The Holidays are upon us

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I was able to take a week of vacation during the Thanksgiving holiday so I worked on getting my house in order for Alan's parents coming to visit from Florida. We were fortunate enough to spend the holiday with my family for lunch and his for dinner. I have so much to be thankful for and definitely spent the day with those I am most thankful for!!

Of course, 3 am the next morning I was out finding those Black Friday bargains with Melanie, Angela, and Samantha (Mel's sil). By 11 I was so tired and had to call it quits!! Although I was able to get the majority of my shopping completed in a mere 8 hours! Gotta few more gifts to buy for my parents and Alan and I will be done!!

Speaking of presents....

I decided the "best" place to hide Santa was in my closet...WRONG!! Let's take it back to last week....

Morgan and Hannah has this HUGE list of presents they want Santa to bring them, so we decided to write a letter to Santa I would mail it for them. The lists start and may I add it took up the entire front and back of the paper!! Most of the things Santa already knew, but there were a few things on there that were surprising...Morgan: horse, guitar, and a diary with a lock and key so no one can read her "secrets"!!...Hannah: monkey, real airplane she can fly, and shoes (of all things a kid would want, shoes??)

So I "mailed" the letters...Well....on to the exciting part....Santa has been EXPOSED!! Apparently the girls have been snooping around in my closet because Morgan told Alan her "secret" yesterday! Mommy bought the presents and has to send them to Santa....and she even asked me last night if she could play with one of them before I sent them to Santa to make sure that's what she wanted Santa to bring her!!!! I AM SHOCKED!! The mind of a 5 year old!!

So what age do kids "stop believing in Santa"?? I am trying to think back to when I was a child but as far back as I can remember I always knew where the presents came from. But now I am in a pickle...Do I play along and yes mommy and daddy buy the presents and send them to Santa or No, those aren't Christmas presents for you, Santa brings his own presents, or tell them that the real meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with a man that lives in the North Pole who sneaks down your chimney on Christmas Eve after you have gone to sleep to leave you gifts he "knows" you want because he "knows" if you have been bad or good all year long???

Is it wrong to not want to play along with the story of Santa? Is it robbing them of the youthful experience of believing in Santa? We have taught the children that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ but I just don't know how to explain how "Santa" comes to play in all of this??!! My children are finally getting to an age where I will have to do some explaining and I guess the time has come sooner than I expected!! I have a lot of thinking to do!! Any suggestions on how and when Santa was exposed in your home??