This is between you and me. I can trust that you won’t divulge this information to the Mother-of-the-Year’s neighborhood watch committee, right? (I knew I could count on you.)
What sort of person doesn’t take her children to see Santa?
I can explain.
Check out last night’s conversation with my youngest son, 8-year-old Mickey:
Mea culpa!
I know. I know. All good parents take their sons and daughters to see Santa, correct? About 12 years ago when my husband and I only had two children, we took them for such a visit. Both toddlers were scared out of their minds to sit upon the lap of the one and only Joe Hobo Mr. Claus. So here we are, a dozen years and two additional children later, and we’ve never gone back to visit Santa.
I admit, I’m not the jolly one’s biggest fan. Maybe the grouchy Claus of Ralphie Parker’s memory in A Christmas Story has soured me on the guy. (Plus, we parents do all the work and the man in the red suit gets ALL the glory… something ain’t right there!)
Honestly, I didn’t realize that Mickey had not had the experience of visiting Santa after coming to the United States from Ethiopia at 2-1/2 years old. It’s tough to keep track of all these things when you have four kids. (At least that’s what I tell myself.) Mickey has emailed his Christmas list to the North Pole in previous years, but I guess that’s the extent of his contact with St. Nick. The yearly lap visit just has not been a tradition my husband and I have embraced. Returning to my excuses, if I may, I can attest that the memories I have of my four children sometimes get mixed up and stuck together, and I can’t quite remember which child had which experiences. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)
So… I bet you can guess what we now have scheduled for this Sunday morning. That’s right: Breakfast with Santa.
Luckily for me, Mickey still believes in the big guy and I get the opportunity to right a wrong and prevent one of those future therapy sessions which no doubt await us like a purgatory on earth. Whew! That was a close one.
I filmed Mickey’s reaction when I told him we are going to see Santa this Sunday. I hope you find his ethusiasm as infectious as I do.
And there you have it. I sure hope Santa lives up to Mickey’s expectations. And I hope that Kris Kringle can once again deliver the goods on Christmas morning.
