Thursday, December 24, 2009

the big eve

So here it is, Christmas Eve day. One of the most anticipated days of the year for those under the age of... 20? Well, Raine, at least, has been looking forward to Christmas Eve for a while, now. Of course we have some anxiety... Will Santa find her here in NC? (some of her gifts are here, but her bike stayed in NM) Will she get what she has asked for? (the jury is still out on this one...)

Last year, her most asked for toy was Spike the dinosaur, a huge rc dinosaur (costing $130 or so) that we figured she would play with for a couple of hours, then would take up space in her already crowded bedroom. She didn't get him, and she seemed really happy with the gifts she did get. This year, much to my surprise, the only item on her list to Santa was... Spike. Now, not only do the previous considerations still apply, but she is also a year older, and Spike is really getting out of her age range. BUT he is what she is asking for. The parents' dilemma once again.

Santa will not be leaving Spike under the tree, but I think he will be leaving Raine a note. She plays and plays with her bionicles, so, she will get to see an equivalent amount of bionicles and get to choose between them. Then - whatever she chooses - it IS her choice, and she should be happy with it.

Still, I keep thinking of the Christmas that I got what I really, really wanted, and yet, it was one of the most disappointing Christmas gifts ever... Is this when she's going to learn the lesson of being careful what you wish for?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Santa's pretty smart, so I'm sure he can find Raine, no problem.

However there are times when some pseudo-Santas aren't. A guy Lillian knows in Australia took his young daughter to a mall Santa, and Santa promised the girl that she'd get whatever it was she was asking for, which was very expensive and so not gonna happen.

So there was massive disappointment and heartbreak and confusion when Christmas Day came (as it already has there) and Lillian's friend is angry at the mall Santa for having made a promise Dad couldn't keep, thereby breaking his daughter's heart.

So there's a lesson to be learned, I suspect. Mall Santas aren't the real deal, and can't really speak for the Big Guy.

But how do you explain that to a child?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Dina said...

Yeah. I'm glad that what Raine wants isn't out of the question, either way... well, except for the fact that she wants almost everything she sees. Remember the days of looking through the Christmas catalogues and thinking how conservative you were picking only one toy on each page? Yeah. Me too...

Unknown said...

Are you kidding? Lillian and I still go through catalogues and pick out one thing we'd love to have. It's grand fun!

I'm glad you guys are having fun in NC! Be sure to take lots of pictures. I know I'm not the only one who'd be perfectly pleased with a couple of blogs that were just pictures with captions!

Living vicariously, that's me.

(I love the fact that my spam-word is "worstest"!)