I’m Too Old to Play Santa
Posted on Dec 25, 2008 - 10:25am by Diane Sontag in Lifestyle
It is 3 am in Cincinnati, Ohio, and this tired Santa is about to hit the hey. My daughter turned 8 and a half this month and I swear that is too old to still believe in Santa. If someone doesn’t spill the beans soon, she is going to find out by accident because, I swear, I am too old to play Santa much longer.
This year I thought I would be really smart and do all my Santa shopping online. So about two weeks before Thanksgiving, late at night, I perused shopping comparison websites and websites of toy sellers and outlet stores and found websites and stores I didn’t even know existed. But in the end the online shopping experience turned out to be an exercise in futility. If my kids wanted it, so did yours, and you started earlier. By the time I got to the websites, the pickings were mighty slim.
Take the footed pajamas, for example. There just aren’t as many choices for older children. I was determined to find Disney Cars footed pajamas for my son, size 6. Only thirty minutes of searching and I found them at the Wal Mart website, and I ordered them and chose the ‘pick up at the store’ option. Can’t have Santa presents arriving at our home ya’ know. While I am in Wal Mart I decide to see what other footed pajamas are available in the store and come home with a size 6 Spiderman and give them to my son because he needs them, it’s cold in December this year. Within thirty minutes he has torn a hole in them in three seams. Turns out he needs a larger size. As he shows me the tears in his new Spiderman pajamas, I realize in horror that the Cars pajamas I ordered online are going to be too small as well and will have to exchange them. I promise him I will sew up the tears in his Spiderman pajamas. That same night while he is sleeping I sneak off to WalMart in search of size 8 Cars and Spiderman footed pajamas. Three hours and 4 Wal Marts later I return home with only size 8 Spiderman. Take the Tinkerbell lantern as another example. My daughter fell in love with this lantern when a friend of hers brought one to our homeschool playgroup. I was lucky enough to find one in the store on a late night stealth shopping trip, and picked up a lot of other gifts the same night. I even wrapped up all the gifts and hid them in the garage that very night. Or so I thought. The next morning as I am making breakfast I hear my daughter’s excited voice exclaim, “Mom, the fairies came last night and they brought me a Tinkerbell lantern!” I feign a smile and console my son, who is crying because the fairies did not bring him anything. That night I unwrap one of his Christmas gifts and leave it out for him to find in the morning. That one act of middle-aged forgetfulness ended up being a $30 mistake!
And I have learned the hard way to never buy a used battery-powered item at a yard sale or thrift shop and try to pass it off as a gift from Santa. That skating and talking Minnie Mouse with remote control was a real bargain at a dollar, but when the remote broke within one week, a tearful daughter was begging me to write Santa a letter to see if we could mail Minnie to the North Pole for repairs!
The sadness over Minnie Mouse breaking lasted weeks and I vowed that Santa would not bring any toy that moved by battery or electronics ever again, so as to avoid this situation in the future. So the learning laptops I bought at Target that sit wrapped under the tree this morning are from Mom and Dad, and the receipt is in my wallet.
Merry Christmas!
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Diane – as you are aware I know Santa personally. Nobody is ever too old to believe in him. He read your e-mail and was quite upset. He had wanted Wayne to help him develop a new on-line thingy to sort all the “Dear Santa” letters, but Weisser is busy shleping CATS or CHORUS LINE somewhere and he doesn’t have the time right now. But Diane, Santa could not find your letter anywhere. And he had kazillions of size 8 Cars and Superman jammies with the feet. Before Christmas he had 16 trillion Tinkerbell lanterns! But no letter. Sontag is your last name, correct? He thought so. No letter. Santa said he appreciates your saving him a stop, but next year please get your letter in early. And, Diane, he also said that years from now, when you might be sick in bed with the flu, your two guys will probably have your – “Too Old to Play Santa” – blog in their diaries or treasure boxes and remember your trek in the middle of the night for presents. And when you least expect it, they will come home and take care of you, call in sick for you, comfort you, tuck you in, get you a “magic” blanket, make you some chicken soup and a hot tottie. And although, you might be too old to play Santa, you will know it was all worthwhile. Because, that’s what a mother does. But again, next year, leave it too Santa. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. PS/and stay away from those thrift shops and yard sales.