Saturday, January 7, 2012

I'll Miss You Next Year....



Our kids write a letter to Santa every year to leave with the milk and cookies.  Sometimes they write a corporate letter-some years they write individual little notes. Santa always writes back, thanking them for the treats and for being SOOOO good this year.  :)  (Santa is never very good at disguising his handwriting, so they usually know it was Daddy!)

Another tradition our family does on Christmas is the kids always sleep together on Christmas Eve.  My brothers and I used to do this, and we've continued the tradition in our own family.  They  decide whose room they will sleep in, then proceed to bring every pillow, blanket and stuffed animal they own into that room.  We sometimes track Santa and we always read a book called "Alabaster's Song" (a cute  book about a little boy who can't sleep so he talks to the angel on top of the tree. )  Once the kids have written their note to Santa, put out milk and cookies and read the book, they settle in to sleep.  That's when Santa's job begins....

Mike and I, before we "play Santa" usually end up dozing off, only to wake up panicked at around 2 am.  So then Mike has to choke down the cookies and milk (although I admit there's been times he's just poured it down the sink...even Santa has his limits.)  We get all the presents organized and then we read the letter and get ready to respond.  This year, the kids wrote individual notes.  Landon asked about the reindeer, thanked Santa for the presents and wished him a nice trip.  Jenna wished Santa a safe trip and said hello to Mrs. Claus, along with saying Thank You.  Kayla said "Merry Christmas Santa, I'll miss you next year.  Love you."
That's when Santa's jolly laughter turned to sobs.


Kayla's getting married this year.  This was our "last" Christmas, just the 5 of us.  Don't get us wrong, we are so excited for her and we couldn't be prouder to have Miles as a son-in-law.  Mike and I look back on our first Christmas as a married couple and how special that was; and we wish that and more for them.  But thinking of this being our "last" Christmas really got to both of us. This has been our normal for 22 years.  All of our children together, snuggled in, waiting for Santa.  So although it was late (early?) we snuck into the kids room and just watched them sleep.  We savored it for one last time. We'll miss you next year, too....