning, after opening her mailbox and wondering what in the world Nonno and Grandma were thinking, they walked Lia out to her new playhouse and explained that it was hers.  Ben exclaimed "I knew it was too pretty to be a chicken coop!".  Lia was very excited and that very day both kids started moving toys into the little house.  Lia and I made a list of the things she needed to make it comfortable, and I took her to Target to purchase them.  Darrin hung a light with a pull chain, using an extension cord for now until Uncle Leo can wire up a real light.  The girl loves her house.

Tonight my parents came over for dinner, and Lia asked my dad if she could take him out to her playhouse to show him all her stuff.  When they got out there, the light didn't work.  My dad asked her why and she said, "My Daddy probably forgot to put batteries in it".  Then my dad asked her, "Lia, do you remember who got this playhouse for you?"  And she said "My Daddy".  Her Nonno said "No Lia, Grandma and I got it for you but Daddy put it together - we got it for you for Christmas". 

And that little girl looked into her Nonno's eyes and said "No, Nonno - you got me a mailbox!"