
Yes, you heard me right! Santa will not be coming to the Lehman’s this year. Actually, he never has had the privilege of shimmying down our fireplace. In fact we don’t even have a fireplace. So I guess it’s good that Santa has never landed on our rooftop!
No, we haven’t been that bad this year. Or any other year for that matter. We just don’t believe in Santa Claus at our house. GASP, I know, right?! My husband and I never really believed in Santa when we were kids so it’s never been a big deal to us. And my husband’s philosophy is, “I worked stinkin’ hard for the money to buy those gifts, I’m taking the credit for it, not giving it to some fat guy!” I can’t really argue with that, especially since I only work one or two days a week only making enough money to pay for what I spent that day while at the store. And we can focus on the true meaning of Christmas, presents and cookies the birth of Jesus.
Then we had our first son. He was all innocent and full of trust and wonder. How dare we not take advantage of this and lie bold face to him about a jolly fat man bringing him gifts on a sleigh with flying reindeer in the middle of the night creeping around our house? I mean, who do we think we are, anyway? So I tried, much to my husband’s dismay. But it didn’t really work. Little did I know that I gave birth to the world’s smartest two year old.

Even at such a young age, I could not pull one over on that kid. He was in kindergarten when he told me, “Mom, how could Santa possibly be real? There is no way that one man can bring gifts to every singe child in the world in one night. And reindeer don’t even fly! And how could they carry that big fat man on a metal sleigh? It would be too heavy!” (Don’t even get him started on the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.)
Then in first grade his teacher informed me that he announced to the entire class that Santa was, in fact, fake. “Your parents are the ones who give you gifts, DUH!” So then we had to have the “please don’t ruin the fun for everyone else” talk and he was all, “But MOM, we are right!!!”
Even when his friends and cousins tried very hard to convince him that Santa was real, he would end up making them doubt everything they’ve ever been told about Santa! No, “Yes, peers, of course you must be right and I must agree with everything you say!” Just, “Wake up people! Quit living a lie!” (I’m not lying, he actually said that…at seven years old. God help me.)
But I have accepted my genius child and feel proud that he sticks up for what he believes in. Even if that means getting a note from the teacher every year around this time. So you can imagine my delight when my second born who is now in Kindergarten informed me last week, “Mom, I told the kids at school that Santa is not real and the elf that is sitting on the shelf watching to see who’s good and who’s bad is not real either and the teacher just told us that to make us listen.” Oh goody, because the only thing better than one note from one unhappy teacher is TWO notes from TWO unhappy teachers.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Tasha