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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Stop the Insanity!

Ok, can the 25th just come already? Like morons, we were back in Minneapolis last night for yet another night of shopping. This time it was John's fault, he hadn't gotten anything for me yet and convinced me to go along.

Do you know what happens when you go along?? You remember all the stuff you forgot to get or thought about getting or whatever excuse you need to BUY MORE STUFF.

The best thing is I got to be there while he was buying my stuff, which is always a good thing, just to make sure he doesn't screw it up. You see, my husband has this bad habit of not buying me what I would like, but buying me what he thinks I should have. Not that he doesn't get me nice things, but many times it's more about what he wants instead of what I want. Bitchy and ungrateful, I know, but the truth. But he did well this year.

Our youngest, Brenna, went with us last night and in the middle of Target while I'm trying to pick out wrapping paper, she says, "mom, is Santa real?" Yes, she is almost 11 years old and she truly still believes, which is quite a feat considering kids at the age of 5 and 6 are not believing already and are more than willing to let everyone know that it is NOT real. One more good thing about homeschooling, your kids get to hang on to their innocence a tad longer. Anyway, the question was 'out there' and now what? Of course, I danced and wiggled and asked a lot of questions back to her.

The end result? We agreed to 'think' on it for a while longer. It's so sad, she wants to believe and get all the benefits that believing brings. Of course, she must suspect something or she wouldn't be asking and yes, all good things must come to an end, but do you know what bothers me the most and is the hardest to explain? The fact that we have been basically lying to her for 10 years. How do you know when it's time to tell the truth about Santa? Will she just come to the decision herself or should I just fess up? The other two were easy, they just stopped believing and never questioned, but Brenna takes EVERYTHING to heart and HATES change. This will be tough for her. Look at this face, can you imagine bursting this child's bubble??


I know I'm always asking your opinions, ladies, but where else am I going to get the advice of such wise women, many of whom have already waded into these waters? So, here I go again. Advice?

We are leaving to take the family skiing today, then off to the mother-in-laws to eat unhealthy amounts of food and drink and participate in 'game night' with my husband's extended family which includes about 70 million cousins, hence the need for the unhealthy amounts of drink.

'Tis the season!

6 comments:

Mrs. G. said...

I wouldn't tell her. I would let her figure it out for herself--and in some tiny space of her heart, she is obviously starting to wonder. My daughter, too, believed longer than most. When one of her closest friends started dropping HUGE hints, I sat my girl down and told her in hopes of her sparing her teasing and the shock of finding it out from someone else. She cried and cried, and I felt terrible, like a dream killer, and oh how I wished I had just let the situation play out on it's own. It's been almost seven years ago, so you can tell it has stuck with me. My vote: don't tell.

Minnesota Matron said...

Oh My: we may be separated by birth (or just the Mississippi). Over here in St. Paul, we have an 11 year old (oldest of three) who has not said one word about Santa this year until I a friend asked him if he still believed. My guy said, "I dunno." The friend proceeded to tell him how HIS mom told him last year that there was no Santa, blah blah blah. This is all in front of me!

Stryker (my guy) was destroyed. I wanted to--well, I was torn up to see Stryker torn up.

So I pulled out the phrase that my friend uses with her 11 year old who also still believes:

Santa isn't what you imagine, with the red suit and hat and bear, living with the elves in the North Pole. But such a thing as Santa exists. Santa comes. That's magical. But it's not the guy at the pole.

Stryker says he still believes in Santa, but as a different kind o magic now.

Angie said...

These suggestions match what my 'gut' feeling was about the subject. She hasn't brought it up since the other night, but she did say she wants to make cookies today to leave for Santa, so maybe we dodged the bullet for now!

Thanks again ladies, as usual, great advice.

Hope Santa brings all of you everything you asked for and more!!

Cherry said...

That is the sweetest thing!

I'm sure since she is questioning it this year, that next year she may just let it all go on her own.

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas celebration with all of the millions of cousins and tasty drinks and food!

Cherry said...

Oh and since I'm a little behind... congrats on getting that Wii! My, my what we do for the ones we love.
But you probably will want to get the extra controllers. And I hope you too learn to love the Guitar Hero! It's most EX-CEL-LENT! (but my husband doesn't understand my love for it)

Akkire said...

Hey Angie! Merry christmas. I'd say wait until she approaches you again and if she doesn't, PHEW! The whole lying to her for 10 years thing I bet she already would understand. And if not, she will when she is older and able to reflect on why you two would do that for her and sisters.

If you really feel guilty, you could use some other situation of using white lies to illustrate why sometimes lying is actually nice...and magical. :)