Ukraine Adoption

The spirit of Christmas

Tara is the first to notice every day that the Christmas lights outside and on our tree need to be plugged in. She is the first to notice if a bow falls down from the staircase, or a wreath isn't quite right. She sticks her button nose right into the unlit candles to get the most out of a whiff of peppermint or cinnamin oil in the wax.

Every day, she points to the decorated house around the corner that is her favorite this year; it has lighted deer on the front lawn. How cool is that. She sings parts of Christmas songs when she is playing, and sometimes meshes them together, like: "Jingle bells, jingle bells, fa-la-la-la-la-lalalala." They sound better like that.

The pure and raw excitement of Christmas, brought to you by a little girl who has come a long way from a Ukrainian orphanage in 2005 to a new home today where she brightens our holidays and all of our days.