When Is the Santa Jig Up?

I live in fear of my kids finding out the real deal about Santa. I know a family who never did the Santa thing with their oldest kid, but now they ARE doing it with their 3-year-old. I know a man who told his son the real deal about Santa WITHOUT discussing it with his wife first! We’ve always tried to do the Santa thing, and it is exhausting.

SHOPPING
Ever try to shop for your kids when your husband is out of town or working all the time? I used to be able to sneak stuff in the cart under my coat, but Security always looked at me funny. Most of the time I have to run out with only a baby in tow while my mom looks after the kids. Without my mom, I swear there would be no Christmas at my house some years.

After Eva was born I had to go to Toys R Us … Sweet Baby Jesus!!! I took Callie because she was still attached to me and didn’t grasp the concept of Christmas yet, and I took Eva because she was nursing. Yeah, NURSING. As in, (make sure you get the visual on this one) I’m walking through the Toys R Us pushing Callie in a cart full of stuff, holding a list to make sure I get the right stuff, navigating through throngs of stupid people acting like they’ve never seen a damn toy before, and I’m NURSING the baby one-armed while trying not to show too much of my back fat (never mind my boob … back fat is way more embarrassing).

STORING
My house is not a mansion. And I have kids who love to play hide and seek. Whatever will fit on top of our commercial freezer in the basement gets stuck there. The rest … well, I’d have to refer you to my husband on that one because I don’t know.

Mom, where did you hide my gifts? And tell the nice people in Blog World about that concept of non-instant gratification called LAYAWAY!

Tomorrow we’ll discuss the wrapping of said gifts.