19th Day of Advent - Santa Claus

I didn't get this written last night. I guess I just don't think that Santa Claus is that important! :) Actually, I love Santa - cute little dude, always jolly. But I was never led to believe that Santa was real as a child, and we've never led Princess M to believe that, either. There's a difference between real and pretend, and in my humble opinion, it's worth knowing. We do love to pretend that Santa is coming, and we even leave cookies for him by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, and then we giggle like crazy about it, and M whispers, "Is Daddy going to eat those cookies?" And then she tells him to make sure to leave one for her! LOL! It's just as cute to us as trying to convince her that a fat dude in a red suit is going to infiltrate our home in the middle of the night. In fact, with the way M is, that would probably completely freak her out! She knows that Jesus is real. And she knows that God lives in us and is in our house, and that's not a scary prospect at all!

We did snuggle on the couch last night and read about Saint Nicholas, and the legend of throwing gold coins down the fireplace, and all that. And I even read The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore to her. Sometimes she still questions a few of the specifics, like does Daddy wear a red suit when he fills the stockings, and does Daddy have to go in the chimney? I just calmly explain it to her again and appreciate her childlike wonder of the whole deal. It's interesting to me how fairy tails make her say, "That couldn't really be true," while she's never once questioned the validity of a Bible story. I'd say she's on the right track.

And she has to promise me that she will never tell one of her cousins or friends that Santa isn't really real, just in case their parents think differently than we do, although she finds it a little silly. I just love my little girl.