I know I have been lax on my blogging as of late. I lay the blame solely on my good friend Jaleh, who writes a wonderful weekly article and steals all my ideas. Ok, she may not steal them per se since she is writing about them first…but I always read her articles and say yeah, that would have made a good blog…never mind. And so, I am left with nothing.
This one shall be short and sweet. It’s Christmas Eve (did you notice?) and I have to say this year…I am almost more excited that the children are. I guess because Addison is 6 now and inching closer to the that fence of whether or not Santa is real. I know the inevitable will come and he will first straddle the fence and then leap over it. But this year…he is still 100% a believer and it just warms my heart. He believes so honestly it’s infectious. Maybe there is a Santa Clause after all. One of my Facebook friends was confronted by her child and demanded the truth. Not willing to just say bluntly, there is no Santa…all a big lie, she told the following explanation. Long ago, there was a Santa Clause that helped all the little children. When he died, a little piece of his soul went into the hearts of all the mommies and daddies in the world and those yet to come. So, Mommy and Daddy carry on the Santa tradition so that Santa can live on. When you become a Mommy or Daddy, you will find your little piece of Santa in your heart and help keep his memory alive. I think that is perfect.
This year, we have been doing the Elf on the Shelf. Addison insists that we leave “Elfian” a cookie as well. And the reindeer need carrots and water as well. And he is very concerned, and in fact confessed he had worried about ALL DAY at school, that the firewood is blocking the fireplace opening and Santa may not be able to get down. We remedied that asap.
And through the eyes of a child…this has become one of my favorite Christmas memories: A few Christmas’ ago, Addison and I were lying in bed Christmas eve as I was desperately trying to get him to go to sleep as I had much still to do. We were talking about Santa and the sleigh and did maybe we hear some hoofs on the roofs? I mentioned something about jingle bells, when all of a sudden, we heard for real….jingle bells! Addison and I stared at each other wide-eyed and burst into giggles. He said “Mama…I heard them, I heard them!” I shouted, “I did too!” I was so surprised and so excited, I actually had tears in my eyes. We talk about it every year now. A silent thank you to our mystery ringer for giving me a memory to cherish forever.
For some reason this year, I got my Christmas groove on and not only got cards out early, I wrapped all the presents and have completed all the incidental shopping. Needless to say, the plethora of presents under the tree have been quite the temptation for Young Master Addison. As always, we have spoiled the children horrendously with insane amounts of presents. I tried to be good and rationalize by not buying one huge, expensive gift; I would save money and get several smaller gifts. WRONG! But, there is just something about hundreds (ok, 34 to be exact…but that is for all 5 of us) of presents under the tree. Every day, he has come up with a new and fantastic excuse to open one, or some, early. And they say children have no imaginations anymore! I have been quite impressed with his negotiation tactics…one being that if I let him open some now, I won’t have as much mess to clean up Christmas morning. So thoughtful is my son.
The babies have just been excited about the tree, the ornaments, the Twinkle Twinkle (The star on top). Pictures of our tree don’t do it justice, but this year the twins helped decorate. There is a definite consolidation of ornaments right about toddler height, with two or three hung on the same poor twig. They don’t realize there are toys in the presents (yet. Big Brother was helpful pointing that out to them the other day. I think it was a ploy to get them to open some, so he could, in all things being fair and equal, then get to open some as well)…they just can’t resist the bows and bright paper of the actual present. They will appear in a room clutching a package; grinning from ear to ear.
I wish that we could be with our families; I miss them all so much, especially at the holidays, however there is also something to be said for just the 5 of us enjoying the day with leisure. This year too, we have been talking more about the true meaning of Christmas and how it’s better to give than receive. (Note to Tom: You would feel better to GIVE me the iTouch 64 gig and I promise to not rejoice in the receiving of it too much…….)
So to all of you out there…Merry Christmas…Happy Holidays and enjoy the season. Remember what it stands for no matter what religion you are…Good Will and Peace Towards Man.
