This is the first time in 23 years that I have a house full of non-believers.  It is hard for me to remember the time “before,” and now I’m not quite sure what to do with the time “after.”

You see, Tater is about to be 12 years old.  She stopped believing in Santa Claus this year.  She probably didn’t quite believe last year, but kept it a secret so as not to hurt the Santa she loves best – her daddy.  I had the Perfect Child ask her when they were working on their Christmas lists this year.  And it appears Santa has gone the way of the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

At the time, this revelation actually made me sigh with relief.  It has been hard, all these years, to keep the Santa thing going.  Finding places to hide everything was always the biggest hurdle, but there is more to it.  There’s remembering not to say “I got that for you last year for Christmas” and other brainless things.  So it is a relief to not have to hide presents.  As I bought them, I wrapped them and put them under the tree.  As I found things for stockings, they went into a box I kept under the bed, and a few days ago, I even assembled those so it was done and I didn’t need to think about it any more.  And Tater, for her part, has really gotten into the spirit of things.  I told her she needed to pare down her collection of stuffed animals this year, and she gave them as gifts to all of her friends.  She has happily looked at the presents under the tree, zeroing in on the ones that are hers, and how big some of the ones for others are.  It has been a bit of an adventure for her.  And for me?  I get to see all those lovely wrapped presents under the tree for the entire month, instead of for just a few short minutes on Christmas morning.

And even better?  Klown and I don’t have to stay up late, waiting for kids to go to sleep so we can drag the presents out of their hiding places and to the tree.  We can go to bed for a decent, long winter’s nap, and wake up refreshed and ready to face the mess that is Christmas morning.

In Klown’s world, when he was growing up, he would go to sleep Christmas Eve and there’d not be so much as a piece of tinsel anywhere to be seen.  He’d get up on Christmas morning and the tree would be up, loaded with presents.  I cannot imagine how his mother did that, in one night.  I cannot imagine how exhausted she must have been when morning came.  It takes me two or three days to put up the decorations in the house.  But it made it magical for Klown to wake up to that on Christmas morning.

When I was a kid, my mother worked in a business that was super-busy leading right up to the last day or two before Christmas.  Christmas was a hectic time for her. As I got older, I took on more duties.  I baked cookies, helped decorate, helped wrap gifts.  My brothers did too.  And my beloved Gramma was always around to help, too.  Christmas eve was our big night.  We had practiced for weeks with the choir at St. Joseph Church, and we were ready to sing Jesu Bambino at Midnight Mass.  We were ready for the candlelight, the noise of a crowded church, the joy of the music and the feeling of love and comfort.  We would start napping about 4 p.m., so we would be fresh for our late night.

And somehow, when we got home at 2 a.m. after that long service, our voices hoarse, but our spirits bright, we were supposed to go to sleep.  We were supposed to not hear our parents putting out the gifts under the tree.  In the morning, we were up long before they wanted us to be.  Except for Gramma.  Gramma was always so excited I don’t think she actually went to sleep at all.

This is my favorite time of year.  It is busy, it is hectic, there is a ton to do, I am always behind in shopping and mailing packages and Christmas cards.  There are parties and potlucks and cookies to bake, and meals to plan. There is beautiful music and Christmas lights in the snow, and I drag out my Christmas sweaters and earrings and have fun.

I know I am blessed.  Things aren’t ever perfect, and never will be.  But I live in the place I’ve always wanted to live.  My house has a fireplace.  We have had snow three times in the last week.  There is a metric ton of presents under the tree.  I am not sick with a cold or the flu, something that used to happen to me every Christmas.  We have a big ham for our Christmas dinner.  I have nothing to complain about. I have everything to be thankful for.

Happy Holidays to one and all.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 24th, 2013 at 5:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.