In all my mopeyness, I haven’t taken the time to express the good things. This warmed my heart so much. Last night, Annika was making all these drawings: some had the Fortnite logo, which surprised me because she kind of hates Fortnite. I went to take a look at her drawings and she told me “just two more Fortnites to go!”

“Why?” I asked, a little bemused. She showed me a list on a piece of ripped-out notebook paper. She had written all of the names of the kids in her class, and each one had a word or phrase next to it in different kids’ handwriting.

She explained that, since some of her friends in the class didn’t get to have Christmas, she was going to make sure that everyone got a present. She wrote down everyone’s names, then asked them to write down what they liked. Then she spent all night drawing them pictures of what they wrote so she could give them each a gift today.

She didn’t finish the 30-or-so drawings last night, so she woke up early this morning, grabbed her booklight and pencils, and went to work in her bedroom. She got them all finished and delivered them today (it was St. Paul’s last day of school today).

I love this about Annika. She is resourceful, thoughtful, tenacious, and friends with everyone, even the kids who really struggle to make friends. She wanted to make sure everyone got a gift this season, so she made them each something that they liked. She has radical kindness and she is unapologetically herself. I need to take some notes from her.