Friday, December 24, 2010

Why Santa Claus Won't Be Stopping At Our House Tonight

It's not for the reason you might have immediately thought of. Here's the whole story:

We had quite a time getting Sadie to sleep tonight.

I had started the morning with grand plans for the day and evening. Things started to unravel when I found out that Christmas Eve Mass would only be offered in our county (at two different parishes) at 5 pm. Paul worked until 6 tonight, so that was the first part of our day that was crossed of the list (Christmas Eve mass is one of my favorites and I thought it was usually at 7pm so I was surprised to hear it was so much earlier!).

I decided to focus on our other evening plans. I pictures the family listening to Christmas carols after dinner while we put out cookies for Santa and then getting them into their Christmas PJs.

However, while I held the Santa Cookie plate on the ride home from Nani and Grumpa's house, Sadie fell asleep. She woke up a little over an hour later as we were trying to slip her into her bed and that's when the night's drama began to unfold.

Sadie woke and looked around. I was trying to get Maggie to sleep and so I had Paul take her downstairs to see if she wanted any of the broccoli and cheddar soup that was in the crock pot. She refused and so Paul brought her upstairs and we started to get her ready for bed. And that is when I made the mistake of saying:

"Daddy and I will get the Santa plate ready with the cookies and the milk, okay?" Sadie dissolved into hysterical tears within seconds. After a few minutes of sobbing that escalated at the thought of "Santa bringing presents" we had promised that Santa wouldn't be coming near our home and Sadie was sniffling in her bed.

I have an inkling that it has something to do with the tall, intimidating man that was dressed as Santa that came up to Sadie in CVS and repeatedly asked her if she'd been a good girl, while she attempted to hide.

So we won't be mentioning the S-word tomorrow morning. Now to do the last of the Christmas preparations and then get some sleep.

Edited to Add: Paul's Facebook Status Update for tonight:

"I can't but help but wonder if Sadie is afraid of Santa Claus because of my storytelling to the wife about how good old Saint Nick punched out Arius at an ecumenical council for denying the divinity of Christ. Any talk of Santa tonight has brought Sadie to tears, so I've reassured her that Daddy is going to meet Santa later tonight to get the Christmas presents."

No, I think it was the scary Santa at CVS. But his update did make me smile.

2 comments:

  1. The things we put our kids through (or should that be vice versa?). My younger sister was scared to death of Santa Claus when we were growing up. I always just thought he was a friendly guy who brought us fun stuff. I guess kids these days are a lot more intuitive about the concepts of strangers. Merry Christmas Cam and family and abundant blessings in the New Year.

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  2. Our four year old wasn't a fan of Santa either, no matter how much we explained to him that Saint Nick is a friend of Jesus and a Saint in heaven. It is his natural inclination to think any man dressed in a bizarre outfit that breaks into your home for any reason is, at the very least, kinda weird.

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