Don't Stop Believing....

I know I kinda bagged out through the holidays in reference to blogging - but I was really really sick and in denial about the whole thing(that is another blog). Had I been feeling better most likely I would have blogged about all the fabulous and note worthy things that happened - and there were a few cute ones, but my brain has turned them off - my favorite was the GS getting kicked out of the nursing home (I really thought that was a HOOT!). Alas the illness clogging my sinus's sucked up some of my memory too. Perhaps as the days go by I will slowly recover some of it.

However, in my TOP 10 list of things that I find Wonderful and Amazing about the Christmas hoilday - is that All 3 of my Children STILL Believe in Santa!

BigGuy and I do not lie to them about it. They have point blank asked us (especially SuperStar) whether Santa exists and each time we point blank ask them back "Do You Believe That He Does?" and they say "yes" and we respond with "If you Believe in something then it is REAL for you". And when SuperStar tells us that there are few kids in her class who do Believe anymore we respond that their Parents probably don't Believe either ...........and that is when the magic is lost.

This year SuperStar had an especially hard time. I know there are several kiddo's in her school that have told her they talked to their parents about it - and there are also several kids who are so incredibly sweet that they Believe along side SuperStar even though they don't really Believe. And I love those kids! Each year SuperStar writes a note to Santa - this year her note stated that she is finding it very hard to Believe in him because she has never seen him. And she asked him for Proof.

When I read that line all I could think was CRAP. See when I was little I found the gifts in my parents closet - tried to convince myself they were for the Kacin Kids (our family friends) and waited for Mr. Kacin to come pick them up. He never did - and the next morning they were under our tree. CRAP. So I want my kids to not find out in an anticlimactic way - and until they are ready to find out (because let's be honest - our answer pretty much says that he isn't real if you don't pretend) I am going to give them the fun beauty and mystery of it all. My parents did "proof" things - a boot mark from the soot of the fireplace - cookie crumbs someplace they should not be - but I was little so I bought into it - and let's face it......the world was way simpler. Spidey suggested we hook up a video camera to catch him because we could get a motion sensor that would trigger it to work when he came into the room - thus not wasting the battery. Ah.............we didn't have those in the 70's......we had soot made boot marks. And we LOVED it! My kids wanted proof - high tech style.

This particular Christmas we stayed home. And since I had the luxury of time I decided to set up the tripod for photos of ALL of us to prove I do exist. When we went to bed the tripod still held the camera so it was logical that Santa might use it to try to take a self portrait. And in his response letter (yes, Santa writes back each year - a shortish note) he said he would try to work the digital camera, but that technology like that is hard for him. Apparently that was totally true - because these are the photos we got:





See him...on the hearth reaching for the cookies...he is kinda blurry. But totally cool right? Before I took really good pictures - I took really bad pictures - so this was not so hard to manage. Convincing right? Only......Santa brought DSi's this year and guess what - I could have brought an elephant giving birth into our living room Christmas Day and NONE OF MY CHILDREN WOULD HAVE NOTICED........because their heads were stuck in their DSi's. Well, okay - TheKing would have noticed - and then he would most likely have tried to pound the elephant with his new toys because he was fairly agressive that day. So all that hard work and cleverness was lost completely.

Until last night.

SuperStar had one of my favorite girls over to spend the night. And during the evening SuperStar asked me to bring up the Christmas pictures - I did - and then SuperStar brought out the letter Santa wrote her - the stationary matches the other letter that was sent from Santa's work shop (see it pays to be in charge of EVERY fundraiser attached to Santa Letter fundraisers) - and I noticed that apparently the letters and photos had made an impression on my children. It did help to continue the magic of it all. Now it just so happens that this little friend ALSO received a Santa Letter - so everyone's letter was written on the same paper, in the same style with the same signature - and even though this little girl no longer believes - after looking at the photos and sizing up the paper everyones letter came on - she took me aside and asked me if Santa was real..........and I said....."Do You Believe That He Is?" and she said, "I Want To" and I said, "He is Real if You Believe In Him, but when you stop then he is then a Wonderful Way To Give Back To Those You Love" and she smiled and walked back to SuperStar looking back at the photos still on the computer screen.

Don't Stop Believing..........