Conversations from the Minivan: Christmas in July

Rachel had gymnastics class this evening.  Megan and Emily were forced to tag along a wait around for the hour that Rachel spent flipping, climbing, and twirling.  Megan, in particular, was not happy about this situation.  She spent the entire hour complaining, whining, and being told to get off the table, etc.  When class was finally over, I took them to a little diner nearby for supper.  Megan's mood finally lightened, but then, of course, Rachel became a pitiful young lady with a new orthodontic spacer (put in yesterday) that was making her mouth so sore she could barely eat or drink anything.  (Ironically, it hadn't bothered her all day up until that point.)  Needless to say, by the time dinner was over and we headed home I was completely out of patience.  Then, as kids often do, my girls unintentionally brought me back to the lighter side of life as we drove home.  I have absolutely no idea what sparked this conversation, but what better way to re-insert a little joy into the day than having a discussion about Santa???  In July.  It went pretty much like this. . . .


Emily: Mommy, does Santa really watch us all the time?


Me:  Yes he does!  All the time!!


Megan:  You know what I think?  I think Santa sends his elves out and they disguise themselves so they can watch you and you don't even know they are watching.  Like that bush over there - maybe that's an elf.


Me:  That's an interesting idea.


Megan:  Yeah, they can be anything!  That car might be an elf.  That tree might be an elf.  That sign might be an elf.


Rachel (valiantly trying to play along):  No.  I think that they have hidden cameras all over the world and they are all sitting in the North Pole watching all the children all the time on giant TV screens.


Megan:  Seriously, Rachel?!  That's just crazy!


Me: (NOT out loud) and thinking that every bush, tree, or other object you see might be an elf isn't crazy?!?!?

They talked about something else for a few minutes and them came back around to the Christmas/Santa topic as we passed a man who was mowing his grass rather close to the road.  Megan called out "Watch out, old man!"


Me:  Megan, that is not very polite.  You shouldn't call people old.


Megan:  Well, he was old.


Me:  Well, maybe he was really an elf and you just offended him!


Hysterical laughing . . . . 


Rachel:  Why is the tradition that we always give Santa cookies and milk?


Me:  I don't know where that started.  One year, when you were about 3, you decided to leave him a banana instead of cookies!


They laughed bunches at that  - which is absolutely true.


Megan: Did he eat the banana Rachel left him?


Me:  Yep - he sure did!


Emily:  You know what I want Santa to bring me when it's Christmas?  A violin.  I want to play a violin.


Megan:  Yeah!  That's a great idea.  I can get one, too, and we can play together.


Me: (again, NOT out loud) two violins???  You have got to be kidding!!!


Like I said, there's nothing quite like a little jovial Christmas in July discussion to brighten the evening!!  Sometimes, these girls drive me crazy, but they also make me smile and I sure do love them!!!