one lousy santa.

I have fond memories of "Santa" from my childhood.

We never really went to see Santa at the Mall.

{Which is why I have yet to take Carly either of her Christmas's}

I think I always knew that Santa was fake.

The real Santa was way to busy to be hanging out at the Pine Ridge Mall.

~

But I did believe.

And we had such fun Santa traditions that are important to us even now.

Every Christmas Eve, we make a sign with our name on it.

Then we each get a square on the couch or a chair and put our name sign on it.

That way Santa knows where to put our presents.

This is important, because Santa doesn't wrap his presents.

So its good not to get mixed up.

~

Then on Christmas morning, my brothers and I would stand at the top (or bottom, depending on the house) of the stairs and yell "Mom! Dad! Can we come down yet?!". And every year, even now, they say "Oh, Santa didn't come this year. Better go back to bed!" And we would laugh and moan and say "Yes he did!"

And he always, always did.

We were lucky that way.

~

Carly is still fairly unaware of what Christmas really is.

She loves the lights and the music.

And the "teee".

But she doesn't get presents or Santa.

And she's not quite old enough to understand the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior.

But those childhood memories and traditions have made me realize this year the importance of a parents' role as . . . Santa Claus.

And I totally failed my first go around.

~

Chris's mom and I have been looking for a little softy chair for Santa to bring for Carly.

I finally settled on one, and I thought she was going to buy it and bring it when we all met up in Chicago.

I didn't get the memo she was going to have it shipped to us.

Also I thought she was going to buy it from a specific store.

But she got it at Amazon.com.

So this big box comes from Amazon and I can't figure out what it is.

"Look Carly a box!" I say.

She loves boxes, and knows the insides always contain something for her.

I open the box.

She pulls out her chair from Santa.

Oops.

She loves it right away, but its supposed to be from Santa so I try to take it away. And she starts screaming and reaching for it.

So I caved and Santa came early for Carly.

I am one lousy Santa.

But she sure does like her little chair.

And she looks really cute in it.

I will have to step up my game next year, when she might actually get it.

~

~

 PS. Oh, and in case you are dying of curiosity: