Day #7- An encounter with Santa

I cannot believe I have blogged everyday for a week. I also cannot not believe I have committed to this right now. Things are hectic on the homefront. Isaac's birthday is on Friday, his party is on Saturday. Nana and Aunt L are headed in town for the big occasion. Isaac's class Thanksgiving party is on Thursday so I have to cook for that plus he wants Spiderman cupcakes for his birthday on Friday. We should have contractors starting on 'the wall' any day and we are refinancing our mortgage! Phew. Good thing we only have three small children.

So we were at the mall last night celebrating flu shots. (Only poor Leah had to get the shot, the big kids got the mist.) Santa was there. Grace and Isaac were beside themselves with excitement. They begged to see Santa, but I was thinking that Sid would want to join us for this big event, so I said no. Not even a trip to the Disney Store could persuade them otherwise. Of course there was no line so I figured "Why not?" It was pretty funny. Grace became suddenly shy and couldn't remember a thing on her Christmas list. Isaac was fascinated with the paper reindeer antlers Santa puts on your head as you leave. Leah thought that Santa was a stuffed animal and wanted to eat him. But she did not want to eat him enough to let him hold her. So Grace held her and we got a decent photo with everyone at least facing the camera.

As we left the mall Isaac was yelling back to Santa to confirm that, yes indeed Santa would bring him a present, and then he told Santa at least 10 times that he loved him. Part of me wanted to tell him to stop yelling, but who am I to stop a child from communicating with Santa?

On the way home Grace explained how a girl in her class said that Santa is not real. My response was to explain that the little girl may have been mistaken. I asked Grace if she believed in Santa- she said yes- I said I believed too. I did confess that the Santa in the North Pole had to have other Santas help him at all of the different malls, but she seemed okay with that. She really wants to believe and I hope she does for a long time.

So what is the deal with parents not letting a 5 year old believe in Santa? The whole explanation that it deters from Christ is just not true. My kids know that the reason for Christmas is Jesus' birth. They also know they get lots of presents...but from everyone. If you take Santa out of the equation my kids are just going to know they now get presents from everyone plus mom and dad and Jesus is still the reason for the season. Taking away Santa just takes away special Christmas fun. Why do parents do that? Also, if your child is old enough to keep the 'Santa' secret then maybe they are old enough to know the truth. However, if your child is not old enough to keep the 'Santa' secret then they are young enough to still believe in Santa. Again, parents chill out. Much bigger fish to fry in the future.
Have a great night!