To Believe or Not To Believe

Happy New Year!

It's been two weeks of Christmas vacation.  That is one week of Christmas hustle, bustle, stress, joy, happiness and a whole lot of togetherness.  It is followed by one week of actual vacation...and even more togetherness.  Anyone who is home with kids over any school break knows this can be a dicey experience, especially when everyone is super excited for Christmas!  We all survived, though, and I imagine I will miss them when they head back to school.

K, my Santa-believing, Pixie Dust-requesting girl, did, in fact, get Pixie Dust from Santa.  Santa generously left her a letter explaining that Pixie Dust would only work in Neverland, so although she had it, she couldn't use it to fly in our home or outside, either.  She tried anyway.  She diligently sprinkled Pixie Dust on her head and thought her happy thoughts....and remained firmly planted on the ground.  Never one to be deterred, she quickly announced that we needed to go to Disneyland where we would visit Pixie Hollow, see Tinker Bell and this whole thing would be cleared up.  Tinker Bell would make the Pixie Dust magic again and all would be right with the world.  Let us never doubt K's intelligence or imagination.  To her, that seems like a perfectly logical solution to this "problem."  I am wondering what kind of mess I've made.  Either way, I figure it is better to be impressed with her problem-solving skills and maybe by the time we visit Disneyland again, she will forget about the Pixie Dust.  Not likely, but one can always hope.  I'd rather find another way to perpetuate the magic than to bust her beliefs because I couldn't explain my way around Pixie Dust.

With S, it was a bittersweet Christmas this year.  This is the first year that S was in on the Secret of Santa.  On the one hand, it was sad to see that part of her childhood behind her and realize how very quickly she is growing up.  On the other hand, it was wonderful to share that with her and give her the first taste of the Santa in all of us.  She never asked me about Santa, but another friend of hers spilled the beans sometime last year.  Actually, I thought she knew a year earlier, but just didn't want to know for sure, so she adamantly stuck to her beliefs.  This year, we had a brief discussion, where I floundered over what to say and wasn't nearly as eloquent as I would have liked.  Then, I stumbled upon this, Truth About Santa .  *Warning* Grab the nearest tissue box before you read it.

So, after my lame and stilted attempt to share my feelings about the Secret of Santa, I wrote a letter to my girl and quoted the above blog as part of my letter.  Since I clearly couldn't have said it better myself, I felt this was a great way to give the message to S.   I concluded my letter telling her that now that she knew the truth, she could carry Santa in her heart and when the time is right, together we will share the Secret of Santa with K.

This is one thing I love about my oldest girl.  She gets so much joy when she gets to do the "big kid" stuff first and then participate in making it fun for K.  She absolutely loved filling the stockings for her grandparents and helping with the cookies and milk.  I love having that sidekick because it makes my job so much more joyful, too.  Not only do I get to do what I do for K, but I get to experience the fun and joy of S in the process.  It is my icing on the cake and it definitely softens the blow of her growing up so fast.

I have no idea how long K will believe in Santa, Fairies, and Pixie Dust.  I get choked up just thinking about that being a part of her past.  I'm just glad that I will have S by my side to remind me that there are still fun adventures to be had, even when the childhood fantasies are done and the world is viewed in a new way.