You'd better watch out . . .

This weekend we're going to see Santa.  Lots of excitement, nervousness and wee bit of skepticism.  

For Rose, this conversation can't come soon enough.  She's been threatened several times (by her brother) that certain behaviors guarantee a lump of coal in one's stocking.  So every time she screams or gets upset about something (as only a 4 year old can), she immediately becomes contrite and then tearful at the thought that she MUST see Santa soon to clarify that she really IS a good girl and deserving of more than coal.  She was even more determined -- and concerned about the implications --  when we she learned what coal is (only last night).  Tonight, she passionately declared that she wants to "live with Santa and the elves forever and ever" and plans to tell Santa this as soon as she sees him.  We all want to see how he takes it.  

Evan has decided that questioning the whole Santa concept might not be so wise since he's not absolutely sure that it's false.  To hedge his bets, he drew up a pretty comprehensive list for the request to Santa this year:

It's worth noting that several things have been crossed off, including an IPod touch, horror movies, the "no fire flame thrower" and my personal favorite, "Jason books."  (Ever since he found a Jason mask on Halloween, he's been obsessed with the Jason character from the movie Halloween.  He's fascinated and little scared by the idea of horror movies in general, even though he's never seen one. Probably doesn't help that I refuse to watch them, but that just adds to the wonder, I'm sure.).  Still left on the list are several books, Wii and DS games, skateboards, Lego sets, Dr. Who items (Schuyler will be pleased!), and some random things from geek.com.    

Evan kindly offered to help his sister draft her list.  Interestingly, her top item was also a flame thrower (although she swears, "I really want it, mom.  I do!"), along with anything Hello Kitty, pink or sparkly.  I guess every little helper up North could use a good flame thrower ("Santa's elves can make anything, Mom!").

Santa's definitely met his match.