Dear Santa

Greta and Graham sat on Santa last night. Graham smiled. but refused to speak. Greta spoke. She told Santa that she wants a bike. Yes, a bike. This was news to us. Up to this point, she had told me that she was going to ask Santa for fruit snacks and a whole bunch of candy. I think that her three-year-old logic is that she might as well go for the stuff that she knows she won't be getting out of mom and dad. I mentioned to her that even if Santa brought her that, she wouldn't be allowed to eat it all at once, she decided she'd maybe ask for a toy. Santa only brings one toy to our house. I don't like excess stuff (O.K. This is a ridiculous claim because my home is one big vat of excess stuff, but I don't have any room for excess on top of my excess.) The truth? I don't like Santa getting all of the credit.

And, there's a little more truth about the bike. Marc uncovered it last night. My plan was to give Greta and Graham a puppet stage for Christmas. Why? Because I like to play with puppets. In line waiting to sit on Santa, Greta turned to me and said, "Mom. I'm going to ask Santa for something REALLY great. Somthing that you're going to like a lot."

I thought, and asked, "A puppet stage? I really would like that."

Greta looked surprised. I'm realtively certain that she was going to say someting more like chocolate. But, she went with my suggestion. "Sure. I'll ask for a puppet stage."

But, I could see that her heart wasn't in it. I had planted it. I felt guilt that I was somehow stealing her one gift from Santa. So, I siad, "Isn't there anything else?"

"Ummm. No."

Then it came out of my mouth. "What about a bike?"

A bike? Greta has yet to master her tricycle. She's really great at lots of stuff, but she's really bad at riding her trike. And, she doesn't much enjoy it either. She continually drives it into the grass and gets stuck. The other day she tried her friend's big girl bike with training wheels. She kept pedalling backwards, activating the brakes. No good.

It spun out of conrol. A bike became her utmost desire. And, her turn was next on Santa. And he's bringing a bike.

Later I asked Graham what Santa was going to bring for him. "Bike," he said, clear as the day.

Make that two bikes, and no puppet stage.