Santa Didn't Come to Our House

When Karis was an infant, Derek and I briefly talked about how we would approach Santa with the kids. We decided that we wouldn't indulge our kids with Santa but tell them that he is just a part of Christmas but it's all about Jesus' birthday... something like that. As Christmas approached this year, all of the kids shows on TV were about Santa Claus. I had a feeling that Karis was learning more about Santa than I would have liked. I asked her who Santa was and she seemed disinterested and said, "I don't know" (but from the picture above, she clearly knew more than she was letting on). I knew preschool wouldn't make a big deal of Santa since it's a Christian preschool and she's been coming home with pictures of baby Jesus and wise men.  I thought we were in the clear.

Karis came home one day from preschool with a little craft activity that said, "All I want for Christmas is..."  Her teacher wrote in "a teddy bear" for her. After talking with Karis, she confirmed that that's what she wanted for Christmas. When we went to take photos with Santa, I was giving her ideas of what she could talk to Santa about. I told her to tell him that she wants a teddy bear. And so she did. 

I went to the toy store and bought a teddy bear. It was a gift from my sister to Karis. I thought for sure it would be the biggest hit of all the gifts she received. When Karis opened it on Christmas day, her eyes got real big and she said, "It's from Santa!" I quickly corrected her and said, "No, it's from Patty Emo. Santa told Patty that that's what you wanted."

Later that morning, as the girls were playing outside in the snow, Karis ran over to our next door neighbor and told her, "Santa didn't come to my house." Our neighbor gave Derek a look, feeling sorry for our child. 

Karis is still sad that Santa didn't bring her a present. She wanted a teddy bear from Santa. She gets sad when I tell her Christmas is over. She doesn't want me to take our tree down. 

I feel like I blew it! I don't want Christmas to be all about Santa but it is fun to see the wonderment of Santa in the kids. We'll have to be more prepared next year and have a different game plan ...