My daughter Jenna asked me... "Mom, if you don't believe in Santa, will you receive gifts?" I'm thinking to myself….oh here we go, now how am I suppose to answer this one? I hate these kind of questions where I am caught off guard! I try to stall with my reply so I can think of something crafty to say, and therefore I answer a question with a question, so I have some extra time to think. I said, "Well, honey, what makes you ask this question?" She says, "well, a boy in class said that Santa is not real". When I heard that statement, the protective Mom instincts in me brought on a sudden surge of feelings...like a big protective panic, and felt my blood pressure rising! I'm not saying it out loud, but I am thinking to myself, and saying in my mind that I would like to go find that little boy and give him a wet noodle lashing for attempting to ruin my little ones fantasy and for putting me in a bind. I finally re-gain my composure and I say to Jenna, "Well, mommy believes in Santa". Jenna quickly piped in, "Well, I believe in Santa too!" I said, "Well, then I guess that little boy won't be getting anything from Santa, hey?" She nodded in agreement. Just when I thought the questions were done, all of a sudden I get another question bomb! "Mom, is the Devil's birthday on Halloween?" Oh my, now how in the heck do I answer this one??? Hoping that this is the last challenging question for the evening, I always try to figure out the core of the question before I jump in with an answer, plus then I have a buffer zone of time with how to come up with an answer. I ask her, "Okay, let me guess….this question has to do with the little boy in your class, right?". She says, " yeah, he says that Halloween is the Devil's birthday, so is he telling the truth Mom?" I'm thinking….okay so, the boy does not believe in Santa, but he obviously believes in the Devil, and that the Devil has a birthday on Halloween? My, oh my….. well, well, well, GO FIGURE! I've got a new name for this little boy, "Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge!" I guess we know where his priorities lie. Bah humbug for raining on our parade, Ebenezer, who is disguised in children's clothing!
Don't base your decisions on the advice of people who don't have to deal with the results.
