'Twas the Night Before Christmas

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we had been reading Christmas stories before bedtime - The Polar Express, Olive the Other Reindeer, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, etc. Apparently the latter stuck with Alex because when we read it to him on Christmas Eve, he was able to finish each line of the story as we read along. It came as a total surprise to us because we had only read it a handful of times, and he never really participated that much before. I guess he just decided to pull out the big guns right before Santa showed up, perhaps as a last ditch effort to impress the big buy and redeem himself from any indiscretions he may have committed during the year. Based on the haul that Santa left in the living room the next morning, his strategy seemed to have worked.

Anyway, we were so surprised and impressed by his efforts that we made him "perform" a second time so that I could get it on camera. And don't mind the nasty throat-clearing before the narrative begins - that's what all great storytellers do before a big performance.