The TRUTH about Santa

Do you ever come across something that is so eloquently written, and so beautiful that it moves you to tears, even though that was never the writer's intentions?

(Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing)

Some of us experience this in letters, emails, books, or notes.  Others of us experience this in carefully placed cards left on our bathroom sink from our wonderfully, amazing significant other.  All of these examples bring emotions to our hearts that were lying dormant for a small amount of time while we battled the craziness of our every day lives.  My husband will tell you that I am an emotional person.  A VERY EMOTIONAL PERSON.....he also classifies emotional with words like DRAMATIC, OVER-REACTOR, and OUT OF CONTROL.

(Image from www.worshiphousemedia.com) 

Having said this, my emotions ALWAYS get the best of me, in all sorts of situations.  I am a crier.  That is all there is to it.  I cry when I'm sad, I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I'm mad.  Yes I am a CRIER.  Tears are pulled to my eyelids when I watch a romantic movie, read a great chapter in a book, or see a touching display on the side of the street.

(Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crying) 

How does eloquent writing, and an over emotional woman get put into a post about the truth about Santa?  Today I happened upon a letter written to a daughter that was all about the truth about Santa.  Yes I cried.  I hope this Mother's words touch you as much as they touched me and when the time comes for you to relay the truth about Santa to your children, I hope this helps.

Happy Wednesday Y'all, and as always, thanks for stopping by!!! 

(The following exert come from http://www.cozi.com/live-simply/truth-about-santa)


A few months back, the Tooth Fairy got busted. She left a note for Alice up on her computer, and Lucy figured the whole business out. The Tooth Fairy cursed her need to write notes in elaborate fonts and tried to come up with a cover story, but it didn’t fool Lucy.

To her credit, Lucy has kept the secret from her little sister, who still hasn’t lost a tooth and deserves to wake up with money under her pillow.

But the Tooth Fairy knew it couldn’t be too long before Santa was similarly unmasked. She didn’t know when or how, but she knew the days of magic in her house, at least magic of a certain sort, were coming to an end.

And the Tooth Fairy—by which I mean myself—was pretty darned sad about the inevitable, which finally arrived last week.

Lucy and I have been exchanging notes since the school year started. We’ve talked about all sorts of things—sports, books we’d like to read, adventures we’d like to have, even stories from when I was in third grade. For the most part, though, it’s been light, casual stuff. Until last week.

I NEED TO KNOW, she wrote, using capital letters for emphasis. ARE YOU SANTA? TELL ME THE TRUTH.

What do you do when your kid asks for the truth? 

You tell it, of course, doing your best to figure out a way that keeps at least some of the magic intact.

Here’s what I wrote:

---

Dear Lucy,

Thank you for your letter. You asked a very good question: “Are you Santa?”

I know you’ve wanted the answer to this question for a long time, and I’ve had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.

The answer is no. I am not Santa. There is no one Santa.

I am the person who fills your stockings with presents, though. I also choose and wrap the presents under the tree, the same way my mom did for me, and the same way her mom did for her. (And yes, Daddy helps, too.)

I imagine you will someday do this for your children, and I know you will love seeing them run down the stairs on Christmas morning. You will love seeing them sit under the tree, their small faces lit with Christmas lights.

This won’t make you Santa, though.

Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch.

It’s a big job, and it’s an important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand. Here, I am talking about love, that great power that will light your life from the inside out, even during its darkest, coldest moments.

Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student, and now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy. 

With full hearts, people like Daddy and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.

So, no. I am not Santa. Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness. I’m on his team, and now you are, too.

I love you and I always will.

Mama

The Elf on the Shelf Debacle

When I was growing up the only thing we had keeping us from being on the Naughty List around this time of year was one of those see into my soul glares from any adult figure saying "If you don't stop what you are doing right now, I will make your behind so sore you won't be able to sit down until after Christmas!"

But these days a marketing genius has come up with "The Elf on the Shelf"



The Elf on the Shelf is Santa's helper to keep an eye on your children to make sure they are behaving like they SHOULD BE!!! 

Where am I when all of these billion dollar schemes are well....SCHEMED UP???



Hailey has had an Elf on the Shelf at her house since last year.  His name is Mr. Gingerbread Man and props to her mama for some very cute and imaginative ideas.  Yesterday I had a text message where Mr. Gingerbread man had rolled the Christmas tree :) Too Cute!!!

Hailey spends every other weekend, every Wednesday night, and any other day she feels like visiting at our house.

But since Thanksgiving her biggest worries have been what she will get from Santa (Her list is GINORMOUS) whether Santa will know where to find her, and what her Elf on the Shelf will do while she is at our house.



At the beginning of the Christmas decorating season (Which for us was the weekend before Thanksgiving) I purchased a stuffed green elf to sit with a snowman...this was of course Hailey's idea ;)....to make a long story short, the first night that she stayed with us after Mr. Gingerbread Man came to her house, our elf came to life too ;) In other words, Mr. Gingerbread Man shared his magic with our Elf now known as Bama (Smart Girl).

So like clockwork every time Hailey spends the night Bama moves to a new place with a new note, or new joke and she loves it!!! It is a wonderful tool to try and keep your children in line around the holidays!!!



Here is where the trouble started...It was a Monday morning after Hailey had spent the weekend with us.  I usually get up around 2 AM to go to the bathroom and that is when I move her elf.  Well.........OF COURSE on this Monday I didn't!!!! So at 5 AM when the alarm went off I went sneaking in there to move Bama.  At this point Bama was hanging upside down off of a shelf in the living room, and for those of you that don't know; Hailey doesn't have her own room at our house just yet because we live in a 3 bedroom trailer and the boys occupy both rooms! (Bring on the house building) Well back to the story, since Hailey doesn't have her own room she sleeps on an air mattress in the living room when she stays over.  Well since Bama is hanging upside down from a shelf that is over the love seat, I am having to tip toe around Hailey and the air mattress, lean over the love seat, and gently pry Bama down.....this is where things got interesting.....it was like an alarm went off in Hailey's head telling her something was messing with Bama.....that is the key to the Elf on the Shelf idea....YOU CANNOT TOUCH THE ELF!!!! IT MESSES WITH THE MAGIC!!!! As soon as I made contact with Bama's arm Hailey's eyes pop open and she is staring right at ME!!!!! My heart stops!!!!



Oh no what do I do???

Immediately her eyes close and she rolls over.

Did she see me???

Does she know???

Did I ruin Christmas???

How do I explain why I am moving Bama???

Lord please help me!!!

I leave Bama hanging and go back to the bedroom where Philly is SNORING up a storm.

"Philly, Philly, Philly"....nudge nudge nudge...."PHILLY!!!!!!" 

"What?"

I think Hailey saw me moving the elf! What do we do?"

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

Uggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....here I am in the middle of what I think is the biggest Christmas Catastrophy since "Christmas Vacation"



And I can't even get a little support????? This is where I want to SCREAM at the top of my lungs for Philly to get up and help me figure out the severity of this situation.  But, in doing so, one of two things is going to happen. 1.) I am going to wake Hailey up if she has gone back to sleep and 2.) I am going to wake Hailey up if she has gone back to sleep!!!!!

So I go tip toeing back in the living room.....I slowly reach up to move Bama again and low and behold the child rolls over and scares the BAJEEZUS out of me again!!!!!

This is where I immediately hit freak out mode and have no idea WHAT TO DO!!!!! 


I mean we are right back to the moment where.......



Oh no what do I do??? 


Did she see me???


Does she know???


Did I ruin Christmas???


How do I explain why I am moving Bama???


Lord please help me!!! 

I then decide that if she asks me about it I am going to play it off and tell her if she "THINKS SHE SAW ME MOVING BAMA" she was definitely dreaming because Bama is magical and he moves by himself.  This is it....this is where I go for it...this is where I decide to go all in and MOVE THE ELF....But you are never going to believe what HAPPENS HERE!!!!! 


NOTHING!!!! 


That's right absolutely nothing!!! She was asleep the whole time, even when she scared me to death and opened her eyes and looked at me.  She never said anything about it, and when she woke up I had hidden Bama so well and in such a cute spot she walked right past him!!!  Thank you Santa for allowing me to move Bama without being detected!!! But maybe next time....A LITTLE HELP???? 


 I mean geez big guy....we lie for you all year long, we buy the presents you are supposedly "making in your workshop", you get all the credit, and then the children get mad at us when they find out you aren't as AWESOME as they originally thought you were, and in the middle of all of this YOU CAN'T MOVE A LITTLE ELF??? 

I mean really.........you can make reindeer fly?????





Happy Holidays to Everyone!!!! May you have better luck moving your "Elf on the Shelf!"

Merry Christmas!!! 

Christmas Crazy!!!!

We are 10 days away from Christmas and it is raging toward us with the power of a hurricane and the speed of a tsunami!!!! (OK...I may be a little OVER DRAMATIC!!!...HUSH PHILLY ;))

 The best part about it is....I CAN'T WAIT!!!! 

This Holiday Season has been full of wonderful experiences and amazing opportunities for me to see just how blessed I truly am!!!  Every time I turn around one of the kiddos is making me laugh with one of their silly comments about one thing or another and I love that my heart smiles when I think about how wonderful they all are!!! 

Speaking of how wonderful they all are... I cannot wait until they see what they got for Christmas!!! Philly and I have tried extremely hard to give them gifts they want this year for Christmas (I a little harder than Philly :) the one thing I can wait for is for Philly to see the credit card bill....lol.....Shhhhhhh!!!!!)  

Anyway back to the matter at hand!!!  I am so excited for Christmas this year as you can see because I have already said that once....or twice....or maybe even three times???!!!???? Ha Ha!!! 

The reason for this post is just to say I AM SO BLESSED....and I AM SO EXCITED about CHRISTMAS!!! I am the most excited about spending one of my absolute FAVORITE holidays with my precious, hilarious, wonderful, all mixed up, wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and continue to remember what this time of year is really all about!!!  It is the time for giving, the time for appreciating, and MOST IMPORTANTLY...the time for focusing on the TRUE REASON FOR THE SEASON; OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!!!! 

I will leave you with a little humor.....talk to you soon!!!