This holiday season, I vow to act like a child.

I will not sit still. I will get up or get out and move every day. I will skip to the mailbox, I will dance in the kitchen, I will walk around the block, I will jump up and down in anticipation. I will do it because it makes me feel good, not because I have to.

I will be a picky eater. If I don’t love it, I won’t finish it. I will not waste stomach capacity on mediocre food. The only exception is if the cook is watching me. If the cook is watching, I will make an interesting comment to draw attention to my eating their dish—“Mmm, is that nutmeg in these mashed potatoes?”—and then push the remaining food to the edges of my plate and cover it with a napkin. If I love a food I will savor it, licking my fingers (discreetly) and ignoring the world around me until it’s gone.

I will ask “why?” I will listen to the Christmas story at church and to carols on the radio and I will ask “Why? Why? Why?” until the only answers left are “Because God loves us so much, he came down and saved us himself” and “I don’t know, He just does.”

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14