Thursday, November 6, 2008

Christmas is coming... (or "Christmas is Here!")

I have to admit that as a parent I have done my duty in warping my kids minds to believe what I want them to believe. For instance, Jack doesn't eat chocolate, now this wouldn't be so troublesome if one day he just said to me "I hate chocolate Mom" but he didn't. Before Jack could talk (actually as a fetus he didn't like it) I told him (more than once) "you don't like chocolate Jack". No arguments from the first born. So what does this have to do with Christmas??? EVERYTHING! Here are the facts: 1. We live in the central part of California. Not too far from the ocean and not too far from the mountains. Bliss- right? Wrong... It is so hot and dry in the summer and freaking cold in the winter. We get maybe a week of fall and spring, if you are careful not to blink you can enjoy it. Well between last Wednesday and Friday fall happened. On Monday we woke to find patches of frost on our lawn. 2. A year ago (probably around the time of the first frost) I told my kids about when our dog Max was a puppy (a Christmas gift) and it snowed. Granted it was a crazy freak storm that NEVER happens in Fresno. But my kids took this to mean that it CAN and WILL snow at their house. 3. Sunday we went to Target to buy clearance Halloween items and in the season aisles we found Halloween had been replaced with Christmas. So armed with the facts : frost on the grass,the memory of the Christmas puppy and snow story, and the lack of Thanksgiving commercialism my kids immediately decided that it is Christmas time (we don't claim that they are genius by any means). Jack wanted to make sure I let him help decorate the tree after school (I think he wants to make sure I honor my promise to display his Jimmy Johnson ornaments). Abby started talking about cookies and candy. At swim lessons I overheard Abby telling the boys in her class that it is Christmas time and that we had snow at our house this morning. Jeez! So embarrassing. The older boys told her that it wasn't and that it didn't snow either- poor Abby hasn't given up. All week she has been telling me that all she wants for Christmas is "polish" (meaning nail polish) and a shelf to put it on. Jack decided that saving money for a Wii is a feudal and that Santa is more likely to deliver considering that he hasn't lost any teeth in 6 months so he isn't as rich as he was hoping he would be by now. If I want my kids to continue to believe I guess Santa will have to deliver. I am not sure how I will get them to understand that it will probably will never snow in Fresno and that frost not even technically snow, it would be easier to convince them that there is no Santa. LET THEM BELIEVE! I do have to admit on Sunday that was staring at the spot where my Christmas tree sits thinking I wish it was up right now so I could enjoy it for longer.

1 comment:

The VerNooy's said...

I told Dean on Monday I wanted to put up the tree, and he said I could if I wanted!Score, I just don't wanna dig it out of our storage unit yet! It does seem like Christmas because radio stations are already playing Christmas music! Especially 98.9, that is all they are playing until Christmas. You could always buy a snow machine and trick them into thinking its snowing, but that probably wouldn't work so well.