Special Surprises

Claudia is just full of the Christmas-giving spirit. They have been making special Christmas gifts to give away to family members at her school. She brought home a bag with a couple of wrapped gifts yesterday. I asked her if she wanted to put them under the tree, but she said, "Mom, I need to find a place to hide it in my room. I don't want Wilson to find it!" (pesky brothers!)

She then started to say, "Mom, you can't open this until Christmas! No peeking. It is so special! You are going to love it! I can't tell you what it is... it's got something really special in it. Oh! I can't say that! You can't open it until Christmas! It really special! Oh! I can't say that!"

I think that teachers at school must have drilled it into them that they can't tell anyone at home what the present is. I can't imagine how many times you have to tell a four or five-year-old not to give away a surprise for it to actually stick with them. My guess would be at least 1,000 times.

Now, she is finding other "gifts" to wrap and put under the tree. This morning she found "something really special to wrap up with used wrapping paper she found and put it under the tree for me. I have a feeling I am going to be missing a mascara or a sock or something for the next week until we open gifts on Christmas morning. I am sure there are going to be many "treasures" under the tree this year.

Letters to Santa

The other day Claudia walked up to me and said that she wanted "such and such" for Christmas. I told her that that sounded "good." She said, "Mom!! I need to tell him that!" My immediate thought was, "oh no! I need to get these kids to a Santa ASAP! Christmas is coming!" Later I thought perhaps I could avoid the long lines and tormenting Wilson with a sure-to-be scary man in a red suit by having her write her letter to Santa.

So Claudia is at this moment sitting at our kitchen table and writing her letter to Santa. She is writing it (with Scott spelling the words). Wow, what a difference a year can make. Last year she was still working on singing her ABCs. Next year is Kindergarten! I can't believe it!

Here is her letter:

Dear Santa,
(She is cutting to the chase, no pleasantries. The man is busy!)
Barbie
Pillow Pet
Easy Bake Oven
kitchen set

She is also writing Wilson's letter for him:
blue mack (this is a semi-truck)
fire truck
cars

love
Claudia Wilson