A Moose from Santa

East End Mama wrote an AWESOME post that encapsulates just one of the reasons Christmas
can be stressful. I have read it about 100 times, it is just so spot on and funny as hell. (Even
though I know I shouldn’t be laughing too hard, because she is definitely stressed about the
family dynamics aspect.)

Here is the Christmas update from my neck of the woods. W is old enough to “get” Santa. He is
not creeped out, he doesn’t have questions about what will happen in our chimney-less house,
he is all over advent calendars (“open MORE”). This, combined with all the gifts he is receiving
to celebrate his new bi-brother-ness, is creating a type of gift Olympics over here. W is training
and is in fine form for the pile of “stuff” coming his way.

However, he is still young and innocent enough that this is not yet completely off-putting and
greedy. Case in point: he has asked Santa for a moose. Yes, a moose. Don’t ask, I have no
idea what this means. Nor do I have any idea what exactly he is expecting (a real moose?!).
So I went to the fancy toy store and bought a fairly realistic-looking stuffed moose (for $40).
Technically the tag says it is an elk, but I am going for it.

I was nearly skipping when I found this toy; however, I should have known. The day I bought
(and wrapped) the moose I asked W what Santa was bringing: he said “drums” without even
skipping a beat. I swear you could have knocked me over with a feather. “How could this be
happening?” I wondered. When I later relayed this to my own mom, she said, “Welcome to hell.”
Ummm…

My husband said we are smarter than him and we will make him want the moose. So that is
what we have done. We are in full-fledged Moose Talk over here. We have also primed every
person who enters our house to talk about how amazingly cool moose are. I think we have
turned the ship around, and drum-mentioning is way down. For future, my mom says you have
to get them to commit to a Santa gift, and then you mail a letter to Santa way in advance so that
once the letter is gone, there is no changing their minds! Manipulation at it’s finest. Love it.

As for the rest of his gifts, I have instructed family to buy one wooden Thomas train each. If this
actually occurs I will be shocked. No one has mentioned buying him a laptop, so at least I can
be thankful for that.

-Tightrope Mama