Naughty List

Bud and I were picking Bear, and his friend Little Jon, up from school. The boys were telling me what they did at school: they decorated a Christmas tree and made an ornament.

They got on the topic of Santa when Bud chimed in, "There is no Santa".

Wow, that set Little Jon off. Pretty soon I had a screaming match between all three boys.

"There is no Santa!"

"Yes there is!"

"You're on Santa's naughty list!"

I had to quiet them before someone ended up in tears.

I guess for the next couple days any time Little Jon would do something bad he'd look at his mom and ask, "Does that mean I have to be on the naughty list with Bud?"

We have taught our kids that there is not a real Santa, but that each of us can be Santa for someone in need.

We wanted our kids to focus on the true reason for Christmas and that is Jesus' birth. This Christmas we are actually focusing our gift giving around Christ.

We frames some beautiful pictures from Greg Olsen and Simon Dewey for the kids bedrooms. We bought them each a CD player and some Primary song CD's. For the girls we got them a bit older music. They all got brand new church cloths and games that center around the gospel.

On Monday we are getting together with some families and doing a Secret Santa ding dong ditch for a family in our ward who have been out of work for awhile.

We've done the Secret Santa for the past three years and we've really enjoyed it. We like to tape our delivery so we can watch and laugh later. One year Big D hid inside a big box on the porch when he rang the door bell. When the family got close to the box to check it out he jumped up and bounced off the railing as he ran away. We love to talk about that and laugh.

I pray our kids grow up loving Christmas for the real reason. We worry that by telling them there isn't really a Santa that we are depriving them of the holiday magic. I just pray they feel of that magic in other ways.

I personally feel that one doesn't truly experience the real magic of Christmas until they have children to share it with. They are so magical!