The Santa Concept

Jonathan has never really "gotten" Santa. He knows who the jolly old elf is, all right, and spends a lot of time talking about Santa this time of year. He's decided that Santa is the only person in the world who wasn't born, because he has magic. So the Santa story is well-absorbed. What Jonathan has never gotten the hang of is making his wish list. We'll ask him what he wants for Christmas from Santa, and the answer is invariably some free-associative random thing. If you ask him while he's eating lunch, he's likely to say "A sandwich!" Or if he's playing with Legos, he'll say "I want more Legos!" But I've never been able to get to the deepest desires of his little heart.

Alex has had absolutely no problem grasping the Santa concept. I took him with me to The Toy Company this year as we shopped for Zach and Chloe. While I wandered around the store, Alex set up camp at the train table. One low shelf was full of toy cars and trucks. Alex soon had an entire squad of matching police cars lined up and ready for action. He kept one clutched in his hand as he moved back and forth from table to shelf, pulling out school buses, ambulances, and other vehicles. The folks at The Toy Company are great. I discretely picked up one police car and added it to my purchases. They knew to hide it out of sight in a stapled paper bag. I helped Alex put all the cars away, but he was kind of sad to let the police car go. I told him "Maybe Santa will bring you a police car!"

That was early in December, but Alex never forgot it. Every day, several times a day, he would announce "Santa maybe bring me blue pleece car! With red and blue lights, and black tires, and WHEELS! And windows and doors!" Jonathan decided he wanted a plice car from Santa as well, but Alex told him quite firmly that was HIS idea, and Jonathan was once again left asking for cheese and socks.

Well, Christmas came, and Alex and Jonathan ran downstairs to see what Santa left them. Alex was delighted to find the exact specified police car in the toe of his stocking. Jonathan read his letter from Santa, which explained that his new bicycle is waiting for him at the store, once he tries it out to find the proper size. Both boys inhaled the blackberries Santa left in the stockings, and took off to play with their new toys. Alex still carries the police car everywhere. Like children all over the world, he's learned that the anticipation of Christmas is really the best part. Falling off to sleep tonight, he murmured "Santa might bring me pleece car."