Rest in Peace, Santa

"Mommy, one time I was at Miss Monica's house, and I saw a toy that we got from the Easter Bunny, and I asked her about it, and Miss Monica said, 'That's because your mom and I went shopping together.'  Is the Easter Bunny real?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

Hesitantly, Mary Grace said, "Yes."

"No, honey, the Easter Bunny is a story parents make up to make Easter magical for their children."

"Oh."  (pause)  "What about Santa?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes."

"Claire?"

"Yes."

"(deep breath)  No, guys, Santa's not real.  The spirit of Santa is real, and there's a little bit inside everyone who believes in that spirit, but there's no jolly man who comes down the chimney and leaves gifts for children.  That was me and your dad because we're Santa's helpers.  And again, parents lie to their kids about these things to help make their childhoods more magical."

"So Santa was never real?"

"No, there was a real man named St. Nicholas who lived a long time ago, and that's who Santa is based on."

"Woah, so you bought our American Girl dolls?" Mary Grace asked.

"Yep."

"You have a hundred dollars???" Claire said.

"Not anymore," I replied.  "So now that you know the truth, you have two jobs.  First, you can't spoil it for other kids who still believe.  Second, you have to help Daddy and I make Christmas magical for kids who still believe, like Jack, and everyone else.  Maybe when we go shopping this year you can buy Jack's gift from Santa.  Would you like that?"

"YEAH!"

"Mommy," Mary Grace said after a moment, "is anyone else a made up story?"

"Like who?"

"The Tooth Fairy, is she real?"

"Nope."

"OH MY GOSH!" she yelled, falling back against the couch.

I knew this day would come...  (Here's the post from 1000 years ago saying we weren't going to do Santa, and here's the follow up from when everyone flipped their lids.  Santa even got passive aggressive and threatened to bring drum sets and tubas to the girls if we didn't see the error of our ways!  LOL)

I feel a little sad that they're old enough to know, and I feel like a part of childhood is over for them forever, but I also feel kind of relieved.  I think I handled it pretty well.  They didn't cry.  Well, I take that back, Claire cried during the conversation but that was because Jack poked her in the eye.  I think they'll be ok.

Han Solo Just Scared The Crap Outta Me

Our friends the Perrys gave us a life sized cardboard cutout of Han Solo today. MG immediately claimed it.

So, BJ and I watched a movie tonight. Afterward, at midnight, I came upstairs to get ready for bed. The kids sleep with their doors open so I didn't turn on the hall lights - I just had my phone in my hand when I saw this:

I assure you it was much more startling without the flash. 

I yelled "SHIT" followed quickly by a disparaging comment about BJ, thinking he was the culprit.  

When he stopped laughing he told me that the whole thing was Mary Grace's idea!  "Let's put this where it'll scare Mommy!" she apparently said.

Oh, it's on kiddo. It's on.