Santa Claus is dead.

Charlotte has been asking a lot of questions about Santa Claus recently. Questions about the logistics of Santa mostly. How does he make it around the whole world in only one night? Does he really give toys to EVERY child in the world? How do reindeer fly? Etcetera etcetera etcetera. I knew I needed to address this subject. As in I needed to tell her the truth. (Isaiah already figured it out years ago) Because while I enjoy watching my children delight in the gift(s) they receive from Santa, it is not the real reason we celebrate Christmas. I believe Jesus' birth is the true reason to celebrate. And I want my children to understand that (and honestly I think they do because that's what we emphasize). Anyways. I'm not sure why but I just never answered her questions directly. So she went to a better source. 

Her big brother. 

Her all knowing (fake phone) selfie taking brother. Basically the one she adores the most. Every word from his mouth is truth to her. 

They had this discussion while playing Legos (i.e. upstairs and out of my ear shot) along with Hannah. I learned of the conversation later in the day when the girls very matter of a factly informed me that "Santa Claus is dead". If I hadn't been sitting down already I would have fallen over. It was just a little shocking to hear. So harsh. And factual. A lot like their big brother:) Apparently Isaiah went into great detail about how the character Santa Claus isn't real but instead he is based on a man that lived long ago - named Saint Nicholas. And Saint Nicholas brought toys to all the children in his town (city? Country?). And now parents like to carry on the tradition with their children for fun. Bottom line though: Saint Nicholas is dead. Which my girls interpreted to mean (the fictional) Santa Claus is also dead. 

Well that was that. And mostly I'm ok with it. I like my children to know the facts and truth (just ask any of them where babies come from and about child birth). But it's a little sad for me too. It's just one more thing that marks the end of my crazy life with little kids. They are growing up! I suppose there is still a chance Levi will believe but I'm not holding my breath. His older siblings are wise and knowledgeable and they feel it is their responsibility to share that knowledge. The girls have taken this news surprisingly well. Though Charlotte says now that she knows she's only going to ask for a few, simple things - since it's not as exciting. Hannah agreed with her sister and then rattled of her requests: "an iPad, a gun and a pony. A real pony. And a car."  Ha! Simple? Haha. She's quite the dreamer. 

Speaking of dead...

Tuesday after Zumba class I drove over to Walmart to pick up my groceries. I was rolling in on E so I turned the van off, snapped this picture...

...to share with my Zumba ladies (because I had just been up on my soap box telling them how wonderful Walmart grocery pick up is) and waited for my groceries. The Walmart employee explained they had to substitute one item (a baby doll) loaded my groceries and we were OFF to do lunch and nap and school!

Except we weren't. My van was dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. 

I called Joe (at work). He didn't answer. Of course. So I called my sister. Why I don't know?!? She didn't answer either. Though even if she had answered there's very little she could do from 1400 miles away. 

The kids were getting hungry and restless. Levi had a dirty diaper and my phone battery was down to 10%. I had just a few problems to solve. First I gave the girls bananas and grapes (from our groceries! Yay.) Changed Levi's diaper (with my last clean diaper). Then I dug around for my empty gas can and jumper cables. In the process I discovered there was NO baby doll in my grocery bags. There was also no gas can. So there I stood sweaty hot in a parking lot in a drizzling rain with 3 children that wanted to be anywhere but there and a dead van and a nearly dead phone. So I called another resident wife. And she came. Without hesitation or judgement or a second thought. Dropped everything and came. She grabbed her child and can of gas and came to my rescue.  Unfortunately it wasn't just an empty gas tank. It was a dead battery (or so we were guessing). Momentarily we considered jumping it ourselves. We even popped our vehicles' hoods and pulled out the manuals (to learn HOW to jump a vehicle). And then we wimped out and called in the professionals. 

While that is not at all how I envisioned my Tuesday unfolding and I'd rather not repeat that day again, a few good moments came out of that day. 1. It confirmed to me that these residency people are my people. I'm invested in them and they are invested in me. And for that I'm so grateful. This life isn't always the easiest but having people that get it by my side make it just a little easier. 2. When Walmart couldn't find the missing baby doll I had ordered they gave me FOUR substitute baby dolls. I was absolutely blown away by their generosity. And the best part was that doll was ordered for an Operation Christmas Child box. So now instead of one little girl being blessed with a new doll for Christmas this year there will be FOUR girls. And if my van had not died right when it did in that parking lot there would have been NO baby dolls (without looking for the jumper cables I wouldn't have noticed the missing doll and honestly if I had noticed at home I would have just called and asked for a refund vs driving back to the store). I have a feeling there are four girls out in this world somewhere praying for a doll for Christmas this year. Oh and lastly my girls were pretty happy to have an unplanned non-school day:)