The Council of Legendary Figures Expose!

When do you have the talk with your children?

I don't mean the "birds and the bees" or "just say no." I'm talking the "Santa's got a small budget and here is the reason why..." talk.

I was told the ugly truth the end of my second grade year. I was telling my mom that a few weeks ago, over Easter, I had seen the shadow of a six foot tall rabbit walking through our hallway. No, it wasn't Harvey. It was my childhood about to come to a halt. Of course, all through second grade all of my friends were questioning the existence of Santa, the Easter Bunny, and pretty much anyone else on the Council of Legendary Figures (watch The Santa Clause if you need more info about that). So, I wasn't shocked, but definitely disappointed.

Now, Emma is in third grade and Abby is in second. Is this the time for this talk? Do we wait until the girls demand answers? Might this need to be the year since we have an extremely limited Christmas budget and Emma has already written her letter to Santa asking for a pink Nintendo DS with red hearts on it with a carrying case and several specific games? She said she's asking Santa for the gift because she knows it's too expensive for us to buy for her.

I don't want to be the one to bring my baby's childhood to a halt. I also don't want to see her face when not even Santa can help her (Hello, Santa's trying to help us buy a new house!). Although, I am going to look online, Craigslist, Ebay, wherever I can for a deal. I'll try. But I can't promise to deliver.

When and how did you learn the truth of the Council of Legendary Figures?

Halloween Diva

My husband loves Halloween. Having an October birthday, he often combined his birthday with Halloween. My children also love Halloween. Halloween is a big deal to all these people. They love the costumes, the candy, the scary movies (Josh does, at least).

Here is where we insert the song, "Every party has a pooper that's why we invited you!" I don't dig Halloween. I'm not excited by costumes. I can have chocolate any day of the year. And I don't do ghost or bloody movies.

I'm going to put myself out there for all of you to judge: I prefer having a costumer and entire costume department to dress me up. I love having my own makeup artist. I get a kick out of someone else doing my hair. As "low maintenance" as I try to be in my everyday life, I don't enjoy Halloween because it's too much a do-it-yourself affair. I am a Halloween Diva. When kids come to our door (because I don't want to take the kids trick-or-treating so Tara will take the big kids while our husbands are at work and I'll stay home with the babies and answer the door) I'll be wearing...wait for it....REGULAR CLOTHES! I know, I am NO FUN! I did get into the spirit a bit today as we prepared the kids' costumes for the Trunk or Treat for church tomorrow night. The kids are going to look great and I enjoyed getting their stuff together this year. I just wish Josh didn't have to work so he could enjoy the night. He had to work last year too. (Last year my brother took the kids trick-or-treating.)

I do wish I got into the spirit more. I hate being the stick in the mud. But I will do everything in my power to make sure the kids have the costumes, hair and make up they want. I'll be their costumer/hair/makeup artist. And I'll be glad that Josh will be there to help me with it all before they leave Saturday night. Maybe next year I'll learn how to make our costumes so we can all be really cool. Maybe that will help me get into it more.