Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects

Another Christmas has come and gone with Santa delivering the goods. The girls got a Nintendo Wii and tons of other toys, so they were thrilled. Deb and I already had the new laptop, but I got the DVD of Inglorious Basterds (which I still haven't seen, so I'm psyched), the Obits CD, a TomTom GPS system and some other cool stuff.

Hannah mentioned in passing a week or so ago that someone at school had told her that Santa wasn't real. Hannah's 7 and her faith in Santa is intact, but eventually she's going to put it together. Actually, Lily almost busted us this year; on Christmas Eve, the girls had been in bed for a few hours before we put the gifts out and filled the stockings. I was watching TV around 11 p.m. when Lily came downstairs. Fortunately I jumped up and took her back upstairs before she was able to see anything incriminating.

I was Hannah's age when I figured it out. I'm pretty sure I had already heard plenty of anti-Santa propoganda at school; hell, I had already heard some of the basic swear words. It's funny, because I feel like I was so much more worldly at 7 than Hannah is; I'm not complaining, but I love that she's so innocent and wide-eyed about things. I think it's because I spent a lot more time on my own or with friends than she does. I was a latchkey kid at that point. I walked the 1.5 miles from home to school and back with my buddies and let myself in. You can't do that anymore.

Hannah, as with most kids her age, is never out of the sight of an authority figure, whether she's on the bus or at school or her after-school program. The fear of a kid being hurt or abducted or whatever just wasn't as prevalent in the mid-1970s. It was just a different world back then.

So in addition to hearing that stuff about there being no Santa, I also stumbled onto the secret stash of presents one year. The big mistake my parents made was putting them in the closet of the downstairs room that I often played in. I don't remember everything that was in the big trash bag, but I do remember there was a tabletop rod hockey game that my brother and I eventually used all the time. I never told my brother, who was almost five years younger than me. I didn't want to ruin it for him.

Hannah and Lily will figure it out one of these years. But I'm in no hurry for that to happen. The world's a scary place and kids seem to grow up too fast as it is. Why not let them enjoy their childhoods for a little while longer?