Linus, circa 2012

Last year I bought the Charlie Brown Nativity on post-holiday clearance to add it to my Nativity collection. Since we took it out of the box the other day, Robbie has played with it quite a bit.

At first, I got all warm and fuzzy, watching him spend so much time with it, recalling Linus's monologue about the true meaning of Christmas:

As Robbie was playing with the figures, I noticed he'd dropped Linus's staff. I handed it to him, telling him not to lose it, that a shepherd needs his staff.

A few minutes later I heard him say in a very gruff voice,

"Listen! I've got a staff & I'm not afraid to use it."