Cookies for Santa

I know that Christmas is so over, but I have had this incident in my head for weeks now and am feeling the need to document it. It is classic, and frankly I am 100% certain that a year from now I will have no recollection of it whatsoever.

I will be the first to admit that I have never made a big deal out of Santa Clause. Sure I will say things like "Get in bed so Santa will come," or "What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?" But I have never been one to put Santa's name on a present or leave one unwrapped present under the tree for Santa.

So, it is probably no surprize that my kids get confused quickly about Santa. This year Hannah, who is 6, was uncommonly distressed over the Santa Clause issue. She constantly asks me questions like "Is Santa really real?" to which I intelligently give her vague answers like "Well, what do you think?"

Since I was clearly not giving her much to go on she decided to take matters into her own hands and devised an elaborate plan to discover the truth for herself. I found out about this through my friend Kim who overheard an conversation in the car between Hannah and her friend that went something like this:

Hannah: "I don't really think that Santa is real."

Hannah's friend: "What!!"

Hannah: "I have decided to find out if Santa is real or not. I am going to put out a plate of cookies for Santa and one for Mom and Dad. If the one for Santa is gone then Santa is real and if they both are gone then it is still a mystery."

On Christmas Eve, sure enough we had to make cookies. She changed her plans a little and only put out one plate of cookies for Santa and a note that Luke wrote for her and gave us strict instructions not to eat them!

The next morning they were gone - of course! Was she so happy and is now a believer? Of course not, she is as conflicted as ever. I suppose next year we will have to come clean with her, which is a little sad.

Did I mention that I love cookies!