December 22nd, 2016
Things are much calmer now. My mother-in-law has arrived and I no longer spend so much time cleaning and preparing the house. Now, I just hang out, make tea, cook and chat. I can do that.
Yesterday, we went to the school to hear our eldest daughter sing in the Christmas concert. She handed out gifts to her teachers with a huge smile on her face. It warmed my heart to watch her light up. She has awesome teachers, she loves them so much and it felt good to acknowledge how important they are to her. Later, we all went to the Merry Memories evening at the school where they do crafts and games in every room. It was nice to see the teachers interacting with the students. They have the best staff at that school, really devoted people.
I felt pretty organized this year. The house was getting de-cluttered and cleaned and I purchased or ordered the gifts well in advance. We each get two gifts but then I buy an extra gift from each of our daughters for my husband, my mother and my mother-in-law. As for our daughters, there is always the gift from Santa. They open that one first. I thoroughly enjoy the whole Santa ritual; a plate of cookies, some milk, oats for the deer etc. Then in the morning, their faces light up as they see presents under the tree. Santa's gift is always wrapped in brown paper. Magic!
I thought for sure our eldest would stop believing by now but she is still excited about Saint-Nick. A few years ago, my husband tucked a piece of red felt in the door. It was a torn bit from our tree skirt. He told our eldest that Santa must have torn his coat. Our daughter's eyes were wide open and she held her breath. She kept that piece of felt in her hands for days. It ended up on her "no touching shelf".
This year, our daughters' requests for Santa were quite specific and they only wrote one thing on their list. I ordered them on amazon on Dec. 3rd. They were due on December 12th. I picked up the one parcel on December 15th. The other one was nowhere in sight. I checked its status on Amazon and noticed that the delivery date was now estimated as December 26th. I panicked. I contacted Amazon then the seller. The seller's response was not impressive: "Deal with Amazon cause we didn't process that order". Amazon didn't even respond to my comment.
Now I am in a tough situation. My girls believe a magical Santa has received their request and will deliver their gifts on time. I only have one gift and it's too late to order the doll from elsewhere. I can't have Santa only deliver one parcel. What do I tell my girls if I give neither of them their gift from Santa? How do I explain this?
I am so disappointed and frustrated. I ordered early, I paid extra to get the item shipped and delivered on time and, apparently someone who orders it on December 21st could receive it by December 23rd. I visited my Amazon account page to take a photo of the item and e-mail it to my husband. He was heading over to Ogdensburg, NY in the US. I thought they might have this doll there. I was shocked to see them advertising that it wasn't too late to get the doll in time for Christmas. Apparently, you would order it on December 21st and receive it by December 23rd.
So, I would not be surprised if this was the last year that both our daughters believe in Santa. Thank you Amazon for creating all this stress and doing nothing about it. You have messed up our last year of magic. If any of you have suggestions on how to keep them believing despite the lack of gifts, I would love to hear them.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
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