Visions of sugarplums.....

This little girl has a mind of her own.

She thinks completely different from all my other kids.

She is a much more serious thinker... always looking at the end.

Today, when we went to WaldeMart, we saw 'Santa' walking around the store.

I watched her reaction when she saw him.

Her little nose wrinkled up and she shook her head.

"What?" I asked her.

"Nothing" was her simple reply.

I persued her... not letting her change the subject.

In reality... I knew what was coming.

I just wasn't sure if she was ready to admit it.

"Well, I don't think he's real, " she says.

I pressed...."What does that mean? That guy over there?"
She nodded and replied, incensed... "Oh, we'll he's fake for sure... look at that pillow he stuffed in his tummy."
I laughed.
She went on... "I think you and Dad give us all our presents."
"Really???" I ask.
She was on a roll....
" AND..... How come we always have money all year and then after christmas, we're broke."
I laughed even harder.
See what I mean?
Definitely not like my other kids.
I said "Well, what if you're right. What if there is no Santa? Does that make you sad?"
She looked at me, with her signature deadpan you-are-so-dense-sometimes look.
"No. Not at all."

Was I ready for this?
I'm not sure.
It's so surreal.
I knew that this day would come.... that all my kids would know who really brings all those gifts, and who shreds the carrots on the front lawn and who eats all those cookies....
18 years is a long time to carry on a tradition.

Life: Never what I thought it would be.