ah, yes, the christmas wrap up... let's start with this little story.




the kids and santa was an iffy thing this year. anna came home in october after meeting sparky the fire safety dog and declared that santa was not real either. we (including matthew) were all baffled by her declaration and quickly talked her out of it and then proceeded to change the subject. we hoped that by the time december rolled around she would have forgotten about it.


that did not happen.




leading up to the holidays, the cpr christmas train made a stop in our community. we hyped it up for the kids, told them there would be a fancy train with lights, a band singing carols and, of course, santa.

anna, running the scene through her head, looked at me from across the table, narrowed her eyes, and said, "the real santa, or just some guy in a costume?"

"the real santa!" i chirped, hoping she didn't catch the slight, absolutely minuscule hesitation in my delivery.

her eyes stayed narrow, trained on me, then suddenly popped open with glee... "yay!!' she squealed.




whew. bullet dodged.

we got bundled up and drove over to the train yard to greet the holiday train. once it arrived, we dashed from our warm vehicle and sprinted across the field to get a better look. we slowed our gait to a comfortable walk just as the giant, sparkling locomotive slowed to a stop. right in front of us, santa stepped off the platform, and the kids squealed happily. the big man in red began greeting the families and children that had gathered, and our kids ran up to catch a better glimpse and perhaps nab one of the candy canes he was offering.

it was then, right when anna grasped the candy cane from santa's white glove, that i saw her face crinkle up into a look of utter confusion. in a nano second, the confusion gave way to a look a sheer horror and she threw her head back and let out a wail.

"that's not the real santa! that's just a guy!" she hollered and cried. "santa's not real!"





at this (horrifying) moment in time we had two concerns. one, get her the hell away from the other kids that didn't need to hear about the illegitimacies of santa. and two, comfort (and straighten out) our four year old.





i grabbed her, hurled her over my shoulder, and marched to the back to of the crowd.

"you don't say something like that! why did you say that?" i scolded.

"that's just a guy in a costume! where's the real santa!?"




and there in her full on scream/cry she gave me my out. the real santa was so busy this time of year he couldn't possibly visit all of these small towns himself! he sends his helpers, i explained.

"really?" she took a breath.





"yes!" we implored. even the boy was helping us pitch our story. despite being older, he hadn't waivered on santa for a moment.




she was chewing on it, but would she swallow our bullshit story?




"oh, ok." she whimpered.




and with that, we had our answer. and we've been pushing that story over and over throughout the christmas break. she agrees santa is out there, but has yet to see him herself. she happily left him milk and cookies on christmas eve night, so that was a good sign. but we'll see what next year brings.




(ps, we had a lovely christmas!)