Business

One of the things I've had to learn as a parent of two is that, if you want to maintain the Santa Claus fantasy, you cannot let the kids see anybody's Christmas presents. I mean, if Joshua saw Caleb's loot pre-December 25, he would know Santa didn't bring it. This has made life interesting in the Jennings house.

Matt and I have learned to talk in code about anything Christmas related. For starters, we don't say "Christmas", we say "December 25th" or "The 25th". We spell things, refer to things as "the thing we talked about before", etc.

So, yesterday while Joshua was at school I did some shopping for "The 25th". I very strategically placed the bag in the very back of our CR-V with Caleb's gift on top so that Joshua at least could not see his own. Then, I asked Matt to try to get it out before we got home from church last night. Matt remembered it at about 10:00, so we just decided to leave it until later. (To be fair, we have about 2,862 things to remember on a typical Wednesday night, and last night we had to do the Alpha Bucket (see previous post) so that made 2,863. It's not surprising that something was overlooked.)

This morning while we were waiting in carpool, Joshua noticed the bag. He said, "MOMMY! THERE IS SOMETHING BACK THERE FOR CAWEB!" (L's are pronounced as W's) I tried to ignore him. "MOMMY! THERE IS A TOY BACK THERE FOR CAWEB!" Me: Joshua, that is none of your business. "WELL, THEN WHO'S BUSINESS IS IT?! IT MUST BE SOMEBODY'S BUSINESS!" Me: It doesn't matter, because it's none of your business. "Well, it is Caweb's business. And it's your business. So, Caweb can't ask, so I am." Me: Well, I'm not answering, and I don't want to hear anymore about it. It is NOT your business.

I think life would be easier if Santa was real. Just sayin'.