Dingle Bell

It's Cally's favorite Christmas carol and she sings it practically all the time.  In fact, last night at dinner, she was already singing Dingle Bell when it came on the sound system at the restaurant.  She squealed in recognition.

 Cally sings Dingle Bell

Last week when we decorated our tree, she couldn't stop bouncing or bopping.  It was fun to watch her getting so excited.  I tried to get her to be a little more gentle on our decorations, but it was a futile effort.  Really, there's not much she can do to the decorations because they're kid friendly and deliberately placed at her level so she can enjoy them, which is what we want her to do anyhow. Looking with your eyes, something all the others did reasonably well, is really hard for Cally to do.

Our bouncy Cally

Amidst all this excitement that Christmas is coming, my big boy told me something last night that I've been worried he'd figure out sooner or later.  I brushed it off to downplay it, in hopes he'd forget (and Ella was standing close), but this morning I got in his bed to snuggle him and ask him why he'd said it.  With a few tears in his eyes, he explained that because he's getting older, he just realized things about the handwriting on Santa's letters, etc.  I asked him if he'd heard anything from school, but he didn't really say.  Maybe he didn't want to tell me.  I don't know.

All I could say to him was what I already believe about Christmas.  If we believe in the magic and the spirit of Christmas, then the idea of Santa Claus will always exist.  He's real if we believe in him.  I really believe that, even at 37, and I told him so.  I didn't want to go on too long, and he seemed comforted, a little.

Then I went back to my own bed and cried a little, too.