The youngest child's Christmas lament

Yesterday we put our Christmas tree up. As we do every year, the kids put up the ornaments while I string the popcorn. Lincoln supervises the kids and hangs the popcorn garlands as I finish them. Of course this year our jobs overlapped as the kids wanted to help me string the popcorn and hang it too. I'm thinking in a year or two Link and I can just sit back and let the kids do all the work.

The one and only thing I put on the tree is a red elf that I had when I was a kid. They still sell these in the stores but what I remember about the elf was it was the "special" thing we put on the tree each year.

Jake: Can I put this on the tree? (holding up the elf)

Hannah: No! That's Mommy's. Mommy hangs that every year.

Jake: Why?

Mommy: Because every year when Mommy and her sisters were decorating the tree we fought over who got to put the elf on the tree and because Mommy was the youngest - something you're familiar with Jake - I never won. So now I get to put it on the tree every year.

Jake: That's not fair!

Mommy: Don't worry. One of you will inherit it when I'm dead.

Christmas Magic (Alert: This is NOT a child friendly post)

I still believe in Santa Claus.

That's the lesson that I learned this year at Christmas. I know he's not real. I know that every year I select the special "Santa" paper that only Santa gifts are wrapped in and that I use different penmanship to sign the name tags on those packages (Something my mother never did. Sorry Mom but that eventually became a dead giveaway.) I know that I stuff the kids' stockings and put the presents under the tree. I also know I'm the one that writes the letter back to Hannah when she leaves out a note for Santa with her cookies and carrots.

But there is still a bit of that holiday magic in me. I don't know which Christmas it was specifically that put me in such awe of the magic - I think it may have been the year I got my giant yellow bean bag - but I know that every Christmas it seemed like our tree "exploded" with gifts when Santa came. We'd go to bed with a few presents under the tree and wake up to have so many of them under there that they spilled out from under the tree and into the rest of the living room. Every year it is my goal to make the tree "explode" as much as possible for when the kids come down in the morning. It just seems so incredibly magical.

But here is why I've come to the conclusion that I still believe Santa is real.

I track Santa each Christmas Eve on http://www.noradsanta.org/. I say I do it for the kids but really I'm the one that gets it started and I'm the one that keeps checking it. They'll run back and forth to check his status but I'm all over that thing like it's going to reveal the secrets of the world to me. This year, at 11:45 p.m., I saw Santa arrive in Boston. And even though the presents were already under the tree, and the stockings were already over-flowing with gifts, I still looked outside waiting to see the silhouette of a sleigh being led by Rudolph. I still tilted my head to the side and listened for sleigh bells.

I still believe in Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve books

Every year Auntie Rachie and Uncle Kevin give the kids book for Christmas. We usually let them open them on Christmas Eve so that the kids can read them in bed that night. Rachel really scored this year, particularly with Hannah. She immediately took one of them and snuck off to the kitchen table to read for awhile before we sent them up to bed.

Hannah really is a little me sometimes. I do the exact same thing.

Christmas Eve pajamas

The kids each got to open a present tonight from Mommy and Daddy that contained new pajamas and a new pair of slippers. Now they're all ready for Santa to come.

A very lapsed Catholic

Me (singing): Hark the herald angels sing, something something to the new born king....

Lincoln: Glory to....

Me: I am so bad.

One of these things doesn't belong

Ever since we had kids we've had matching Christmas stockings for all of us. They're all snowmen....get it?....and Lincoln and I have green scarves while Hannah has red (close to pink) and Jake has blue. A happy family of snowmen.

Until this year. And yet I couldn't be happier for Hannah. She made a stocking in sewing class that she absolutely loves and couldn't wait to hang up. I'm so proud of her and it will be a fantastic keepsake for her to carry through life. However, the symmetry just isn't there anymore. Oh well.

And they didn't even buy me dinner first

This holiday season I have been very good about figuring out what we're buying the kids for Christmas, where (and when) we can get the best deal, and anything else I can do to save us money. This morning I went out to A.C. Moore and Toys R Us because there were specific items on sale that were on my list.

My first stop was A.C. Moore. There were three items on my list. I found the first one with no problem. After a little searching I found the second one. Then I walked around the store about three times looking for someone to help me find the final item. When I finally found someone that worked there I learned they don't actually stock that item despite it being listed in their weekly flyer. That was a little frustrating. When I got up to the check out counter the first item rang in fine but the second one came up as the regular price. After the lady tried to convince me that what rang in was the sale price and I argued that she was wrong she finally had someone do a price check. I was right. After that I went over to Toys R Us. Video games were on sale so that if you purchased three of them you got the fourth one for free. I found two games that were $19.99 each and two that were $29.99. That means I should have gotten one of the $19.99 games for free. It turns out that one of the games was only $9.98 because it was already marked down. I guess over all it didn't really matter because I still got the game for free but part of the success in shopping is being able to say "guess how much I saved!"

Basically what I'm saying is that I felt so proud of myself for doing my research and going out to buy these items on sale today and yet I still walked away from both stores feeling like I had just been screwed. Don't you just love the holidays?

Not for children - Santa talk below

Months ago Lincoln and I decided that we were going to get the kids a Wii for Christmas. Of course they're a pain in the ass to find but we finally found one yesterday. The plan was for that to be from Santa. Yesterday morning, while the kids are in the room, Lincoln slips me a note that reads:

Santa can go "f" himself. I want us to get credit for that Wii.

I burst out laughing and of course the kids wanted to know why but we didn't tell them. I then put the note in the shredder. So now the plan is that Mommy and Daddy are giving them a Wii and any accessories or games will have to come from Santa.