Dear Santa.

So a few nights ago Grey (who is 7) disappeared into his room for a while to do some writing, something that makes my heart so very happy.

Above is the product of his writing session. I love that he asked Santa about "Mrs. Claws"...

Santa Claus kinda takes a minor role in our Christmas...our presents are from each other, but Santa leaves the items in the stockings. On years when Joal's not playing music on Christmas Eve, we open our presents on Christmas Eve. Most years though, he plays at the 11 pm Christmas Eve service at church, so we open gifts on Christmas morning. The boys know that Santa is a character from a story and there's no confusion about what's real (Jesus' birth) and what's legend. We don't give Santa a great deal of the credit for providing the gifts...I've never really understood that. We give gifts to each other because Christ was given to us and because he gave his life for us. How does having Santa bring all the gifts help *us* to embrace the act of giving? I love selecting gifts that I know the boys will enjoy and I take great care in doing it. I am not about to let some mythical guy in a red suit deprive them of knowing "My mom and dad really *get me*."

I'm not anti-Santa. I think the story of Santa Claus (the old story, not the commercial pop version) is indeed beautiful, as is the legend of old-world stories of Santa Claus, with all their variations. Santa has a place in our holiday, he's just certainly not the star of the show. Santa works all year to give gifts to children...he's a giver, just like we are.

I'm not sure what prompted G to write to Santa...and it's news to me that he's thinking of a new bike. The skate *bird* (skate board) has been acquired and the markers are a given. Art supplies are a must each and every Christmas, afterall. I would imagine that Santa is very likely down with bringing a "bag of candy"...that's easy to fit in a stocking.

I did think it funny the other day when the boys mentioned that the new decorative (long and skinny) stockings hanging in the living room were not as big as the ones we normally use. "They sure won't hold much" was the general consensus. Ha! "But they match so nicely" I told them. No one but me was impressed. :)