Why do I bother?

As has become a tradition in our family, we celebrated Christmas (ie. opened presents) a few days before Christmas as we'd be away. This was the first year they seem to understand and believe in Santa so there was some debate about how to handle that. My husband, the Christmas obsessed non-religious half barely gives a thought to Santa, while I, the Jew making up for lost time, have gone a bit overboard, while still not fully committing to the lie. I'll ask things like "Who is Santa?" to my three year old and "Do you think he'll come to Oregon or drop the gifts at our house?" while threatening them with no gifts if they aren't good. Like a bad lawyer, I really don't know what answer they will give. Since they said he'd come to CA, and I, fantasizing about their walking into gifts under the tree that "Santa" left (while knowing they'll just whine it's not a video game), snuck a couple gifts after we'd got the kids in the car.

But then they said he was going to find us in Oregon, so we (okay I) actually got this sneaky plan together which entailed me walking a mile in the snow after breakfast (hee hee, it was fine), buying gifts en route at Radio Shack and the Dollar Tree, sneaking them into the car and then out later. We even talked about leaving cookies. The kids abruptly fell asleep so we left some cookies and milk, the gifts, and a tiny decorative tree (yes, $1) in front of the fireplace.

The next morning I actually woke up early, obsessively worried about my younger son (who always wakes up at some ungodly hour) spoiling the surprise for the older one, who sleeps late, of course, now that he's started kindergarten and actually has to be somewhere on time. So 6am rolls around, and my little guy, bless his heart, asks me to read him a book so he can go back to sleep so Santa will come (he thought it was the middle of the night and has never ever done this). We read but finally he must go downstairs to watch TV. He walks over and grabs the little tree and moves it to a more "appropriate" location. That's it. No mention of the gifts, the cookies, Santa, etc. I asked him who he thought ate the cookies? "Keegan?"

So hell, we watch Lady and the Tramp II for the umpteenth time, then Keegan wanders down, sits in front of the TV and starts watching . Egads, what is wrong with these kids? Finally, finally, they notice the presents. Confusion arises as there are no presents for mom or dad ("Santa brings presents for everyone"), but of course the gifts themselves overshadow that conundrum. I now worry what will happen tomorrow, when they find more gifts. Who could they be from?

If anyone who actually knows me IRL and is on our card list reads this, they are coming, really, in the new year. I swear. In the meantime, though, we've gone green (lazy, cheap, whatever you want to call it) and have posted the Annual Pelton Holiday Letter online. It's written by my husband, always good for a few laughs.