Here Comes Santa Claus!

What a relaxing and fun Christmas Eve we had today! Hillary and Abigail helped Susan make homemade caramel rolls for breakfast, and Susan cracked open a Christmas gift she received from our friends last weekend: "reindeer blend" coffee (which was delicious). Reading the newspaper, we discovered that both Suzanna and Susan had their writing published in it today! Both had entered a Christmas story writing contest sponsored by the Dickinson Press, and lo and behold, there were their works, Susan's about a skeptical child who regains her belief in Santa Claus, and Suzanna's about a boy named Ronald who has no luck building a snowman until he decides to do it during the winter rather than the spring.

I played Christmas carols on the piano, and the girls sang along with me. A little later, I discovered a great Web site: Download.com. It provided a nice variety of Christmas tunes for our listening enjoyment as we cleaned the house in preparation for our visitors tomorrow (my dad and stepmother). We also checked out the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Web site on which they track Santa Claus' progress across the globe. (He was over Saudi Arabia when we checked mid-afternoon.)

We had some family game time this afternoon, too. We all played Monopoly, Jr. When Susan went upstairs to start supper, the girls and I played Pictionary, Jr. and Charades for Kids. We helped Susan to finish up the food preparation and then sat down for a Christmas eve repast: cubed sour dough French baguette dipped in fondue (gruyere cheese, white wine, kirschwasser brandy) made in our very own rarely used fondue pot, shrimp cocktail, shrimp eggrolls, taco dip and tortilla chips, raw veggies (cucumbers, carrots, red peppers, green peppers), dill pickles, fruit juice for the children, and wine for the adults.

There is not a stitch of snow on the ground here, and the weather is mild and lovely. So we bundled up (the night wind was brisk) and went for a walk after supper. We delivered Christmas baking to our neighbors, walked up and down the adjacent blocks admiring people's Christmas lights and yard displays, and sang Christmas carols. When we got home, we piled into the van and drove to Prairie Outpost Park in town, a collection of historical buildings (part of the Dickinson Museum Center) lit up in one couple-blocks-long Christmas display this time of year. We walked from one building to the next, commenting on the lights and getting our fill of hilltop winter gusts.

Once we got home, we grabbed Hillary's Ziplock baggie of reindeer feed and headed back outside. At school she was given a mixture of oatmeal, glitter, and other stuffs and told to sprinkle it outside for Santa's team. These lines were taped to the baggie:

Sprinkle on the lawn at night;
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
This will guide them to your home.

The girls ran around the yard dropping milligrams of the stuff at a time hither and thither. Hillary gave me a handful to toss up on the roof. We then went inside for mugs of hot chocolate (Susan's and mine had butterscotch schnapps added). The dining room table has a plate with a Special-K bar on it, an empty drinking glass, and this note (handwritten by Suzanna):

Dear Santa,
This glass is on the table because you may help yourself to milk (it's in the fridge). The stockings go Suzanna: Santa, Abigail: snowman, Hillary: Christmas tree [to indicate whose stocking is hung by the fireplace upon which illuminated plastic stocking holder]. Have a fun ride and X-mas. We all wish you a happy new year.
Love, the Mobergs

P.S. Only the glass is not on the counter [meaning "don't use the dirty glasses on the counter--use only this one on the table"].

P.P.S. Santa, do you like the Special-K bar? And when is your birthday? Mine is December 30.

Merry Christmas to Santa and his reindeer!
Please write here.
[space provided for Santa to write back to her]

The girls are now tucked in and waiting for Santa to arrive. They're all sleeping in Suzanna's bedroom downstairs so that they won't be awakened by any noise Santa might make in our living room upstairs. Susan has a few more gifts to finish wrapping, and I'm at the computer writing about our day (listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi--thank you, Download.com!). Susan and I are amazed that NOT ONCE have the girls made mention of the gifts under the tree, wondered when the gift opening would occur, tried to pick up or shake any packages, speculated on the boxes' contents, begged to open a gift, etc. Susan and I wondered what gifts the girls should open tonight and which ones should wait until tomorrow morning. As it happens, they have opened nothing yet, so I guess it's all waiting for them tomorrow.

I did ask them again this afternoon what they're hoping to receive from Santa. They each named some modest item: a Santa figurine, a glass reindeer, a doll. No Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox, television set, iPod, or other electronic item; no long list of requests or demands; in fact, nothing that would cost more than $10. In fact, they themselves mentioned more than once this afternoon that "Christmas is for giving, not for getting." Would that the world could hear them.

Merry Christmas!

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