"What a Grunchy thing we have"

Willow found the long, stick-like box which had earlier delivered some gifts for the girls. Now the box held only packing peanuts. And potential.

First she folded each end and paraded around the living room with her "didgeridoo"(which sounded believable but lacked the instruments 'eeriness')

Next she theorised about poking holes in the tower-like box and fashioning evergreen branches out of construction paper that could be secured through the holes(because her mother didn't own tape)

Then she was quiet for a while until I heard this casual(and very 'grown-up' sounding) voice behind me: "Well, look what we have here. What a Grunchy Thing we have. That old Grinch has a Christmas tree after all."
I turned to find the plain brown box standing tall like a tree with no branches, and for the star, a dirty sock drooped over the top.

I saw a gleam in Willow's eye and knew that SHE knew how funny I would think this was. She was right - I was helpless with laughter.

And finally, tonight she spent at least an hour meticulously wrapping(and taping, thank you) sheets of white copy paper over every inch of this box. Now from the other room I hear lengthy deliberation between two farmers(with constantly changing names) concerning the display location for the finished package.