Mama (a.k.a., Mythbuster)

We're almost there. Unfortunately, at our house, no presents are under the tree yet. If I put presents out early, my children go bananas and there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. It gets very tiresome day after day. I also told them that there was no Santa this year. The boys are eight and their sister is six, and yes, I could have waited longer so she could enjoy it more, but I couldn't take it. My children are sooooo materialistic it hurts my very being at times. Bowen was at NFL.com picking out $272 Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys! I told him there was no way he was getting a jersey that cost that much and he said, "It's ok mama, the elves make it." That gave me pause. If you're old enough to get around your mama's lack of money you are old enough to know that Santa is a really nice ritual for small children, but your parents are really "Santa" and not all children get gifts.

I called their dad and told him I wanted to tell them the truth about the Big Man and he said it was fine with him and they would still get a present from Santa anyway (What the %$^@? This was news to me - but is what some people apparently do - I don't know why). I told the kids I wanted to talk to them and told them that Santa wasn't real. OHMIGOD! Morgan burst into tears and wailed, "I can't believe you lied to us! All those letters we wrote! YOU?! YOU read them?" I tried to be reassuring and told them that the letters were very sweet and that I saved them. Their reeling minds put two and two together and all of a sudden they looked at me with newly realized horror in their eyes, "What about the Easter Bunny?" I told them that was also a parent deal. "The Tooth Fairy?" Ok, this one got me, Chicky hasn't lost a single tooth yet. I paused and said, "The Tooth Fairy is real." I know, I know, but they only get fifty cents a tooth and I couldn't ruin it all for Chicky. I also told them that the deal with being a kid in the know was that you couldn't stomp out the myth for the other children that still believed. That seemed somewhat helpful. They also totally got that some kids didn't get "Santa" at their house and wanted to gather gently used toys to give to other kids. In the end, we got to a good place. Now, I'm having Tooth Fairy guilt.

Finally a picture of Chicky's socks. I adore them, even though they are pink.



And a picture of a bag with my first flowers. I didn't follow the directions carefully enough and the flowers are a little odd.



I'm going to brag about Bowen's most recent project. His class was studying handmade items and they each chose something to make, they drew pictures of their chosen item, made the thing, and wrote instructions for others to make it, too. It was very cool. Bowen made a spear. Now, I am not really a fan of weapons, but the fact that he was making it himself and he ran it by his teacher made me feel ok about it. He made a spear (although the picture he had in his mind, and the one he actually made were different and caused him great creative angst), he drew many pictures, and wrote the directions out carefully. My favorite art is his "zoom" art. All the kids did with their handmade creation in the picture. They started out with the full scene and got closer and closer like a zoom lens. I was also impressed that Bowen left out the whole person holding the spear - he totally trusted people to get it. I like that about him.