Believing

(Day Eighteen in my Month of Blessings)

My kids and I had an early sighting of Santa tonight and when I say early, let’s just say none of us were even remotely prepared to see him. We are still in Thanksgiving mode, gobble-gobble, looking forward to seeing all of our family next week and there’s Santa, already at the mall getting ready to start greeting the kids on Saturday.

Taggart saw him first. By the huge Christmas tree – yep, already in place for the season – where he greets kids and listens to their holiday wishes. Taggart said, “Mom, is that Santa?” And I said, a bit shocked, “Yeah, I think it is.” Of course, Sage is like, “Where, where?” a little tentatively. She is not so sure about the whole Santa thing. She wants to like him. She does NOT want to sit on his lap.

Well, this Santa isn’t tired yet at all. He’s fresh. Very fresh. Fresh like I’ve never seen a mall Santa. He wanted to chat with the kids; he was seeking them out. He came over and tried to engage Sage. He asked her if she was going to come see him. She said, “Maybe, but I’m not sitting on your lap. Maybe when I’m bigger I will.” Taggart was busy telling me he didn’t think it was the real Santa; he thought it was one of Santa’s helpers. I told him that was a possibility because Santa needs lots of helpers and cannot really be in two places at once.

Santa handed each of the kids a picture of him and told them to come back and see him after Saturday. We left and went to the bookstore but the whole time we were walking away, Sage was asking where the reindeer were. I told her we’d check back, hoping she’d forget. She didn’t. The minute we left the bookstore she wanted to go back and ask Santa about the reindeer.

We got there and I explained that Sage wanted to ask him something. Of course, she had a sudden case of shyness and I had to do the asking so I said that Sage was wondering where the reindeer were. “Oh, the reindeer,” Santa responded. “They are at the North Pole getting ready for the big trip. This is just a quick visit for me to come down and make sure everything is ready. The other thing, though, is that Rudolph has come down with a cold. And you won’t believe this . . . his nose has turned blue. He looks like a police car’s siren!”

Well, this really got the kids’ attention. I think Taggart may even be thinking this is the real deal. At seven, he thinks he knows everything but in certain circumstances he can be swayed. Santa told the kids he’d see them soon and then added “And in the meantime, make sure you are behaving.” Thanks Santa! No really Santa, I mean it. My kids might behave better over the next few weeks but even more, they might truly believe. And believing is one of the best gifts of all.