The 6 year old spirit of Christmas

I wish I could post the photo of the kids with Santa that we took today. If there was ever anything cuter in the world I'm sure I've never seen it. At six years old Patrick is still a total believer. They loved going to visit Santa today. Patrick has been so charming about the whole Christmas/Santa thing this year. Every morning he comes in to my bed with a new question about how does Santa do it. Yesterday he asked if Santa needs to practice his magic. Today he asked if Santa does have magic why can't he use it to make a Nintendo DS. I've tried my best to keep up with the whole fantasy reality of Santa for his enjoyment, but it has been tricky because it goes against my more practical straight forward approach I take during the rest of the year. Jim has been out of town for the past two weeks and It has been tough not to have him here to share the excitement with.

After Santa, we went to Ed Debevics for dinner. It was very funny, but possibly not in the way the restaurant intends it to be funny. The servers try to be all flip/rude and funny. They get up on the counters and do dances. I don't know, it is fun for the kids, but also way too contrived to be wacky. I waited tables. I know those servers hate getting up there and doing that dance, as much as we hated singing "Happy Birthday" to a table of guests.

What those servers didn't realize was that there were three totally wacky people right there in their restaurant. Betsy was feeding her fries to our imaginary chicken under the table. Maria spent a long time explaining how we were in outerspace because of the disco ball on the ceiling. Patrick was mostly still going on in awe about Santa. If there are multiple dimensions in this world, we definitely visited some of them during dinner.

I love seeing how their minds can explore like that, and I'm trying to be there more with them. In a different mood I might have been totally irritated that Betsy was throwing her fries on the floor. I'm glad for tonight that I enjoyed it.

Patrick has been saying lately that the spirit of Christmas is not what you find under the tree, but what you find under your heart. Now I'm not sure which Cartoon Network show taught him this sentiment, but it is suitable. As a mom, what I love seeing is the spirit of my kids filled with imagination and joy. They are so much more a blessing than anything that could ever fit under a tree.

Totally, totally lazy

As I feared, I have blown off my major Christmas project for another year. I have so little energy that nothing gets done after the kids go to bed. I just don't really have the time during the day to complete a big secret project for the kids. I think I might just do it and not make it a gift, that way they can see it while it is made. The other thing is that I really want to knit a blanket for the new baby and I'm not so much in the mood for sewing. Sewing involves to much getting up off the couch for me right now. Of course before I can't do any of my crafty projects because I need to get a grip on sending gifts all over the country and ordering Christmas cards.

I need to focus my spacey mind. This time of the year is so much fun, but also so demanding. I did a lot of baking for Thanksgiving (ginger pumpkin pie, rum cake, cherry chocolate-chip cookies, lamingtons and more!) so I think it is time for me to leave the kitchen for awhile. The weather has been frigid so any outside fun will have to wait. We tried sledding the other morning and Betsy's hands were frost-bit in less than a half and hour even with gloves. She was really screaming, I felt so bad. This brings me back inside and thinking of all the gifts that need to be sent. I get so hung up up on picking gifts for some of my nieces and nephew's. They truly have any and everything they could ever possibly want. I'm not saying it like they are spoiled or ungrateful, they are all charming and nice. It is just that age old question of what do you get for the person who has everything? A charitable donation? Is that too weird for young kids? I would not win any points for being the "fun Auntie" in Chicago with that. Hmmm. It is at this point that I wish I would endeavor in some more speedy craft projects throughout the year. Something thoughtful and homemade might be well appreciated (or maybe not), I just don't know. I will get it all done and if I am good I will sit down and blaze thru it all today!