We continued our family tradition of having breakfast with Santa at Blu Falls last weekend.  I have no idea why Adri's mouth is wide open in this picture and I'm really surprised that Nate even sat on his lap!  

A few weeks ago, Nate told me that he knew the truth about Santa.  When I asked him what that was, he said, "I know that parents really give us our presents and there's no way that Santa could travel all over the world in one night."  I thought about it and three things came to mind.  

1.  Don't lie.  

2.  Don't cry.  

3.  Don't give him too much information.  

My response was...and almost word for word was... (I wrote down our conversation immediately after it was over so that I wouldn't forget)  

"You're right.  Santa can't travel around the world in one night and parents do put presents under their tree for their kids and say they're from Santa.  I believe, though, that Santa was alive and real at one time and Daddy and I choose to continue the tradition of passing out presents to our kids because we think it's fun.  Don't you?"  

"Why don't you just put your name on all the presents so that we know they're from you?"

"It's just a tradition that our parents had with us, and we enjoyed it, so we choose to continue it with you."  

"Okay."

That conversation ended with me feeling sad and a little nostalgic that my little boy was growing up.  Then I realized that I had to have another conversation with him about how he has to keep the lie from his brother, sister, and friends at school that still think Santa is real.  That conversation went well...I gave my 8 year old permission to lie!

A few weeks later Nate had an 'ah ha' moment and asked to talk to me in private (I also wrote this down, quickly, after our conversation was over).    

"I was thinking.  Isn't Santa a little like God?"

Anytime my kids ask me a thought provoking questions and I can tell they've been deep in thought over it, I get a little excited, scared, and proud...all at the same time!

"How do you mean, Nate"

"Well, he gives, I mean gave, presents to kids at Christmastime and that's a lot like God because God gave all of the people he loved his son at Christmastime?"  

*Don't cry, Amanda!

"That's a good analogy, Nate, and I'm very proud of you for coming up with that."  

"I guess now I don't feel so bad about lying to my friends because I know telling them that Santa is real is like teaching them about Jesus."

I love my kids.  Who doesn't, right?  And, I never cease to be awed by them and their intriguing questions and observations.  I'm often left wondering, who's doing the teaching here?

Merry Christmas!