The gig is up. Kaleb said to me this morning, “I really want to believe in Santa Claus but the evidence just isn’t there to support it.” I told him he needs to believe in what he wants to believe in and it might serve him well to continue to believe. He asked me “why” and I said because I believe he’s the best boy in the whole world, but sometimes the evidence just isn’t there to support it, but I still believe it anyway. He had to think about that for a minute. I didn’t fess up about being Santa, but he knows. I’m amazed it’s taken him this long, but he does lead a sheltered life.
This Christmas will not soon be forgotten. I wasn’t exactly up to speed. I plan things so far in advance that it bit me in the butt this year. Traditionally we have a big neighbor guy dressed as Santa come over to our house on Christmas Eve. We have two families here for dinner and there are five kids between us. Santa comes in, asks if there are any good boys and girls in the house (a Norwegian tradition), then proceeds to pass out gifts to everyone – including the adults. The kids get two or three gifts and the adults get one. I prepared Santa’s bag way ahead of time and for some very odd reason, this year, I forgot to put in any gifts for Kaleb! Here we were all gathered in the living room opening gifts and Kaleb is just standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face, wondering why the bag is empty and there isn’t a single gift in his hand. I grabbed one of his gifts from under the tree but he refused it, saying it was for the morning. He was crushed. I have no idea how it happened, but it did. It was the Christmas he got NOTHING from Santa.
Then Christmas morning there is usually a large gift for him in front of the tree from Santa and this year, there wasn’t. I filled his stocking, but left his new bike out on the porch so he didn’t see it until all other gifts were opened up. All he kept saying was, “Santa didn’t leave me ANYTHING?” Even after he saw the bike he was a little miffed because Kory and I also got more presents than he did. I usually buy my own presents because Kory never buys me anything and it’s been awkward on Christmas morning when the two of them are opening things and I have nothing, but this year Kory outdid himself and bought me a LOT of things and I bought him a LOT of things and Kaleb, not so much. Kaleb got a few expensive gifts but the volume wasn’t sufficient for him to feel he was on equal par with us, so he was sorely disappointed. As he was heading downstairs to install one of his new Wii games he muttered, “This is the worst Christmas EVER.” I felt horrible. Then I decided we needed to have a talk about STUFF and that the holiday is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of Christ, but as a kid, it really is just about the presents. Ugh. I guess that’s how the light turned on in his head that Santa isn’t as real as he thought he was.
Currently I’m trying to redeem myself by giving him the 12 Days of Christmas so each day from here on out he’s getting an “act of service” from me to show him that possibly the best gifts are those that express love and don’t come with a price tag. He’s looking forward to the next ten days as he insists each day he gets each thing AGAIN, just like in the song “two turtle doves AND a partridge in a pear tree….” The first day of Christmas he got a “real breakfast” (bacon, eggs, toast…). The second day of Christmas he got two hours on his Nintendo DS (instead of his usual one hour), and tomorrow he’ll get “three less chores” (meaning, I’ll do them for him) so he’s holding out for all the repeats in the days ahead. I hope it shifts his memory away from the whole Christmas Eve debacle.
Christmas Day we had our old Seattle neighborhood kids over for breakfast (we call them the “Powerline Kids” because we met them while walking our dog under the power lines by where they lived at the time.) The three of them have now multiplied into11, so it was quite the gathering. We haven’t seen them since we’ve been back home as they are scattered all over the state, so it was great to get together with them again. The youngest, Eric, is now married and has a baby boy. The kids have always called us their “God parents,” which is OK, but when Eric handed me his baby and said to him, “Go see Grandma Mickey,” I about fell over. I was totally NOT prepared to be called Grandma. I told him I could be called “Auntie Mickey,” but “Grandma Mickey” was out of the question. I’m still trying to get used to being Kaleb’s “Mama.”
Earlier this week we went to Stanwood to see the Lights of Christmas then home to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and “The Nativity Story” movie - both excellent. Last Sunday we had Christmas with my step-mom and her family and today we had Christmas with Grammy J and her family. Both gatherings were wonderful, but never long enough. The days are too short! We feel blessed to have “families of choice” in our lives because we all get along great and there aren’t any weird dynamics going on that sometimes put a damper on the holidays. Of course this year I totally blew it with Kaleb, so he’s now perfecting his “forgiveness” skills so future holidays won’t be damaged.
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