I believe in Santa!

She probably has this picture in her room somewhere

I read an article today about a second grade teacher that took it upon her mean ass self to tell  her class of 7 and 8 year olds there is no such thing as Santa... WHAT IN THE NAME OF KRIS KRINGLE IS THAT SHIT ALL ABOUT??  I was so angry after reading this- I mean whatever religion you may or may not be or your socio-economic background, kids everywhere have at least heard of Santa Claus. It is up to families to decide what to tell their kids.  Is he real? Is he fake? Just the “spirit” of Christmas? Whatever- it is NOT the right of an ADULT, ( NOT a parent) much less a teacher to tell them. What an asshole.


The Boy still believes in Santa, and Teenzilla plays along.  I am TERRIFIED about other kids making fun of him, telling him there is no such thing, etc.  He goes to school with a variety of kids, from special ed, to general ed. some,older kids for whom the magic has ended, and kids his age and younger who may still believe in the magic. 

Oops....busted!

We also do The Elf on The Shelf tradition.  This actually works for The Boy- which kind of surprises me- but it works it's magic and he gets up each morning very excited to see where Clyde, our elf is at. He has talked to him, he gets worried if we get on him for something that Santa is going to hear about it and he will get nothing for Christmas... as a behavior modifier it truly is awesome. Is this also going to be  source of ridicule by meanie kids?  I mean- our Elf has to be real- he has his own Facebook page!  Come check it out! Clyde Finnegan Elf has a lot of friends and can post pictures of his shenanigans there as well!




 It is a VERY fine line we are walking - and I am so afraid of what will happen when we fall. Not just for him either- for me. I mean doesn't the end of believing in Santa just mark a downhill slide out of innocence? Or is that too jaded?  Is it just simply a sign of growing up- a natural order that kids go through?  With the fall of Santa, the Tooth Fairy also takes a hit, as does the Easter Bunny. Damn..it IS sad. 

I know that someday we are going to tell him the "truth" about Father Christmas. Just like with the other 2 kids. That he was a very kind and generous soul called Saint Nick who lived many many years ago and that people decided that they wanted to keep the spirit of his kind ways alive and so that is where Santa Claus came from.  But, just as I have instilled in my other kids,  I feel the Christmas Spirit each December  and you can’t explain that to me outside of a universe with a Santa Claus in it. 



And THEN I'm going to hope that like me and his brother and sister he will carry on believing anyway. Because we all need a little magic in our lives.

I am giving up on giving stuff up. See ya in hell!

Today is Fat Tuesday.  The day where people indulge their glutinous selves in preparation for the Lenten Season where many will give up something-  whether it be an indulgence such as chocolate, pop, sweets, coffee, or alcohol, or something such as being negative or giving up television. In any case it seems to be  in an attempt to be closer to God or redefine their faith. I am no theologian so I will not pretend to understand why giving up your daily cuppa joe equates to Jesus in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights.

I understand that the idea of giving stuff up for Lent is to strengthen spirituality through sacrifice. To put it plainly, you give up something to toughen yourself up. I personally have only given something up for Lent twice- 6 years ago- and both times it was mostly because  everybody else was doing it, and I felt obliged to follow suit. I didn't feel stronger OR more spiritual.  I felt deprived of something I wanted because everyone else said I should be doing it. It wasn't a choice on my part at all.

I have my own faith and my own beliefs and  I believe each person's faith is their own damn business and unless you get up in my face with your religious beliefs then I live and let live.  But when Lent starts- the world is full of the pious that display more self-denial than a hunger strike. Chocolate, cheese, carbs, pop, pizza, and pie…nothing is safe from the swearing-offs of the season. The judgmental and self righteous come out of the woodwork to look down upon us "sinners" shaking their heads in disapproval.

Things I should just give up

This time of year almost every conversation is started with "What did you give up?"   I used to say silly things like "Looking in the mirror" or "Wearing shoes" then I just started to tell people that I gave up on giving stuff up.  I get weird looks, nervous chuckles and some downright hostility when I say this.  Hey- like I said- each to his own- I don't judge YOU because you feel like giving up chocolate is going to make you a better person- if only for a little over a month.  So please- don't judge me because I feel like it is a pointless gesture  that unless applied to your life EVERY SINGLE DAY doesn't make you stronger at all- at least not for the long term. Again, my opinion- I don't expect it to be yours too.

I feel like I make sacrifices on an almost daily basis- I am a mom after all. But I am not expecting some grand reward for what I do. It is just what I do, It's not necessarily hard (well, not all the time) and I might be a better person for it, I would like to think so anyway.

So once again this year  I just plan to keep eating the same shitty foods, and using the same profane language that I always do. I mean- if there were a hell- isn't that what I would be doing when I went there anyway?