Kaylee's Christmas Morning Story

Kaylee's a little over two now, so she completely understands the concept of opening presents. She doesn't, however, comprehend why we give presents or why a big man who goes by the name of Santa Claus feels the need to enter one's house via the "chimbly" in order to leave gifts.

Christmas Eve Kaylee picked out which cookies we would leave for Santa. A serious decision to be sure. After all, we made these sugar ourselves and whatever she picked for Santa would later be unavailable for her to eat. A concept that wasn't above her. When we were making the sugar cookies I had no idea that the duck cookie would be so coveted. For an instant, there was a duck cookie on Santa's plate, but quickly Kaylee said "we should give Santa a different cookie and put the duck cookie back." When I asked her why she replied "because I want to eat that cookie." And I replied "Well then, that seems reasonable...let's pick something else." Here's a picture of Santa's cookie plate.


After the delicate process of selecting cookies was completed, Kaylee went off to bed. In the morning, I asked if she wanted to go downstairs and see if Santa had left some presents. She gave me her most serious eyes and said, "no, I want to stay upstairs." Hmmm, interesting. Kaylee is fairly shy and isn't all that fond of strangers. I put two and two together and realized that she thought Santa might be hanging around down there. So I explained that I didn't think Santa stayed after he left presents, but she was unconvinced. Finally Nick had to go downstairs and report on the situation. Once he announced the all clear, Kaylee was happy to go downstairs and see what left for her. And there she is playing with her new Legos!