Santa, The Crud, and Trivialities

SANTA
Jess worked on a small writing class with Ria the other day to complete a letter to Santa. It was in the mail before I got to see it... they were both very excited about it, apparently. Jess was excited for Ria to tell me the "ONLY" three things she wanted for Christmas. Because my memory fails me SO regularly, I can only recall that she asked for something (?) for Kat, books (of course I would remember that!), and a scooter (which she's been asking for for the last 6 months or more).

The Special Gift from Daddy/Santa
I suppose these things are not terribly unusual or spectacular. The parts that are amazing to me are what transpired in the days following. A few days ago Jessie got down his old (at least 5 years old) bottle of Uzo, still mostly full, and was dusting it off. I just kind of eyed him until he volunteered that he was taking it to work to give to a co-worker who expressed some interest in it. This was interesting to me because this is a bottle of alcohol that was sort of special to Jess as he'd purchased it IN Greece when he was there on his last cruise with the NAVY. I expressed some confusion that he was giving it away. He said something about how he wasn't going to drink it, anyway, since he wasn't drinking anymore. Now, that last bit is a sort of heart lifter every single time I hear it because I don't actually believe it! (One of the things along the lines of coffee, tea, and so forth.... you get it if you know me!)

I think it was that same night that Jess came home from work and told me to close my eyes so he could show me something. When I'm allowed to open my eyes, Jess is standing there in front of me holding a large pink box... a PRINCESS scooter!!! He is SO pleased with himself and the only thing I can think about is what money he spent AND the fact that we've already been given more gifts for the girls than I wanted them to have for Christmas. I express both concerns. The first is easily mollified. The money came from the SALE of his bottle!!! I know Jessie is just SO pleased about that! The second is relatively easily soothed (in me) by the decision to have Ria open the scooter gift as THE present she opens for Christmas. The other gifts will be staggered out over a little bit of time. That was Christmas isn't about a huge pile of present again! YEAY for that "C" word we are supposed to do all the time when we're married. OH... I'm REALLY getting annoyed at my memory!!! You know, when we make concessions that work together.... Well, I hope you know what I mean because I honestly cannot remember that one word right now.

A Reply
A couple days ago Jess and Ria wrote the Santa letter and mailed it out. Well, yesterday they received a response, as previously mentioned. Jess brought the mail in when he got home from work (= kids asleep). The return address was USPS, so I opened it, not sure what I would find (even though there was a stamp on the front that said "We're helping Santa" so I should've guessed). I didn't read it, but Jess was SO excited that he sat down and read it allowed. At the very end it makes mention of how Santa is so thankful when Ria and Kat are kind... that really touched Jess. Well, because we got the letter in the house when the kids were asleep, I let Ria read the it out loud to me today. The awesome thing about that was her reaction to it while reading it. She read a bit at the beginning about Santa eating cookies and giggled, and then the same reaction when Santa wrote about the reindeer and elves getting ready for and being excited about the imminent trip. She was just SO tickled to receive a letter from Santa! Jess had prepared her with the idea that she probably wouldn't hear back from him because he was so busy. After finishing the letter, she put it aside and did something else. A few moments later found her rereading the letter a bit more slowly. She was THRILLED!

What precious moments! What would Christmas be without kids!!?? Well, in my experience... not NEARLY so wonderful and magical.

The Santa Issue
And how do I feel about lying to my children about Santa? Well, I don't. When asked questions about him, I tell the truth. Thus far questions have not tended toward "real vs not real" and when the question is iffy... like today when Ria asked something about Santa, I honestly told her I didn't know (because I REALLY didn't know!). I'm determined to continue in all honesty.

The Crud
Didn't skip me, afterall. Thankfully, so far, I've only got the beginning of the KAT version of the crud. She's had more of a cold with fever than the barf fest of Ria and Tea's experience with it. Hopefully it will only remain so.

Trivialities and Random Thoughts
Raffy
Did I mention that someone gave Tea a stuffed giraffe? It was among the many things in the basket given to me as a gift from my Relief Society sisters. The wonderful thing about it is that I haven't been able to crochet a giraffe for her (along with all the other bits I haven't crocheted for her as yet!). My Mom did one for Ria, I made one for Kat, and Tea has a stuffed one! I DO plan to crochet one yet. It just may take a bit longer than I'd like.

Kat has taken a liking to this particular giraffe. And, like the others, referrs to it as "Raffy" or "Jaffy" I'm not really sure which... perhaps it's both at alternating times! :) Ria AND Kat have named their giraffes the same. I'm sure Tea will follow in her sisters' vocalizations, too.

At the Library
One of our library volunteers, here in town, is alwasy Santa. He loves it and we appreciate him! Ria was specifically the first child to receive her gift from Santa this year. Why? Partially because she always wants to and tries to sit in the front row and they know it, but even more because they'd specifically purchased a book especially for her because of her reading ability/level! All the other books were pretty much interchangeable... board books and/or alphabet books, but Ria's was for an older child and/or higher reading level with comprehension! As the Santa Letter story hopefully conveys, she has TREMENDOUS comprehension of what she reads. That's mostly all her... I check for it once in a while, but she's mostly just REALLY smart! What a sweet and thoughtful pair of volunteers we have. Don't you think!?? I believe they were in charge of that particular present. Our staff at the library are SUCH a gift and blessing to me! My librarian almost always watches out for me. She stopped by my house to bring a gift for the baby AND 2 books for my other girls, too!!! ^_^ SO thoughtful!!!

Facebook
Once again, if you're my friend and haven't made the connection via Facebook, I encourage you to do so. I'm planning to upload a bunch of pictures very soon, but most of them will be to Facebook since the process is barely painful in that program. It's a tooth pulling experience for me here... thus the written (barely any pictures) blog. Also, and of course, I love to write. And since I have little to no adult conversation on a daily basis it's a way for me to express myself beyond direction, reading (to my kiddos and/or myself), discipline, and listening to Jess.