Santa, Are You for Real?

It was a wonderful Christmas season! Full of activities, excitement, and . . . lots of questions. Our goal this year was to have a meaningful family activity every night of Advent. I read, studied, prepared (on the computer!) a lovely calendar of events that started Nov. 30 and actually ran a few days past Christmas. I won't say how many of the events we actually did (mostly because it's embarrassing), but the few we did accomplish, were pretty cool. The boys had been asking questions about Santa, and if he is real. Mark and I had already discussed how we might deal with this. It is not that we can't appreciate the fun of make believe, but the truth of the matter is that I'm not comfortable lying to my children, when the truth is hidden in the legend anyway. So, we ordered the book Santa, Are You for Real? by Harold Myra. Great book for kids that explains where the idea of Santa Claus comes from and the story of the real Saint Nicholas. Now, I am not saying that my highly intelligent 5 and 6 year old fully understood the idea, but we've at least laid a good foundation. We also read a multitude of books that recounted the Christmas story, as well as a plethora of bible passages. And when all was said and done, my kids could tell me why we have Christmas and parts of the Christmas story - like that Jesus was born in "a stinkin' barn" as our youngest said, with plenty of indignation!

We had a whirlwind Christmas, it seems. School for all was finished by Dec. 19th, and we headed up to Dry Ridge for the weekend. Saturday was rehearsal for the children's Christmas Program, Sunday morning was church, and Sunday evening was the final program. Both kids had speaking parts! My dad arrived in Louisville on Monday afternoon, and we all drove to the airport to get him - kid made sign and all! Dad spent the week with us, which included plenty of shopping, cooking, baking, and wrestling (it's a Papa thing). On the morning of Dec. 26, we all headed out to drive the 12 hours to Oklahoma . . . that somehow turned into a 14 hour drive! We all arrived safely at Papa Terry's house completely exhausted. While in OK, things didn't slow down. Saturday was lunch and Christmas at my mom's with my grandpa and my niece, Joy. Sunday was a great visit to our home church, St. Andrew's UMC, and Christmas with Mark's family. Monday we were very excited to have the opportunity to spend part of the day with our good friends, Todd and Lisa Bergman and their boys - FUN! Tuesday, we had unbelievably nice weather and we, along with my parents and Mark parents, spent the day (a record 5 hours for us) at the Tulsa Zoo. Gratefully, on Wednesday, we were able to visit both my grandma Polly and Mark's grandma Judy (which was the driving force behind our unexpected trip). It was good to see that they were doing better than we expected. This brings us to New Year's Eve. As tradition holds, Mark's parents watched the boys and Mark and I spent the evening with out good, long-time friends, Brandon and Michelle. Lots of good food, good movies (somewhat debatable), and good times. It felt just like home! Thursday, Mark, Brandon, and the boys went to BassPro (I know, you are all surprised - the closest one here is in Cincy), several Wal-Marts and a Target (Ethan was on a very determined mission - spend all the Christmas money). Michelle and I had a wonderful lunch at Pei Wei (mmmmmmmmmmm) and then did some shopping in Owasso. The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, gathering, and packing. Mark's parents had a nice dinner for us that night, which Brandon and Michelle came to, and then it was an evening of Wii playoffs! Sadly, we are now at Friday, the return trip. Not much to say about that except somehow we manage to make record time (11 1/2 hours)WITH THE KIDS! Mark was so excited. Then we hit the ground running when we got home. Laundry, unpacking, lesson plans - everyone back to school.

I'll make another post later about current events . . . and hopefully adding some pics from Christmas!