That’s our daughter in the crazy-colored coat. What you can’t see in this photo is that she’s dancing from one foot to the other in anticipation.
Today is the last day of school, and it’s a snow day! Practically every school in the Lower Peninsula is closed due to snow and ice, and the child is horribly disappointed. It was to be Pajama Day as well as a whole roll-out of Solstice, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas-related celebrations. Poor child.
Seeing Santa yesterday was entirely her idea, or rather, an idea she picked up from school. I certainly try not to feed into the myth (I tend to have a no-lying policy) in that if she asks, I say, “Yes, honey, some children believe Santa will come, and we’ll just have to see if he comes here too.” In point of fact she’s a lot more interested in his reindeer and, according to her father, she didn’t ask Santa for a thing but grilled him about his flying sleigh-pullers instead.
This has nothing to do with gardening, I realize.
Glad you came to visit!
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fast grow the weeds 
We have the same policy in our house. Aden thinks of Santa as part of the christmas story and nothing more. She’s still in love with the season and excited about it all, but wow!!! The fact that my children don’t believe Santa is actually coming down our chimney really make me unpopular with family and friends!!
It was the opposite attitude at my home.
My children say, “Don’t tell Mom about Santa; she still believes.”
we all believe in santa. we are unwilling to give up that belief because then we might not have presents! we remind me of that scene from The Wizard of Oz when the Cowardly Lion is chanting (with his eyes scrunched shut) ‘I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks…’
I still believe in the spirit of Santa, but I am like your daughter, the raindeer have more to offer.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Maybe you should have Pajama Day at home today. She might like that.
You mean there is no Santa?!!?!?
I love the idea of Pyjama Day, something I’ve wished could happen for grown-ups many a time 🙂 Your daughter is adorable.
Ang, yes, it makes us pretty unpopular, doesn’t it? It’s all stuff she has learned from school, and what’s amazing about the school is there are only 4 “american” children in it (as in the children of natives) and I would say only maybe half are Christian so it’s kind of wild to think she’s learning this from Indian, Chinese, and Saudi Arabian-born kids, but such is the power of the culture I guess. She knows a lot about other religions and their myths at least but there’s something about the big white-bearded man!
Aw, Pamela, that is so cute. Has the cookie-making helped? Have fun with the kids!
Yeah, Alecto, there is something about closing your eyes hard and reciting a mantra. (I have been doing exactly that when I open our quarterly statements.) Is everyone home yet? Have fun with them all…
Linda, hah, I think they’re the best part too.
CC, check! And for mom too but then that’s not much of a stretch considering my work-at-home attire is just a step above pajamas. The UPS driver is used to seeing us in our bathrobes, thankfully.
Laurene, well, like I tell the kid: we’ll just have to see!
Mangochild, yeah, she was kind of disappointed, but it’s mainly because all the planned fun was missed! She did get to watch her movies though as much as she wanted.
When you stop believing in Santa, Santa stops bringing presents.
“I do believe; I do believe”
;o)
I was listening to Quirks and Quarks (I think) on the CBC the other day, and a scientist was talking about why caribou are special (more Canadian than beavers, allegedly), and she said something I had never realized – reindeer are actually caribou! The reindeer that we think of from Finland, etc. are to a certain extent domesticated, and are smaller than our North American caribou, but they are in fact the same species. Cool, eh?
S.
Aw Jules. Keep believing!
Sarah, how funny. I did make the connection when they started calling Sarah Palin Caribou Barbie. I always thought they should call her Reindeer Barbie because the thought of her shooting poor Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen from a moving plane just sounds SO BAD. But hey, have you ever read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond? He has a couple interesting sections about megafauna and humans, and how especially we’ve been able to tame some things (think wild horses) and not others (think zebras), and why. It’s a good book for a lot of reasons.
*laugh* Oh goodness, I believed in Santa right up until I was in high school and my mother admitted that the “Santa Spirit” my little sister and I had seen in our yard was nothing more than my father dressed up. Highly embarrassing.
Still, I didn’t believe that Santa brought presents, I was taught that he was simply a “Christmas spirit” that helped people feel the joy of the holiday season. My husband and I recently had a long talk about what we were going to tell our kids, and given the above reactions, I suppose we’ll be unpopular too!