Do You Believe?

Yesterday, out of the blue, Chance asked me if I believe in Santa. I knew it was coming; he'd been saying things over the last few weeks that led me to believe that his faith, if you will, is wavering. I know now that he's in first grade he's hearing more kids talking about Santa and whether or not he's real. So I wasn't surprised that he asked...I just didn't know exactly how I'd answer.

You see, I don't like lying to my kids. I may edit the truth now and then (I view it as a need-to-know thing...how much do they truly need to know in each case?) but I try not to lie to them. When we're at the doctor's office for shots and the nurse says "This won't hurt a bit." I look my kids in the eyes and tell them it will, but only for a few seconds and then it'll be done. Why lie?

Santa, however, is different.

I don't know, maybe I've read The Polar Express a few too many times but I think that believing in Santa is a magical gift we give our children. It's part of the charm of the season to me, the thought of someone who gives gifts just because he's nice. He rewards good (behavior) and discourages bad and teaches kids to "be good for goodness sake". Not bad lessons if you ask me.

So, there I was looking Chance dead in the eye and telling him "Yes, I believe". But, you know something? I didn't really lie to him. I'm Santa. Sean's Santa. We're all a little Santa every time we do something nice for someone else...just because.

Christmas is Coming!!!

It's that time of year again: Time to deck the halls, put up the tree and make our Christmas lists. Whew! Just thinking about it is exhausting!

The kids have been egging me on to get the house decorated all last week so now we're looking properly festive in the house. This weekend we got our tree and decorated it so it's officially Christmastime in our house. I have to confess, when we started decorating the tree I was feeling very Grinchy but with each ornament I pulled out of the box my mood lightened. By the time we reached the bottom of the box I was feeling properly festive and smiling broadly as I looked the tree over. There are so many memories hanging on that tree - each ornament has a story and some meaning to it.

Now for the really tough part, though: Christmas lists and shopping. I'm honestly stymied about what to do for the kids. We've been talking about what they want Santa to bring them and Chance's list seems to grow hourly. Maia, thank goodness, is too young to completely grasp the greedier aspects of the holiday so her list is short. Sean is nearly impossible and I'm having my toughest year yet figuring out what to get him. I want to surprise him with something cool/needed/wanted/what-made-you-think-of-that but I'm drawing a blank. Well, there's still some time left to shop...perhaps I'll get inspired while surfing the Web someday soon.

Anyway, enough of my stressing. I'm going to sit back, listen to the Christmas carols playing and turn on the tree lights while I do my work. When it comes to Christmas I think I might just be the biggest kid in the house.