Christmas in Helen, GA

We spent Christmas (I know, it was 2 months ago already) in Helen, Ga. It's a quaint little Bavarian-themed town in the mountains. We were hoping for snow, but that didn't happen (at least not until later).

We had a fun week away exploring a new-to-us area.

Night-time mini golf with Christmas lights/decorations all around

We did some geocaching in the surrounding area

Had to visit Babyland, home of the Cabbage Patch Kids!

And Kayla used some Christmas money to adopt her very own Cabbage Patch Kid. 

Sharing a Bavarian pretzel

A nice hike to the twin Anna Ruby Falls

Santa Has Left the Building

Christmas 2016 turned out to be the last year that Santa was alive and well in this household ... although that was fading fast and had been for the past couple of years. He made a last-ditch effort, but it didn't work. The gig is up. So long, Santa.

Lucas has been questioning the realness of Santa for a few years, but I've somehow been able to avoid giving him a direct answer.

He knew, early on, there was no Easter Bunny. We didn't hype it up that much anyway, so when he asked if the Easter Bunny was real I asked him, "What do you think? Do you think there is a giant Easter Bunny that hops around on Easter delivering baskets to kids all over?" He laughed and said, "No, I don't think there is an Easter Bunny who can do that."

Somehow that didn't quite transfer over to a non-belief of one jolly old man in a red suit flying around on a sleigh with reindeer delivering gifts to kids all over; but I think it probably planted the seed.

Next up on the list was the tooth fairy. We went round and round on discussions about that - but he still had lots of teeth left to lose and I wasn't ready to give up the fun of finding a dollar under your pillow from the tooth fairy - so I held out on a straight forward answer to that one, too. Eventually he wore me down and I came out to him as the tooth fairy. But not before he wrapped his tooth up in a tissue with a heavy bolt and concocted some kind of device where it was all tied up around his finger so he would feel the pull and wake up and catch the tooth fairy - or me - in the act. It didn't work as I'm a parent and was able to stealthily untie and unwind the trap and switch out the tooth for the money.

We never did the Elf on a Shelf, so I didn't have to worry about that. Although in Kindergarten he did ask why we didn't have one that visited our house.

He started questioning about Santa a few years ago when we were at 3 events in one day where Santa was present. He questioned the subtle differences in the costume - all black belt vs black and gold belt etc. We told him that the Santas he sees out and about at events and parties aren't the 'real' Santa, but helpers. He bought that, but it was a little sad that there wouldn't be any more child-like wonder in his eyes at sitting on Santa's lap.

He kept coming up with ideas on how he was going to figure out if Santa was real ...staying up all night long, (I remember my own determination in attempting to do that one year as I sat watching out my bedroom window until I eventually fell asleep), not telling us everything that was on the list he wrote to Santa, noticing the wrapping paper in the closet was the same as the one Santa used last year (oops!).

Last year after he read the note Santa left thanking them for the cookies he ran upstairs with the note to compare it to a note I had written him. He came back downstairs saying, "Ok, but I'm still not all the way convinced."

This year someone had given him reindeer food and he had some idea about how he was going to sprinkle it on the lawn and be able to tell if they had eaten any of it. He also said he wasn't sure he wanted to leave any cookies out because if there wasn't a Santa that meant "you and dad get to eat all the cookies!"

Several times leading up to Christmas he wanted to know if Santa was real, but I wanted one more Christmas to play along ... and I think as much as he wanted to know, he also wanted to play along and believe for one more year, too. I've read him the "Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus" letter (and we have the animated DVD of this), I've told him about the spirit of Christmas and the joy of giving etc ... but I know that wasn't what he was asking about. He wanted to know specifically about the myth of the man flying around in a sleigh with reindeer.

I said, "If you believe you'll receive." He said, "I've heard that saying before."

So why don't you believe? Lucas, "I don't want to believe in something if it's not true."

I asked him why he couldn't just believe on faith, why question it? His answer blew me away. He thinks too much!

"I'm afraid if I believe there is a Santa, and there really isn't a Santa, when I'm adult and have kids, my kids won't get anything."

Me, "What in the world are you talking about?"

Him, "When I'm an adult what if I believe there is a Santa, but there really isn't, but I believe there is, but because there isn't my kids won't get any gifts?"

Me, "I don't fully understand - your gifts don't all come from Santa, they come from your parents, your sister, your grandparents."

Him, "Yeah, but what if I believe there is a Santa so I don't go buy any gifts that are "from Santa" for my kids, because I think Santa is real, but what if he's not? Then my kids won't get any gifts that are 'from Santa' because I didn't go buy the gifts."

Oh. My. Word. I can't keep up with the pace of his analytical brain. Seriously, what 8 year old thinks about their adult self as a father and worried about not keeping up the ruse of Santa for their own kids because they still believe in Santa?!

 I think he wanted to know, but I also think this was one of those times where you shouldn't ask the question if you don't want the answer. I didn't want to spoil it right before Christmas. He also kept saying he had some ideas on how he was going to find out if Santa was real, and I didn't want to interfere with his plans.

So Christmas morning came and after the excitement died down Lucas said he didn't think Santa was real. His reasoning?

- The gifts that were from "Santa" have "Made in China" on them
- The metal detector from "Santa" is the exact same one he had saved on the computer

I still laughed it off and wouldn't cop to it. But a little while later as I was sitting next to him as he played with kinetic sand, he asked, in a quiet and serious voice, "So is Santa real?"

I grabbed my laptop and pulled up a website on St Nicholas and read him his story and how that led to the various Santa figures throughout the world. And I finally said those words, "So no, there really isn't one person who flies around the world on a sleigh delivering gifts."

I asked him how he felt, and if he was ok with there not really being a Santa.

"Yeah, because I thought there was something fishy about it anyway."

Made In China

(An update on the missing Christmas gift - I found it!)

The day after Christmas we took a trip to ride the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad's Polar Express train ride. The kids got the movie for Christmas and watched it on the way to NC.

They really enjoyed the train ride: hot chocolate and a cookie (kudos to the GSMR for keeping Lucy's gluten free cookies in stock!), dancing chefs, the story, singing carols, and a quick trip through the train by Santa handing out silver bells.

The other day we were talking about the train ride and Kayla mentioned getting the bell. The following conversation occurred:

Lucas, "It wasn't a real bell though."
Me, "Why do you say it wasn't a real bell? You heard it chime, didn't you? It's real."
Lucas, "It's a real bell, but it's not a real bell from Santa's sleigh."
Me, "Why don't you think it's a bell from his sleigh? Is it because in the movie he only gave out one and on the train there were enough for all the kids?"
Lucas, "No, because there is more than one bell on Santa's sleigh."
Me, "So how come you don't think it's from his sleigh?"
Lucas, "Because it says "MADE IN CHINA" on the bell!

Oh.

Well I can't argue with that!

The Missing Christmas Present

I bought Kayla this Nutcracker CD for Christmas. She has enjoyed seeing the Nutcracker ballet the past couple of years and I thought she would enjoy listening to this CD; especially at night. She wants to have music on her CD player when she goes to bed, but I tell her that the pop songs aren't good for falling asleep to, that she needs something a little more soothing ... and I was so looking forward to her reaction on opening this CD.

And now it's gone missing.

It isn't a case of me hiding the CD somewhere and then forgetting where I hid it.

It's just ... gone.

I know it arrived in a box from Amazon with several other gifts. I brought all boxes and bags of gifts to our spare bedroom to hide and wrap gifts. I only started wrapping gifts the week of Christmas and this was a late order - it arrived early last week.

I specifically remember seeing the CD in the box it arrived in; I remember it sitting on the bed with a few other smaller gifts to be wrapped.

On the 23rd I brought all the bags and boxes of wrapped gifts downstairs to my room and as I was packing them up I realized I only had one wrapped gift that was obviously a CD (which was another one for Kayla); I couldn't remember wrapping the Nutcracker CD at all, but also didn't know where it was.

 I didn't take anything out of the room until the 23rd. I don't think it got mixed up with bags of trash because I brought the bags downstairs and went through them before putting in the trash. I searched all the boxes I broke down and put in the recycling bin.

I've looked "everywhere" that I can think to look in the spare room where everything was - in and under the bed, in the closet etc. It's just gone. I have no idea what I did with it, or how it got mixed up with something else. I'm starting to think that it did get thrown away, but I just don't know how that might have happened when I checked the bags I was putting trash in.

So frustrating and perplexing to just have it disappear!

Have you ever lost a gift you bought, not just couldn't find where you hid it, but never found out what happened to it?

I'm still hoping it'll turn up, but I don't know where else to look.

    

Christmas Gift Ideas

I have such a hard time figuring out what to get my kids for Christmas. While I wouldn't say they are spoiled (they don't have all the latest electronic gadgets ... I have a Kindle that they can use and they share an old Ipod Touch that Joe's mom handed down to us, but they don't use either on a regular, daily basis), they do have plenty.

I have a closet full of toys that I need to purge from the house. They have books, puzzles, train table, Barbies, doll house, cars, balls, different kinds of building blocks, kitchen set with food that they still use, board games, dress up clothes, etc.

They don't ask for much either, so there isn't much that they say the want. Although several months ago Lucas was with me at Staples and saw the display of the "Easy" buttons. For some reason he thought pushing it and hearing "That was easy!" was the neatest thing. He's actually asked for that for Christmas. "I want the "that was easy!" button!" Well, ... that was easy! I haven't actually bought it yet; I'm not sure if my sanity can take hearing that going all day. But he has consistently mentioned it when talking about Christmas.

Kayla is getting the Our Generation Doll - Daisy mostly because I thought it looked like her with the longer blond hair and the glasses.  I think she will be excited to see a doll with glasses. I wasn't sure at first about getting this for her because she's 10 ... and I just didn't know if 10 year olds play with dolls anymore. But I put it out there on FB and it was an overwhelming "yes!" and there are several 9 and 10 year olds who are getting these type of dolls for Christmas. I think this will be a hit with Kayla.

Lucas recently went to a LEGO birthday party and received a little kit in his goody bag. He doesn't have any LEGOS, yet. Mostly because I knew it would (will) drive me crazy because they will end up all over the floor. But he has been having fun with this little kit, so I finally decided to get him a set. He also recently started asking about magic kits so he'll be getting one of those too.

If you're still looking for some ideas too I've recently blogged about the Switch and Go Dino, Boogie Board, Ziggle, uKloo, and We Sing 80s. Another idea for a stocking stuffer is this game called Tenzi. This is such a fun and easy game for the whole family to play. This is also helping Kayla with some of her vision exercises as she has to use her eyes together to quickly scan all of her dice looking for a specific number. There are multiple variations of play so you can change things up. This has been a big hit with our family.

What gifts are your kids getting? I know there are lots of ideas out there that I haven't thought of yet, and products I don't know about. So, please share!

All Dressed Up

A couple of months ago I found this dress, (and the shirt/tie Lucas is wearing) at a used children's clothing store. I couldn't resist buying them knowing Kayla would love wearing this dress for the local Down syndrome association's Christmas party.

Thankfully it fit, and looked great on her ... now if only she had somewhere else to wear it!





Lucas danced with C almost the whole time! They were so cute together. I asked him if he had fun dancing with her and he said, "I certainly did!"
 

And at least one dance with his sister...

 

Last Christmas

Last year for Christmas we went to Florida to see my dad. At this point we knew the cancer was back but he was about to switch to another type of chemo. At that time the cancer was in his liver, and eventually spread to his lungs.

Of course I had no idea that last Christmas was going to be my dad's last Christmas. I am so thankful that we made the trip there to spend the holidays with him. Wonderful, poignant, and heartbreaking memories to know that was the last time we would spend Christmas with my dad.

This year found us in Florida, again, right before Christmas. A gift to myself was going to see the New England Patriots play the Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm a huge Patriots fan, and with Jacksonville being about 3.5 hrs away (on a good day traveling on 95S!) and with the game being on Dec 23rd, this was something I didn't want to pass up.

I thought about my dad a lot on that quick overnight trip to FL. He lived about 2 hrs from Jacksonville. If he was still here he would have met us in Jacksonville and gone to the game with us ... being a Patriots fan himself...and me getting my love of sports from him.

I know his spirit was with us though as we enjoyed the experience of being at an NFL game....there were times I felt (or maybe it was wishful thinking) as if he were right there in the stands with us cheering on the Patriots.

Arriving at the stadium:
 

Ready for the game to start


Patriots won!


 

'Tis The Season...

For plenty of opportunities to see Santa!

Although I think Lucas has started to catch on that the Santas we see aren't the 'real' Santas. I was looking at a picture of a friend's child with Santa and Lucas asked, "Is that the real Santa? He doesn't really look like Santa, he looks funny. Did he cut his hair?"

I dropped the kids off at respite on Sat morning and they had a visit from Santa. When I was looking at their pictures with Santa, Lucas said, "I don't think that's the real Santa. I think it's someone in a costume. Is it someone in a costume?"

At least he still believes, for now, that there is a 'real' Santa!

Kayla looks like she's getting too big and grown to sit on his lap much longer! Santa from respite:
Family Connection party at the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry: Breakfast with Santa at the Youth Center on base I love this one of them! At the Miracle League party:
 

Special Exposure Wednesday

Visiting with Santa! The first picture was at the Children's Museum, hence why she is in a princess dress-up dress. That's the first thing she does when we go to the museum!

At the Summerville Miracle League party

and Lucas too, of course!