The love to decorate seems to be a common thread in our family. When I was younger I liked to paint. I enjoyed seeing an old table or wall look sparkling clean after I put on a couple of coats of paint.

My daughter Linda liked to beautify too and started at a very early age. She drew a stunning drawing on her bedroom wall with her crayons. Well, to her it seemed lovely; I didn't call it that when I scrubbed the wall to get those crayons off.

Linda's youngest son, Dustin decorated our front porch one day with a gallon of window cleaner, while Linda was yelling "No Dustin, no Dustin" and running as fast as she could. Too late, the decorating was accomplished.

Now my great grandson Ronnie is becoming a decorator. I gave Ronnie some paints and a paintbrush a few weeks ago and he likes to paint the paper I give him. He comes to our house and spends Saturday or Sunday afternoons with us. He's a gadabout, when we talk to him on the phone he immediately wants to go bye-bye with the Grandmas. We're taking full advantage of it now while he's two and a half, because we know that when he hits those dreaded teenage years he'll have slogans on his wall that say "Never trust anyone over 18."

Ronnie is very energetic, but last week he wasn't quite as peppy as usual because he sat and watched the Seven Dwarfs video for a long time in Nana Lorraine's room. Now Nana Lorraine loves to read and she has a lot of books on her shelves. When Ronnie disappeared I went to check on him. There he was tossing books across the room. I told him to cut that out and pick those up and he did. Ronnie is a good boy and his Mama and Daddy have taught him to mind.

He watched more Snow White and then we made a big mistake, when he disappeared we didn't check on him. When Nana Lorraine finally went in and looked to see what he was doing Ronnie was using his artistic abilities on her bathroom cabinets, the floor, and his clothes. He had found some very good paint, her liquid make-up. Nana Lorraine did something she seldom does; she got upset when she found that half of an almost new bottle of liquid make up was spread on her bathroom. She raised her voice and actually swatted him on the behind. But Ronnie didn't cry. He didn't let it bother him.

Yesterday he came over for his weekly visit and went into the bathroom when Nana Lorraine was washing her hands. He looked up at her and asked "Nana's paint?"

"Nana put her paint up," Nana Lorraine said and received a mischievous grin from her grandson.

What a kill joy Nana Lorraine is. How is a decorator supposed to practice his art if all these adults stop him? After all Ronnie does come from a long line of family decorators.