No More Santa

Ugh. Just as I was mourning Zachary growing up so fast, Karsten joined.

I knew it was bugging Zachary that Karsten wasn't "on board" with this whole Santa isn't real news that he discovered.

Karsten piped up, as we were sitting around relaxing, "Is Santa real?"

As I did with Zachary, I proceeded the same way, "Do you think he's real?"

"I don't know! Just tell me!" he answered.

Zachary came in and offered, "Can I tell him?"

"No," I said. "What do you think?" I inquired of Karsten.

"I think he's real. But I want to know if he is," he replied.

Zachary couldn't stand it anymore. "He's not real! Mom and dad put the presents under the tree and they put stuff in our stockings!"

"Is that true?" Karsten asked.

"Yup,"I reply, watching his face.

"I'm glad you told me," he said smiling.

"You're not sad?" I asked.

"No," he says so matter-of-fact.

"So...." Zachary explains, "don't tell Santa what you want, tell mom!"

"How did you get all of the presents so quick?" Karsten asks puzzled.

"We hid them," I explain.

As if he really understood how it all worked now, he turned to me first and said, "Thanks for the presents mom!" Then, he turned to Jason and says, "Thanks for all of those presents dad...Santa!"

I told them that even though they know that Santa isn't real, there would still be presents under the tree in the morning and things in their stockings. As I did with Zachary, we talked about what Christmas was about. We've always told the kids about the meaning of Christmas but maybe it's just as well that they know the "truth." Still, I feel like our little boys are growing up too fast.