So… Noelle was asking WAY too many really in-depth, perceptive questions regarding Santa this year.  She was problem solving trying to figure out how it all made sense.  One night, she and Mike and I were all talking and she asked, “So, do the elves make some stuff and does Santa buy some stuff at the store?” because she sees toys all over the stores around Christmas.  Mike looked at me and whispered, “She trusts us to tell her the truth…” and we both knew it was time.  But how do you do it?  What do you say?  We don’t have a parent handbook with different suggestions.  I said to Mike, “You do it!”

So Mike said, “Noelle, we have a big girl secret to tell you!”  She got so excited and Mike went on to say, “Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas.”  She thought about it and then said, “That’s not a good secret!” so we knew we weren’t going to be let off easy.  She was going to make us spell it out for her.  So then he said, “Santa is the spirit of giving and love and traditions and what Santa means is loving and caring.”  Wow!  Pretty well put… but all he got was a blank stare, so he added, “And that’s all Santa means.”  Lol!  We couldn’t bring ourselves to say it.  She looked so confused, so I finally blurted out, “Santa isn’t real!”  And we just sat there like a deer in headlights to see what came next.

The first thing she said was, “Then who ate the cookies?”  I said, “I did!”  She said, “Well, then why didn’t you eat all of them?  Oh did you think they had too much sugar?”  I said, “Yes” and she said, “That makes sense.”

And then she looked us in the eyes and said, “I promise I’ll take good care of the secret!”  And that was it. She’s going to have a blast playing Santa with us for Anna Kate and Rose next year.  We’re even going to let her stay up with us and get all of the toys out.  She will LOVE that, although, we won’t put hers out until she goes to bed…

Whew!  That wasn’t so bad.