We were asked several questions about Santa, but the most entertaining question came during a discussion with Grandma & Grandpa about how old various people are. After going through the ages of most of the family "What's Grandma's number? What's Aunt Katie's number? What's Madison's number?" etc. etc., Drew curiously asked "What's Santa's number?" All I could come up with for this sweet question was that Santa has a very big number, that Santa was around even when Grandpa was a little boy and Grandpa's 64. This seemed to satisfy Drew as he repeated several times throughout discussions about Santa that "Santa's a very big number. Grandpa knows what Santa's number is from when he was a little boy."
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I'm sure we're not the only parents in the world to use Santa as a tool of persuasion/discipline. While reminding Drew about being naughty and nice was helpful for Drew's manners and good listening, Santa was particularly useful for getting Drew to sleep in his own bed. My parents bought a crib for Drew when he was younger that has since been transformed into a toddler daybed. When we were there for the marathon a few weeks ago, Drew was not too keen on sleeping in the little bed. The first night of this trip (after our 11 hour drive), neither Bill or I had the energy to fight with him to stay in his little bed. The next day, however, I had a brainstorm. I convinced Drew that if he slept in the big bed, Santa might not see him, since he'd be looking for Drew in the little boy bed. If he couldn't see him, he might not know what to do with his presents. This worked like a charm Christmas Eve, but I had my doubts about whether it would work once Santa had delivered the presents. Apparently I brainwashed the poor kid pretty well, because every day at naptime and bedtime for the rest of the trip, Drew proclaimed that "I have to sleep in my little bed so Santa can see me. Because if I sleep in the big bed, Santa won't see me."
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After Christmas Eve mass and dinner, we set about preparing the cookies and milk for Santa. Grandma had baked gingerbread cookies earlier in the day while we were grocery shopping, and now it was time for frosting and decorating! I took care of most of the frosting and left the decorating to Drew.
He was very proud of his finished products.
Here's the table we prepared for Santa (minus one cookie that Drew decided he should taste-test).
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On Christmas Eve, after Drew went to bed, my mom had just been telling me that there was more than one year when they were up past midnight preparing Santa presents for my siblings and me. I thought to myself "what could possibly have taken them till after midnight?" Once my parents saw our Santa display (first pic below), I was enlightened. It seems it slipped my mind that Santa's elves typically put everything together for the children before Christmas morning. Oops!
On Christmas morning, Drew woke up around 7. As my parents had always done before they'd let us down the stairs on Christmas morning, I explained to Drew that Mommy or Daddy would have to go make sure Santa had come. So he patiently waited in the bedroom while I checked to make sure everyone was awake and the Santa display was in order. Then we let him loose. Drew seemed very pleased that Santa had eaten some of his cookies and drank all of his milk. Then he headed for the display of presents.
Impressively, Drew grabbed his stocking first.
Drew making a face like he's never seen candy before.
Drew smiling at what was hands-down his favorite Santa gift: the GeoTrax airport.
Drew & Daddy set about doing the work of those forgetful elves and put Drew's new airport together.
Plenty more pictures and stories from our trip to come over the next few days.
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