Tis the Season

Mihret and her friend, D, visiting Santa Claus for the first time

Until this year, a sighting of Santa Claus sent Mihret straight for my arms. She appreciated the gifts and all, but felt it was best to keep her distance from the big man in red. In fact, she made sure that we put the baby gate on the stairs on Christmas Eve so that Santa would stay downstairs. (I know...he can get through chimneys and locked doors but can't step over a baby gate...)

This year, all that changed. She's been talking about Santa Claus all season and asking questions that make parents squirm. She asked Chuck, "Is Santa real?" and he said, "What do you think?" They talked for a while and I thought he handled the question really well. Then the next morning on the way to preschool she asked me, "Is Santa real?" Fortunately I had seen the expert in action so I said, "What do you think?" She responded, "No Mama, I asked you. What do YOU think? Is Santa real?" Really? Chuck gets away with, "What do you think?" and I have to answer the question??? I talked about how Santa Claus was another name for Saint Nicholas and told her as much as I could remember about the real Saint Nicholas. She seemed satisfied with that. Phew... Until after preschool when she asked me again.

Anyway, we took a trip with Chuck's staff to The Grove this past Friday. There's a Santa Claus there in a sweet little house which Mihret has always avoided in the past. She remembered it though and was super excited to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She talked about it the whole week before we went.

I asked her what she was going to ask for and she said, "I can't tell you. It's a surprise!" But she really can't keep a secret for long so eventually she told me that she was going to tell Santa that she wished Barbies were real. I didn't tell her that Barbies would look really strange and probably a bit scary if they were real...but Chuck did.

We got to the Grove a bit later than normal and the wait to visit Santa was 45 minutes. They weren't sure if we would actually get to see the Jolly Old Elf before his bedtime, so we made the decision not to try. I broke the bad news to Mihret with a bit of good news. Santa was going to be at the mall next week and we could see him there. She was thrilled! Phew!

In the meantime, she discovered something that she wanted even more than real Barbies (big sigh of relief). So by the time we showed up at the mall to visit Santa (no line...score!), she had changed her biggest wish to a dolphin. Fortunately, she is hoping for a cute little stuffed animal dolphin that she saw at Kohls rather than a real one. Double phew...

Temporarily satisfying a 4 1/2 yr old's curiosity about Santa Claus - check
Successful visit to Santa Claus - check
Baby gate ready and waiting just in case - check