We have always been honest with our children about Santa Claus. John 8:44 has guided us in being truthful, and frankly, we have always felt that the birth of our Messiah, um, like, HELLO, was enough of a reason to celebrate. 😉

That being said, we have normal kids who love a good story. They love VeggieTales live on stage. The love visiting Elmo at Elmo’s World. They love Winnie the Pooh at WDW. We have always made sure to offer the facts; there is a person in that suit. But just the same, they are always so excited to see the characters and run into the open arms of those people. [I try not to think too much about just WHO is hugging my kids!] And we standby to take hundreds of photos.

Last December, as we walked through the mall one night, the kids asked to see Santa. The line wasn’t too long, so we said, “Yes.” Altogether it was bizarre. The kids just smiled at the guy and looked at me with this ridiculous grin as he said things like, “I’ve seen what a good helper you are to your mother,” and “I know you play well with your sister.”

So this year we went for the SOLE REASON of seeing the guy. There was no line.

In true, analytical, first-born, eight-year-old fashion, Beau was not all that impressed. He stood to the side. Skeezix jumped right on his lap and smiled to beat the band. Champ shook his hand and asked to sit on his other knee. Then Santa started talking. Angel wanted none of it. She just walked away. Santa asked Champ what he wanted for Christmas and he said, “An army set.” [He’s not mentioned that before and he is not getting one.] Santa turned to Skeezix and asked her. She was mute. He said, “Would you like a new dolly?” Um, nope. She hates dollies, she looked at me with a scrunched up face and I will post the picture JB took of my reaction.

Well, we rearranged the kids, took some photos, thanked the man, somehow walked away without dropping $11.99 on a 5×7. We headed to the carousel. All the way there and shopping after and all the way home, poor little Skeezix was SO CONFUSED! She kept asking things like, “But is this Christmas?” “I thought we had a party at Christmas,” and “I don’t know what I want for Christmas.” We spent a LOT of time reassuring her that it wasn’t Christmas, we WOULD have a party at Christmas, and it was bad manners to ask for something as a gift and that she didn’t have to worry about ordering up gifts.

It’s a good picture of my $2, garage sale coat!