Hey Santa!

The big guy definitely made a visit to our house this Christmas, and brought with him a big gift for three girls: a play kitchen! We were really thrilled by this, since Maddie had been asking for it for months and telling everyone she could think of that Santa would be bringing her a kitchen. So hooray Santa!

The problem? Apparently Mr. Claus didn't quite understand Miss Madelyn's request or...ummm...expectations.

In the spirit of the Christmas traditions I remember (and I've been reflecting a lot on the fact that I just automatically want to recreate some of those traditions in our home...so I'm thankful for the fact that my mom and dad really went out of their way to make holidays special for us!), we gathered up the kids and sat them on our stairs, while I went down and checked to make sure Santa had, in fact, come. In other words, I turned on all the tree lights, took photos of the calm before the wrapping paper storm, and got ready for action!

Video camera rolling, we brought two very excited little girls into the living room, where the first thing they saw was this:

(Another aquired tradition: gifts from Santa aren't wrapped in our house!) A rather subdued Madelyn - and by that I mean no high pitched exclamatory remarks or shrieking, which is generally her way of showing excitement - stated matter of factly, "He brought me a kitchen. Not a REAL kitchen, but it's ok I guess..." HUH? Mommy Santa experienced a moment of pure disappointment followed quickly by serious anxiety over the fact that this was the MAJOR gift, particularly for Madelyn. If she didn't like this, Christmas was pretty much going to be a bust!

Me: "What do you mean, a "real" kitchen, Maddie?"

M: "You know, one that works. This one isn't real, look. The sink doesn't have water and the over (turning knobs back and forth) doesn't work."

Me: "Oh well I don't think Santa could bring a real kitchen, Maddie. Kids can't have real kitchens you know, they're kind of dangerous. You know, working ovens get really hot and..."

M: "Well it's ok. It's cool anyways."

And with that, the excitement actually kicked it, she recovered, and she was off... ooohing and ahhing over the kitchen and everything else, including the not-so-fun things like her new winter coat.

PHEW. And thanks for okaying it, Princess M! After my moment of temporary panic, I actually started thinking about how funny it all was and how happy I was to have caught it on video. She didn't come off as ungrateful or anything (and I'll admit I was a little horrified at first, thinking she might be about to act truly spoiled), just genuinely perplexed by the fact that she had wanted a real kitchen and this one wasn't going to actually cook stuff. I guess Santa can come around again next year after all...