Are You Ready?

Are you ready for Christmas?  I hope so.  I'm ready in that I have purchased all my gifts and I would even declare myself ahead since I have started wrapping.  However, today I am in a sticky spot.  My youngest is home and I would love to wrap more but there are only so many movies I dare let her watch.  Not wrapping when I would like to is like having an itch that needs to be scratched and I can't reach it.  I need to wrap but alas, I cannot.  I am beginning to understand why the Santa I had growing up didn't bother with the trimmings and trappings of wrapping things up.  We'd rush in to a feast for the eyes taking in each unwrapped present all at once.  I thought I liked the idea of taking our time and appreciating each present individually.  So I wrap my kid's presents.  Instead we now get a glimpse of parents scolding children for not waiting and taking turns and we also know how each present is received (good or bad I might add).  I don't like the idea of staying up into the wee hours wrapping, so  maybe our Santa needs a new approach.  But how do you change something like that mid-stream?

Yesterday I tried wrapping while Little Girl slept and it totally backfired on me.  She snuck downstairs and walked right in on me!  She saw a Christmas gift intended for one of her brothers and asked what it was.  I just didn't have time to hide it.  I was lucky to get the stuff intended for her put away fast enough.  Now I am in a quandary as to what to do with this gift.  Do I still give it as a gift from Santa?  Will she be smart enough to remember?  Do I count on the distraction of her gifts to mask my mistake?  Then, to make matters worse, this morning she was foraging for stickers in a drawer in my bedroom and instead found some candy intended for our stockings.  I had been separating packages of Ande's mints out for everyone's stockings and had an extra so I stashed it unsafely away.  Now what?  Does everyone have to sacrifice for my foolish mistake?  Do I just tell her that Santa has the same taste in after-dinner-mints as me?  Will she even notice?  I know she probably will.  I hate to spoil the magic of Christmas for my 3 yr old.  It's almost over for Big Girl.  She plays along pretending to believe in Santa, and she is a terrible actress.  I have been down this road before and I know what I will say when the truth comes to the table.  Believing in Santa is believing in the true spirit of Christmas because we give without the recognition of being the giver.  Santa was once a real person on the earth (wasn't he?) who inspired these charitable acts and we follow in that tradition choosing to give on Christmas because that is the day that we recognize the biggest gift ever given.  The gift of Jesus Christ on the earth.  Then I tell them that I am just one of Santa's helpers.  I will never forget the reaction of my oldest son when I broke down and told him to prevent him being teased at school over it (he was getting too old and still believed).  He looked up at me and said "so it was you all the time?!"  and I thought he was going to lose it.  Then he surprised me by saying "Thank you for all those gifts Mom."  Yeah, he was once a sweet sweet boy.  Now sometimes I am tempted to put coal in his stocking, but overall he's alright.

I hope all you friends out there in bloggy land have a wonderful holiday!  And don't get caught with Andie's mints in your drawers two days before Christmas now you hear?