today flew by....i just had some cleanup to do around the house...why is it messier on monday after i've had all of this help?...anyway, i had stuff....christmas run a round to do.....friends to call to get some gift ideas .
why is it that christmas was so much fun when we could surprise them with a little tykes kitchen, a fire engine, tricycles, barbies or legos! i remember when things started to change......as kids get bigger and start to question the guy in the red suit, we get more desperate.......we want to keep creating that same christmas morning awe and wonder. it was crazy from the moment we heard the pitter patter of little feet! we had to create a rule that grace and t.j. wait at the top of the stairs until we were ready to go downstairs too......or they would have ripped through the presents like a cyclone had passed through.......and we would have missed it all! they would sit with their christmas pajamas, tapping their elmo slippers (or character of choice as they got older)......they would chatter incessantly about jolly old santa.....and wait....moments....that, to them, seemed like hours! and then, the whirl of red and white and green pajamas and speedy little feet......and next.....ripping paper and squeals of joy and excitement. every little stocking stuffer was acknowledged with an invisible exclamation point. a few years ago, just when the kids started getting suspicious, grace and t.j. tried to rig some kind of trap for santa...just to see if there really was a santa.......they were convinced that they had the camera set in a way that would surprise santa and they would really know the truth.......they were on the edge......we managed to snap a picture of just a blur of red and had them convinced that he must have been in a hurry and in the rush, the photo blurred!
we did everything that we could to keep the dream alive.... we used to sprinkle some reindeer dust, made of oatmeal and glitter, all over the lawn to let the reindeer know where to land....then i would spit carrots all over the yard as proof that the reindeer ate their carrot snack....that's when my husband thought i might be going over the edge.......but, if anything could help to have them believe just another year......
i used to laugh at a friends story of her dad.....growing up, at easter, he used to put "bunny prints" hopping all through the house....putting fingers in baby powder and printing them on the carpet......everywhere! here he was, this grown man, a wall street tycoon, printing bunny prints all through the house..... finally, his wife.....the girls' mom, said,"honey, i think it's time to stop the peter cottontail bunny prints......the girls are in college now!"
i think like he does.....if i just keep playing the game.....they'll keep believing! i was in denial....not the kids. i wanted that santa believing to go on forever. i believed in santa intensely. when i was about four, i learned the song"better watch out, better not pout...........he SEES you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake".....well, that's all it took....i really thought i saw him looking in my window, so i quick, closed my eyes....hoping he wouldn't see me awake! i told our kids that story....that was true, to me, when i was four........i would tell grace and t.j., "i don't know....people may say there's no santa, but i know that i saw him.....so i still believe!" that kept them going for a little while.the doubting became too much. it was time to see the old movie "miracle on 34th street", a classic, an old family favorite. finally, it was time.....for the speech about how we believe in the spirit of christmas......that's the magical part of christmas......i don't think they buy it....i think they humor us.....just so they don't blow the whole present gig.
their turn has come to spread the magic of christmas to little ones.....the littleboy down the street, their little cousin.....they continue to share and the spirit.....and to me, that's part of my magic at christmastime.
so, tonight, i had some errands to run....we still keep our ideas under wraps, hopefully surprising them.....and still trying to keep it simple......but, hopefully with one little something that takes them by surprise......for them, we say............i kinda think that's for us....hopefully, to get that reaction....the "wow".....
tonight, i got my own "wow!"........i finished some of our last minute shopping. feeling relieved, i drove up the driveway and dashed in the house. i kissed my husband, said good night to the grace and t.j. and sat down to take a breath and return a couple of e-mails, have a little pomegranite seltzer (my favorite).....just before i joined my husband.....he had started up the stairs......
just as i was hitting "send" and ready to go up and get ready for bed, my husband appeared........he looked at me and smiled...he said, "i was ready to fall into bed, when i realized there were no sheets.....no comforter....no quilt....no pillowcases!" he smiled...... thank God he loves me.... all i could say was "oops!" .......................
