Random Thoughts

I realized that I have neglected my blogging this month. Too many Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations. Today I'm home with two sick children so I thought I would mention a couple of things in no specific order.

First of all, we had our children's conferences at school last week. One thing that struck me as sort of funny...I got the same comment from my daughter's third grade teacher in regards to her writing as I have made about many of Jodi Picoult's books. She spends a lot of time on the beginning and middle developing the story and then hurries through the ending.

Second, during my daughter's last bought of illness, her aunt was kind enough to drop off a gift for her. A Calvin and Hobbes collection. I used to have the same exact book and had forgotton how funny it is. It still holds up. My daugther is loving it. What is interesting is that my son had a hard time understanding it. When I explained that Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed animal and that when no one is around he comes to life. My son wanted to know if he really came to life. I explained he does in Calvin's imagination. I'm still not sure if he understands it.

Yesterday my daughter asked me if Santa is real. We have been struggling with this concept for some time now. I'm getting the feeling she's not quite ready to except the truth. I asked her what she thought. She's not sure, but a in a book she's reading for school, Superfudge, one of the characters makes mention that there is no Santa Claus. (On a sidenote: Damn you Judy Blume! Just one of the many mysteries she may be uncovering for my daugther over the next few years. No wonder my mom didn't want me to read Forever.) So I asked her if there was no Santa, who she thought brought the presents. She said, "You" but then I think she quickly wished she hadn't. I wonder if she's worried that if I thought she thought there was no Santa, he would stop coming. That's pretty much where the conversation stopped.

This is a hard transition for us all. It's a difficult act to keep up. The older they get, the more you feel like you're being really dishonest with them. What I consider an ideal situation at this point would be that the kids knew the truth, would not be completely devastated by it (e.g. Aunt Sue) and continue to enjoy the excitement of waking up on Christmas morning to the surprises under the tree...no matter who brings them.