It was shaky ground for a few moments. My bunnies both seemed shy as we began to wrap gifts. The music was blaring and Winston was muttering to himself and munching on his favorite chew toy. "HhhhhYahhhhh....hmph hmph hhhhhyahhhh"
"You do it."
"Nooooo you."
"It was your idea."
"Well YOU said you KNEW already."
I fidgeted. It was coming. One of the saddest days...
"Mommy? Is Santa real? Or is it just you and Daddy?" Boo asked. Maddie busied herself with gift wrap and the over importance of the tape dispenser.
I paused. As prepared as I thought I'd be, I just wasn't. I wasn't ready to give this up yet.
"What do YOU feel? Not think. Not what you've heard...FEEL?"
Maddie began: "I feel that So-and-so from class is full of rusty bolts because HE said that Santa died and it HAS to be the Moms and Dads since no one else could do what he did."
Ben was close behind: "I heard that because of the 'conomy, he got laid off. Now we have to do it ourselves. Poor Santa. Now he's just regular? What about the deer? Will someone shoot them and make sausage or can they hide until they get their jobs back? Will Santa keep them in his barn?"
I asked them about the spirit of Christmas and the celebration of the holidays...They got all that. It was cut and dry: Was he real or not. Now it was my turn to be uncertain and uncomfortable. "In spite of what you have heard, what do you think?" I tried from another angle.
They got me: "Mommy? Do YOU believe in Santa?"
Then it came to me: "Santa is Father Christmas...one of the spirits of the holidays, right? So if I believe in the spirit of the holiday then I believe in Santa. I love Christmas...I MUST love Santa then, right?"
There was a collective sigh.
"He's SOO real because we heard the sleigh bells outside last year when Daddy was in the bathroom and we were watching the movie (A Christmas Story). Everyone was there. And who chews up those carrots and leaves them on the rug? Winston doesn't even LIKE carrots. AND somebody ALWAYS eats the cookies and stuff we leave out." Ben quickly added.
Maddie continued: " We send those letters and ALWAYS get a response. It's not like YOU do it. I know your writing. It MIGHT be you? But I sent one anyway. I'd be afraid that if you didn't believe THEN he'd die....you know, like Tinkerbell?"
I smiled. One more year. I was safe.
I gladly went outside today with my little elves and hung the lights. The kids fought over who got to be on top of the ladder. They pulled the extension cord too far and out of the socket so when the "moment" came....nothing. Way to go Clark... And for the record? The little lights weren't blinking. The kids put the net lights up...sort of. They ran the strands ALL over the yard so it really just looked like a psychotic runway. I was quietly thankful that we didn't have any little light up critters...Heaven KNOWS ... To top it off? Santa came on the firetruck. The kids were amazed because we'd seen him earlier this morning at the mall. Only Santa could pull off such a stunt. We came inside and had cocoa all excited that Santa looked healthy and seemed ready to go for his big day.
This year, the kids were each allowed lights in their rooms so we made wreaths and decorated them. Winston ate garland, burned his nose on the hot glue gun and sampled some glitter glue. No one saw him actually do this; however there were a LOT of unexplained blue sparklies covering his nose and cheeks. "Way to go bud." He decided that his NEW favorite toy is the finished cardboard tube that holds wrapping paper. He goes insane: snarling, snapping, and swatting. I believe he would laugh if he could. He LOVES to be chased with it...banging on the floor, he tucks his piggy tail under and hikes his butt in zooming around as fast as he can. He almost skids around corners... Of course, I don't egg him on, nor do I encourage the children. That would be wrong. hee hee, but it WOULD be really funny...if that happened.
Mrs. Claus is very tired I hear, but happy.
I hope you are all progressing nicely with your big Santa chores...thanks for taking the time to stop by. I always enjoy our time together.
