Gran called me at work a few weeks ago to ask me what I thought about getting Ella a nap mat for Christmas. “Sounds good,” I say. It turns out to be a really cute pink hippo mat from a local monogram shop. Great, she’ll be sleeping on a mat by Christmas and can use it for preschool, too.
Fast forward to yesterday. I get to Gran & Poppy’s for family night supper and they are all out playing on the front porch. There is the Christmas Hippo laying out on the ground. Ella, of course, is thrilled and practices napping for me. I said, “I thought this nap mat was for Christmas?” “It is,” my mother assures me.
It seems that the Christmas Hippo had been making the rounds yesterday afternoon. Poppy & Ella had practiced napping on the porch, in the kitchen and the sun room. I just laughed, assuming that when we went home, hippo would return to the Christmas hiding place and hibernate until December. Boy, was I wrong.
After dinner, we were getting ready to leave and putting on Ella’s pajamas (she almost always fall asleep in the car and after almost 2 years, we have finally learned). She of course, picks up the Christmas Hippo and says she’s ready to go to bed. I told her that the hippo needs to stay with Gran, we’ll see him again in a few months. After she insists on taking it, I send her in to ask Gran thinking for sure she’ll get shot down.
Fast forward 10 more minutes. We are now attempting to get Ella into the car in the pouring rain with not only the diaper bag and bunny, but I’ve been given the task of keeping the hippo dry since Gran decided she could come home with us temporarily! Despite the fact that it’s more than a little wet when we finally make it in, Ella insists on “napping” on it… in her crib. What is up with grandparents? Last I checked, we couldn’t have a Christmas gift early if our lives depended on it and now grandkids get to do whatever they want… including sleep with a hippo that might be commuting back and forth between Ella’s crib and the Christmas closet?!
My mother just laughed when I notified her that she’d be the subject of tonight’s blog. She said when she ordered it , Ellen asked her how in the world she could wait until December to give it to Ella. Apparently, she never intended on waiting.
The first picture is Ella posing with the hippo just before bedtime last night. The one below is from this morning… not much of a change. We dig the Christmas Hippo!
