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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The end of an era...







I am a little sad today. It seems my little girl isn't so little anymore. This is becoming more abundantly clear with each passing day. And now, because she has entered "young adult-hood" Christmas will forever be changed in her life and ours.

As you all know, Kaylea is 10 now. For the last 2 Christmases we have fully expected the BIG question to come from her lips. You all know the question I am referring to; it is the question that every parent of every young child dreads at Christmastime. I'm sure each of you are wondering when your little one will ask it, also. I always swore that I would not lie to Kaylea when she directly asked the question. Only she never did.

Finally, this year for many reasons we decided the truth needed to come out. I have received several e-mails over the past few weeks about the "spirit" of Christmas. I would share these with Kaylea hoping it would encourage her to ask me, but no luck. Every opportunity I was given, I would try to ease her into the subject, but she wasn't taking the bait. Then yesterday, she had a friend over to play and they were chatting up a storm. Suddenly, Kaylea looks at her friend and says, "Did you know that there is someone in our class that doesn't believe in Santa Clause?" Kaylea's friend gave her a puzzled and amused look and replied, "yes, like me and a whole bunch more." Then her friend looked at me and said, "Ms. Jennifer, you mean you haven't told Kaylea the truth about Santa Clause, yet? My mom told me the truth 2 years ago."

I guess the thing that rang in ears was her friends use of the word "truth." I know I haven't boldface lied to Kaylea. I would just dance around the subject. She would tell me about a child that didn't believe and I would respond, "oh no, Santa won't come see them if they don't believe." I guess I was so convincing with that argument that Kaylea decided she would believe for life. Even after her friend called me out, Kaylea didn't even ask a single question.
Once her friend went home, I sat her down and talked to her. I told her the truth, but I also explained to her the history of Saint Nicholas and how the modern day Santa Clause came about. I explained that all of us have a little portion of Santa Clause inside us because we share in the magic of Christmas. We give gifts from the heart to our family and complete strangers while expecting nothing in return. That is the true spirit of Christmas. But most importantly, we talked about the true reason for celebrating Christmas. I reminded her that Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth. This is a time to honor Him and celebrate Him.

After our talk I looked at her and said, "Kaylea, why haven't you asked me if Santa is real?" She replied, "Well, I guess I just believed it so much, I didn't think I had to ask." I wonder how long she would have kept believing, had we not had our talk? I guess I'll never know, but I feel good knowing that she heard the truth from me. I am also so proud of my child for sticking to her beliefs. For several years, kids have told her Santa isn't real, but she never wavered in her belief. I know that her love and commitment to the Lord will stay with her throughout her life and I know she will have the same unshakable faith in Him.

As Kaylea went to bed last night she asked me one final question, "Mom, can I still leave cookies our for Santa, I mean you, on Christmas Eve?" And of course, I told her she could do anything she wanted to. We will carry on all of our Christmas traditions as long as she wants.

Now, here are Kaylea's years with Santa for all of us to enjoy............


Kaylea's 1st Christmas - 1998






She was never afraid of Santa






Ah, those were the days - 2000






I think she was a little star struck







What a cutie pie.






Kaylea getting a great BIG Santa hug.






She just asked Santa for a puppy and he said o.k. (after asking Dad and Mom).






They were having a very deep conversation.

She was probably doin' some splainin'






The last picture of Kaylea with Santa.

We never got her to see him last year (kick, kick!!!!)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Childhood Memories

As Kaybug drug her lifeless and disappointed (ie suppose to snow, but didn't) body from bed this morning I had to tell her that we received a phone call last night and her great-great aunt passed away. She just sat there looking at me with such bewilderment and sadness. Then she opened her mouth and this is what came out:

Kaylea: "Let me guess, I have to go to another funeral?"
Me: "Well, yes. We will go the the visitation tomorrow evening."
Kaylea: "This is NOT how I want to remember my childhood!"


Poor thing, I think she has lost more loved ones than any other child her age. I know she has suffered more loss than I had at age 10.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Christmas List

No one can ever say that my daughter doesn't have good taste. She is a girl that know what she wants. This years Christmas list is proof of this. Let's see the list is something like this:

  1. Laptop (she can keep dreaming)
  2. Wii Fit and Wii Fit Game
  3. Wii Ski

In addition to the items above, we are in the process of re-doing her room. Her loft bed has gone bye-bye and a new day bed / trundle bed has been ordered. She is of the opinion that a new bed constitutes getting new bedding and totally changing the theme of her room. I have to agree that the tangerine walls and the luau theme has grown tiresome, but she just might have to wait a little while before we do the total makeover.

Oh and just a little FYI for all of you parents out there with kids that about to enter the tween/teen years. Kaylea and I found a pretty cool website that has the neatest bedding. Now, remember, these are for the tween/teen crowd; definitely not suitable for children. Check the stuff out at Wake Up Frankie!

Favorite Christmas Song For 2008

Here it is