The Lanksters: A Letter to Santa

Liv refused to sit in Santa's lap this year. We tried to get in line twice at the mall and the second we stepped into the line, she immediately hit me with a death grip around the neck and started screaming. Santa wasn't even in sight. She really wanted to see him, but absolutely could not get past her fear. We are actually having a lot of problems right now with fear - Liv's imagination has really kicked in and she is having a lot of nightmares about cartoons that she has watched. So anyway, rather than fight it, I gave up sitting in Santa's lap. I figured Lilly would hate it as well since she has stranger anxiety, so we decided to skip it all together this year.

But Liv was very concerned that if she didn't get to talk to Santa that he wouldn't know what to bring her. So I decided we would follow a tradition that we enjoyed as kids growing up - we would write Santa a letter. Now when I was a kid, we wrote Santa a letter and Dad would burn it - the ashes would then float up to the North Pole and the letter would magically re-attach for Santa to read it. So I suggested this to Liv and she was SO excited. Someone was kind enough to give us special stationery last year for letters to Santa so we let Liv sit down and write a letter (caveat - the only word Liv can write is her name - so it was actually just scribbles, but I figured since Santa is magic, he could decipher a 3-year-old's handwriting). She was so funny - not only did she ask for a bicycle, helmet, and Pillow Pet for herself, but she also wanted to write Santa about gifts for everyone else. I think Grammie and Grandpa somehow ended up with baby dolls and toy soldiers, amongst the many other presents that everyone "needed." It was cute that she thought of others - she definitely didn't want anyone to be left out.

I, of course, could not bring myself to burn the letter yet. I think I will just pass the info on to Santa and keep the letter - I tend to hoard personal items for the girls baby books and keepsake box!