Happy September Christmas

Steve's parents are here visiting from Canada. They're nice to have around because they do helpful things like washing the dishes and taking us to Ireland. Tonight Steve's dad agreed to fool little Scottish children into believing he's Santa Claus. Steve and I work with the 8 to 11-year-old children at church and we wrapped Christmas boxes for a service project with them this evening. Santa Claus came as a special guest wrapper.

The children are split on their Santa feelings. Lydia is certain he doesn't exist and ran Steve's dad through the wringer, demanding information on everything from Santa's reindeer to the heating system in her own house in an attempt to trip him up. Chloe, on the other hand is a true believer. She has a video of Santa leaving her presents and she's worked out why the Santa on the tape is not her father. As we were wrapping Christmas boxes, she was asking other children, "Do you have a video camera? Here's what you do . . . "

I made these Santa cookies for the activity. Seventeen cookies required the creation of 187 wee body parts. In retrospect, they may have been more work than they were worth, considering how short their little life spans were.

He sees you when you're sleeping.