I stayed over at Anna Maria and Steven's on Christmas Eve. Maggie let me have her bed and she slept -- for a while anyway -- on a mattress on the floor. Then a while before morning, Liza woke up coughing and she, too, crawled in. The blue quilt, and a similar one not in the photo, were gifts from my sister-in-law -- hand made quilts with hours and hours of sewing, and each one with a block from something my mom often wore. A gift for the present, and a gift reminding of the past as well. 
Eliza, 6, let me pick her up and have a hug. She's too big and too old for this now, but once in a great while, she likes to regress a bit and be held. This time she let me stand and hold and rock her for several minutes; she just needed some attention.
Maggie usually IS climbing on something. She's 4, but the smallest in her class and at the very bottom of the growth chart. I think she likes climbing and being the same size as everyone else once in a while.
Steven has spent several Saturday mornings watching the girls while Anna Maria learned the art of making stained glass. Unbeknownst to him until Christmas, he was the recipient of her first masterpiece. And the joy on his face was amazing; he obviously thoroughly loved this gift which, he said, he plans to take to his office at EMU. (photos by Steven David Johnson)
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