Thanks for the Advice

Well, I've nipped it in the bud. I don't think I'll have to deal with disappointment on Christmas morning. I had checked in with my Dad, the Christmas Master, to see if there were any way to minimize the disappointment for Riley. There was no way I was going to buy her another kid's car.

"Well, can you think back to a time when you were disappointed on Christmas morning?" he asked me.

"No, actually." I replied. But I didn't have quite the wild imagination that my eldest daughter has. Do you know she has a colony of imaginary friends? That's what she calls it, "The Colony." She also has imaginary family now too. Complete with an older brother in middle school named Nick, a younger sister in pre-school called Emily and a Mom who looks like Tinkerbell. We've all been recast, my friends. But I've taken it in stride. I've even pushed back with, "What's wrong with your real Mommy?" and received lots of hugs and declarations that I was the best Mommy ever a thousand percent, which, of course I already knew. So, I don't complain much about my imaginary counterpart.

But it was seeming like I may need to reign her in before Christmas morning hit. So I did. Observe the conversation I had with Riley last night:

"So, what do you want for Christmas, Riley?" I asked.

"A Barbie car with four seats and a roof," she recited.

"You know," I said, glancing sidelong at my Dad for moral support, "I don't think they even make that kind of car."

"I know," she said.

"Actually," I said, thinking, "It sounds like something we could do to your Barbie Jeep ourselves...we could add a roof..."

"Yeah!" she said, enthusiastically.

"I don't think we could get four people in it, though; that battery isn't quite strong enough."

"Well, a roof would be good," she said.

"Yeah, it would be a fun project...we probably don't have to even ask Santa for help on this one."

"Nope!" she said and took off.

"What do you want for Christmas, Lucy?" I asked, feeling braver.

"Star Wars Clone Wars shirt and cape and pants and light saber," she recited.

"Sounds good," I said, relieved that most of that was already in the bag.

Thanks for your advice yesterday about this issue. I hope you all have a Christmas free of disappointments and full of unexpected joy.