So Be Good for Goodness Sake

I've never used Santa Claus in parenting before, so I don't really know why I said it. I mean, we've just let the kids believe for as long as they want but have never, aside from the whole sitting in a lap and taking a picture thing, really encouraged or discouraged the whole idea. That is, until this week when evil took hold of me. Abby, our lone remaining believer in the jolly round guy, had been exhibiting quite a bit of what we affectionately call, "Abbitude". We were in the car, where all noises (especially whining) are magnified a hundred-fold. Anyway, I'd had enough. After all, we were already 5 whole days into Christmas break. Who can blame me? So I casually said something to the effect of, "Abby, Santa probably isn't even going to bring you anything because of all that complaining." Then I looked in the rearview mirror and saw crocodile tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, eyes turning red, and a bottom lip that was about to touch the floor board. Man. Well, I tried to patch that up but it only held for a little while because she broke down AGAIN at dinner. Clay said something about her needing to stop doing something, and there came the tears again. I asked her what was wrong and she barely choked out the words, "I don't want Santa Claus to bring me coral!"
"Coral?" I asked.
"Yes! (sobbing) That's what Santa brings to kids who are bad!"
It's so hard not to laugh in times like these. But it was no laughing matter to her. In fact, it took about 10 full minutes for C to console her and another five to explain that coral would actually be a nice gift. In the words of Junie B. Jones, wowie wow wow.

Book Review: Thanks to VB's recommendation, we've been reading the advent story, "Jotham's Journey" together since Thanksgiving. We've all loved it, so I'm suggesting it to everyone with elementary-aged or older kids to read in future years. Good stuff.