I might hate Santa
My kid just came down the stairs and said, “mom under your bed I think I just saw a box that had an Imaginext Bat Cave on it”.
Crap.
Santa and I have had a bit of a love-hate relationship this year. Mostly, my kids love the big guy and I hate him. Let me be clear, I am not a Grinch. I love Christmas. I even spent a night this weekend driving my husband around town while he played Santa for the neighbor kids. I should love Santa. But I don’t and I think it’s because I am not very good at his job.
Playing Santa for my kids has never been my forte, but this year I am failing miserably at trying to uphold the illusion of his magic. This year, we have the challenge of Santa on a pretty tight budget which includes explaining to our oldest why she still doesn’t get things on her list even though she deliberately picked “non-big ticket” items because she is wise to “our” Santa’s rules about one expensive toy being the limit. We also have entered the territory of the “illusive” gift. My kids didn’t want Zhu Zhu pets, but they did (all three!) ask Santa for Pillow Pets which we found out very quickly were just as hard to come by. How to explain that Santa (who MAKES the stupid things) didn’t make them the toy they wanted most? I know, I could search all over the state and the internet for them, but I refuse to pay $200 for a $25 pillow because I can only find it on the toy black market.
Trying to maintain our new-found budget savvy, simple (read-less stuff) existence becomes harder and harder when you have to balance it with the supposed generous merriment of Santa. Especially when Santa’s generosity is tied to kids being naughty or nice. I don’t want, and frankly can’t afford the chaos and gluttony that can come on Christmas morning, but I also don’t want my kids to think they were naughty either. See? Santa is so difficult!
And now, as my son has so eloquently pointed out, I apparently have the challenge of explaining why Santa delivered some of the toys early to our house. I could tell him it is from dad and I, but the aforementioned Bat Cave was, of course, the only gift that was on his Santa list. So, that’s out. We are in a new house. We thought we had the toys hidden pretty well. In my defense, my kids have never really looked and the toy under the bed is for the youngest kid who isn’t even old enough to know to look. It is well hidden under that bed. I had no idea my kids even knew that there might be presents to find, but find it my Middle One did, so he must have wriggled under there pretty far. I should have known it was too quiet! I should have wrapped the gifts earlier instead of just patting myself on the back for finishing the shopping early. I should be better at this by now!
I guess I don’t hate Santa. I just hate when I have to be him.
