Slice of Heaven

I can't figure it out...what is my kids' fascination with Santa all of a sudden? Our policy on Santa is that we just tell the kids exactly like it happens. Jesus is what Christmas is all about. We give the history of St. Nicholas and so they know he was once someone who was alive, and now his legacy lives on in the imaginary character, Santa. Anyways, we have heard many humorous comments by the kids the past few days, and Leah especially seems enthralled by Santa, with Bay coming in a close second :)

#1 Our local fire department has one of their volunteers dress up as Santa and ride throughout our area on top of the truck, sirens wailing, throwing out candy. They have a schedule of which back-country roads they will be visiting on which nights. Last night was our night, so we went out to wait. The whole time, Leah is singing..."Sa a anta Claus is comin' to town..." They must have gotten a call, because they cut the tour short, so we went inside. Leah went back to her room and came out with her play phone. "Mommy, Santa is on the phone, do you want to talk to him?"

#2 During a recent trip to the mall, Leah, shy as she is of all the children, saw that people were going to sit on Santa's lap. "Mommy, can I go sit on Santa's lap and see him?"

"Of course not, honey. I am not allowing you to sit on some strange man's lap in a mall!"

#3 We went caroling with our church a few weeks ago. One of the people who came along dressed up as Santa. The people in the nursing home loved it! So did Bay. The whole time, he buddied up with Santa. Held his hand as we walked around. Talked about the one thing he really wanted for Christmas that we already told him there was no way we were getting. (He totally knew who it was under that costume, but something in his child's brain told him differently!)

#4 We are getting ready to install a woodstove. We will need to put in stovepipe (it will be exposed). Dennis and I were discussing specifics about this upcoming installation and the light bulb went off in their heads..."Now Santa will have a chimney to come down!!!"

Crazy kids.