It was soo freeing this year, to see Santa at the store or in a movie and not have to worry about my four year old thinking he was the real Santa. It was so freeing to be able to talk about it, about how it was a story, like Batman, to answer questions with the full truth when they were asked. Also, they all knew that I was the stocking stuffer, which we kept because that tradition does relate directly to Saint Nicholas and well, I like the stockings. But next year I’m going to stuff them with more “needed” things because Saint Nicholas gave things that were needed – food, dowries, etc. Good stuffers would be things like pens and pencils, a watch, belts or pretty scarves, etc. I usually stuff mine and James’ too, and I’ve always done stuff like that for ours. I’ve gotten new makeup or new kitchen spatulas if those were what I needed.

Anyway, it went well, and I think next year will be even better, with us being at home and being able to have a more normal Christmas morning. I’m hoping to also start a new “tradition” of opening gifts one at a time instead of having an opening frenzy. I’d like to be able to pay more attention to who’s getting what and who it was from and make sure that person gets thanked, etc. The happy by-product of a tradition like that is that it puts even more emphasis on the giving of the gift instead of just focusing on finding out what’s inside of it.