Catching Up: Santa 2014...

See, I knew you were waiting for this post.  Christmas Eve is the only night covered so far during the holidays and there is oh so much more to share.  We'll start with Santa.  He's a lovable guy.

I'm sure I mentioned this last year but it's worth repeating.  We do Santa.  He brings three gifts for each kid.  Three for the three gifts from the Wise Men.  And yes, I am aware that the Wise Men were not at the manger and it's possible there were more than three or less than three.  We assume three because of the gifts.  

Okay.  Legalism.  Check.

It's a good method for keeping Santa under control.  

Along with the fact that we, the parents, have to pay Santa for the presents.  

This helps answer questions that come, say, when we're watching "Annie" and the orphans sing, "Santa?  Who's he?"  There's no one delivering free material gifts to children but, oh wait, leaving out the children who can't afford it.  This helps me teach the kids how WE can be Santa to kids through our gifts.  We give at various places through various ways.  This makes Santa tangible to them.  

And really, Aubrey Kate loves doing that.  

Aubrey Kate can also repeat back to me the TYPES of presents Santa leaves.

One to read.

One to play.

One to wear.

Simple.

Now, on to the pictures!  

Nana helped Aubrey Kate write her note to Santa this year.  Along with baking and helping her decorate two cookies.  She asked Nana when they were going to back cookies for Santa.  Clearly, all the Santa books and cartoons sunk in.  Cause baking cookies for Santa wasn't something I suggested.

The note says, "Dear Santa, Thank you for whatever I get for Christmas."

See, she'd been super specific about what she wanted from Santa since, oh...OCTOBER.  No lie.  She'd been asking for Jake and the Never Land Pirates:  The Characters, Bucky (the ship) and Jake's Treasure Chest.  

And those, folks, are three gifts.  

Unfortunately, those don't all fit Santa's criteria.  So Momma had to do some serious talking.  All the time.  About what Santa might and might not bring.  

Then, just before Thanksgiving, she added an Elsa doll and an Ana doll to the list.  The MUST HAVE list.  

Okay, so that's now a list of five things.  And we were still missing something to read and wear.  

So the note basically acknowledges what I'd been saying to her every day for a month.  

You get what you get and you don't pitch a fit.

Rhys did not write a note.  Surprise.  He had been asking for a thousand different things.  It changed about every day.  For several DAYS in row though, he did ask for the same thing.  Rasputin.  We'd been watching "Anastasia" on Netflix.  For some reason, Rhys likes the bad guys.  He likes to crash them into each other.  Thus, he wanted Rasputin.  

Little known fact, when the movie was released, Burger King had "Anastasia" figurines in their kids' meals.  And thankfully, some precious woman collected them all, kept them and sold them to Santa on eBay just for sweet Rhys.  He wasn't all that thrilled with them at first, what with all the Super Heroes a.maz.ing family members had given him.  But since then, he's hooked.  They're tiny so they fit inside of things.  Like wipes boxes.  Or stacking blocks.  That alone is super fun.

Inside they're stockings, Santa was smart enough to bring each of them their own Jake item to play with together.  Rhys got Captain Hook.  You know, the bad guy.  And AK got a Jake in a different outfit.  That Santa is a smart guy.

Rhys got an outfit he has yet to put on his body for his "Wear" gift.  Momma has visions.  Hopes.  But reality...never gonna happen.  He got dinosaur books for his "Read" gift.  Santa actually got those for free through a random yard sale FB site.  He was pretty happy about that.  And Rhys really loves them.

Aubrey Kate got the Jake characters with the ship, Bucky.  Also purchased for about 1/4 of retail through the FB yard sale site.  Santa really had to stalk the site to score those.  A Princess Adventure book with lots of new stories of her favorite Disney Princesses fit the "Read" category for her.  Black Friday sale for that one.  The dress and new sparkly shoes, consignment store and eBay.

This is a huge haul for Santa.  Honestly, it was a little more than I wanted to spend.  My love laungauge is gifts.  I struggle not buying them everything they want all the time.  From Skittles to sparkly shoes...I love giving them gifts.  Thankfully, they love everything.  That dress is AK's favorite now and the Jake stuff gets the stew played out of it.  Not to mention the added benefit of having lots to chose from for "J" day of Show and Share.

So perhaps, the restrictions on the number of gifts Santa gives is really all about me.  Because handing over the cash to that joy old man was difficult.  Even if he did score some awesome deals.