Audra brought me a paper today that she had copied Chinese characters onto and asked me if I could tell her what it said. I am a big tease, of course, and have been blessed with the ability to fly by the seat of my pants in situations like these, and thus said, "But, of course I can read it. It says, 'Last Christmas I gave you my heart and all you did was tear it apart.'" Her eyes opened wide and a big grin settled on her face. I was waiting for the moment when she would realize that the radio on my computer was playing "Last Christmas" and know that I was foolin' her. (the song actually says "...and the very next day, you gave it away" instead of "...and all you did was tear it apart" but I was improvising and didn't want her to catch on too quick!) I asked her, "Where did you find the Chinese writing to copy?" to which she replied, "On a box under my bed." "A Sunkist box for oranges?" I asked. "Yup." "Oh... that makes perfect sense then. You see, a lot of people give a case of oranges to their friends for Christmas. So, the company must be saying, 'Here's your oranges for Christmas.' And what do people do with oranges? They..." and Audra pipes up, "...TEAR THEM APART!" "That's right!" I said and told her to go tell her dad what it said and then to copy me some more. I overheard her telling Kevin what it said, and of course, he starts singing "Last Christmas" and I was sure he was going to blow it for me. But, no... she was just too thrilled that it said something about Christmas and came back through my room on her way to write some more. As she crossed the foot of my bed, she stopped suddenly. "What?!" she exclaimed! Hearing the girl on the radio still singing "Last Christmas" she looked in amazement at my computer. Oh no, I thought...she's figured it out. "Mom! That lady just said 'Last Christmas I gave you my heart.' I bet she's the one who wrote that Chinese on the box!" Her grin had grown by tenfold over her new discovery, and of course, my covert methods were kept intact. Her secret to copying down Chinese characters is quite tricky. You see, she lays on her bed and hangs her head upside down with the paper on the ground, thus creating upside down Chinese, but for my intents and purposes... it was all good. She rushed back into my room with her next set of characters. I racked my brain for a good follow up to "Last Christmas" and totally drew a blank. Once again, I tuned my ears onto the radio playing an instrumental version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and started to read it for her..."God rest ye merry gentlemen...eat this orange and rest... merry gentlemen." Oh my gosh... the look on her face was of absolute amazement that I could read the Chinese. She didn't even care if it made any sense. It was simply fabulous! That girl... she's a crack up! Happy Thanksgiving Eve to you all!
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