It's Christmas again and I love it so much! Our children are loving it too. Maggie and Henry can sing all of the lyrics to "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". That's right, it's not "Silent Night" or "Joy to the World", nothing to do with the savior or the real meaning of Christmas. They have focused their efforts on memorizing the song that lists the criteria required for receiving presents from Santa Clause. A couple of weeks ago they were in particularly naughty spirits so I called Santa (Rob) on the phone and told him that my children were being terrors and that he might reconsider bringing us any presents this year. My children sat in silence, their eyes filled with terror as I made the call. I then handed the phone over to Maggie and told her that Santa wanted to speak with her. "Santa" then proceeded to tell Maggie in a jovial voice that she needed to be nice to mommy and help her. He told her that she needed to pick up her toys and go to sleep without crying at night. He was pretty mild about the whole thing and Maggie seemed to respond well. The next few days were heavenly. Clean toy room, no fighting, to bed with no tears. I was loving my Santa scare tactic. Then we went to the mall to see Santa and Maggie was so terrified of him that she refused to sit on his lap and had to stand with daddy and watch at a distance as Henry talked to Santa and got his candy cane. That night we called "Santa" back and he told her how proud he was of her and that she was being a very good girl. That banished Maggie's fear of Santa pretty quickly. We saw him at Disneyland last week and she could barely hold herself back as we waited in line. She leaped on his lap and gave him a huge hug. She told him she wanted a "pink electric guitar" so that she can "rock". Luckily Walmart sells such things for $19.99.My heart is so full of gratitude this Christmas season as I look at my handsome husband, my darling children, and my growing belly every day. I hope you are all having a wonderful December! Merry Christmas!
