Christmas Memories 1

My cousin graduated from college last weekend.  I am so proud of her and wish I could be there to celebrate with her, however this is not possible.  I do however want her to know how much I have been thinking of her.  You see, I was 14 when she was born and I loved babies.  I felt like I had my own real live baby doll and I wanted to babysit every chance I got.  When I turned 16 and got my license, she was my sidekick.  My uncle and aunt allowed me to take her with me out and about and we had great fun together.  Since she started talking she has called me "Ro," she still does to this day.  At the risk of embarrassing her in a major way, I want to share a favorite memory of her from Christmas time. 

I couldn't find a good picture of the two of us to match this post, but here I am holding her after her baptism.  The 90's were alive and well ~ check out my clothes and hair!

We used to take lots of walks around the neighborhood and we'd talk about what all we saw.  At Christmas one year, she had to be 2 or 3, we were walking when I took her to a house with the light-up nativity in the front yard.  I knew the people who had this, they were church members and knew they wouldn't mind if I brought her into the yard for a closer look.  That became our "thing" that we did together.  Whenever she wanted to go see it she would say, "I want to go pet the baby Jesus, Ro."  So we'd walk to see the nativity and she would go up to baby Jesus and rub his little head and talk to him.  It was so sweet to be a part of that special time as she talked to Jesus and "petted" his head.  That was 20 years ago and as I drove by that same nativity the other night, I thought of that Christmas and how Jesus was becoming real to her at such a young age.  It seems like it was only yesterday and here she is graduating from college.  My how the time does fly! 

I stole this graduation picture from her facebook page.  Hope she doesn't mind!

So proud of you, girlie!!