I just had a whirlwind visit from the elves, here to decorate my house for Christmas. Actually, it wasn’t exactly elves. It was Tammy, David, Aiden and Kylie, some of whom (I won’t name names) might possibly be related to elves.

My house is the designated location for this year’s Christmas dinner, but it won’t do at all in its natural state of plainness. I have walls and beams and banisters just ripe for decorating, but I have no inclination to do it myself. Well, that’s only partly true. I also have no ability. My design skills are negligible, so if I throw a few knickknacks around on the shelves and light a couple of candles, I think I’ve done enough. Enough for me is not enough for everyone, however.

And I’m perfectly willing to open my house to anyone who has ideas about what a festive home should look like at this time of the year, especially if it comes with a visit from elves, munchkins or leprechauns. Kylie, our little fairy princess, made herself at home this time around, helping herself to my remote controls and whimsically changing the TV channels.

Somehow she decided we needed to watch Cero en Conducta on channel 14 instead of the football game on channel 11. When that show came on, Aiden asked, “Could I watch this?” and plopped down on the floor. I didn’t even know he spoke Spanish, but nothing he does would surprise me.

Kylie and I made a game of handing things back and forth to each other. That’s what fifteen-month-olds do, as I recall. She would load me up with remotes, or pens, or whatever else was within her reach, handing them to me one by one, then politely ask for them back, one by one. When she started handing me five-gallon water bottles (the empties, duh), I ran out of hands to hold them after two. And she didn’t really want them back. I think she just wanted to see how many she could get me to take.

If it sounds as if I was a big help in keeping an eye on the babies while their parents decorated, that’s not exactly how it was. The two little ones are born explorers, and anything new and interesting is fair game. Turn your back and Aiden is testing out the letter opener, or Kylie is pulling the cap off the red pen and looking for something to write on. I really need to have something more age-appropriate, for the next time they visit. That’s why this particular decorating trip was cut short.

But they did manage to hang all the stockings on the stairs behind my desk, and they made a Christmas tree out of a string of lights on my inside wall. No garlands were hung from the beams, mostly because we didn’t have anything that would reach up high enough to dust the tops of the beams and clear the cobwebs from around them. Besides, the babies were getting tired, and so, I suspect, were their parents.