I've mentioned that we've been wishy-washy about the whole Santa thing, right? Well, I overheard Mike say something to Ryan, encouraging the situation, and I totally went with it.
The kids are super excited for Santa to visit, especially Ryan. He knows that he has to be asleep before Santa will come, but he didn't understand why he couldn't "just say, 'Hi'" - you know, because they're old pals. We've seen Santa twice on purpose and ran into him at Sprouts grocery shopping by accident.
As I was pulling the gifts out from under the tree and setting them out for the morning, I realized I forgot a VERY important Santa detail. It was so important to me that I actually got the kids back up and brought them downstairs to pick out cookies to put out on a plate.
I wrote a note and read aloud "For: Santa" and Kaylin immediately added, "AND Rudolf AND the reindeer..." So I kept writing. Both kids colored him a picture, too.
At Sprouts, Santa gave the kids autographed pictures, which I totally saved and put near the empty plate of cookies and the stockings. Am I good at lying to my children or what? Ah, the magic of Christmas. Oh, don't worry - we'll read the Nativity story before we open gifts in the morning and blow out birthday candles for Jesus. I haven't forgotten the real meaning of Christmas, but I AM getting into this Santa thing!
Yeah, we're going to have an interesting time next year when it's the first time Little Cub REALLY understands the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, which goes form mid-November until Dec 5th. Santa is called 'The Christmas Man' here, and isn't really anything other than a decoration that goes along with Christmas, about on par with a snowman.
ReplyDeleteHow do we combine the traditions of the country where we live (which will be thrown at him form every angle once he's in school in the spring, especially as it will be a DUTCH school) as well as keep our own traditions of the countries we come from???
We have some ideas brewing, and they may even work. So don't feel guilty about the efforts you're putting forth to lie to your children. Yours truly here will be doing MUCH worse! :-)
Merry Christmas
We never did the Santa thing, really, and now that Kiddo is "too old" at the ripe old age of 9, he settles for his Grandpa...he is a real Santa that collects and donates gifts for underprivileged children. He grows his white beard long, has a gorgeous Santa suit, complete with a brass "SC" belt buckle. He and his wife really get into it. They love it. And so does Kiddo, since he can have Santa for real!
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