My favorite gift

I love my 8-year-old daughter Maria, but she has fine-tuned her ability to drive me crazy!  She likes to debate (argue) about everything.  If I say "Isn't the sky a beautiful blue color today?" she will spend the next hour debating with me on whether the sky is actually blue.  ("No, I don't think it is really blue.  I think it is pale blue. Or maybe indigo blue.  Or maybe a true blue.  And the clouds aren't white; they are grayish white.  Or maybe a whitish gray.")

Changes in her routine especially seem to bring out her argumentative side. Which means that the holidays are always challenging, since she isn't in her regular school routine, her brother is home from school, and daddy is around more often.  Some days I go to bed exhausted, asking God (or rather, begging him!) for a better day tomorrow.

Then, out of the blue she will do something that touches my heart so deeply.  On Christmas Eve she gave me  this gift -- a coloring sheet she had just finished:

Kinda' makes it easier to forget all the arguing and debating...if only for a little while!