Secret Santa

My daughter loves to help.  She loves to do anything that gives her the chance to be useful—especially if it's in a way other people can't be.   She is more into Christmas than the other members of our family, singlehandedly decorating the house by herself from bins she found in the attic.   She's been asking about when we were getting a tree, and thankfully my husband went to get one today because we almost missed getting one as most places were sold out. 

Tonight I asked if she wanted to help me wrap presents, or more specifically, put braille tags on the presents.   I had mentioned the other day about "being Santa on Christmas day" and she got a bit alarmed because Santa wasn't here on Christmas day.   I reminded her that the phrase meant the person who handed the presents out to people from beneath the tree on Christmas morning.  Oh, that was okay in that case, she decided. 

So tonight she and I hatched a plan.   All the presents have labels on them, only to find out who the present is to you have to read braille.   We have some presents which arrived in the mail already bagged with labels.  On those, we added a braille name so she, in the guise of Christmas morning Santa, would know who the present should go to.   The remainder of the presents, bagged by me in those reusable Amazon bags I wrote about last year, are only labeled with a braille label. 

She wants to tell her father about our sneaky plan.   I told her she could if she wanted to, but it might be fun to have him discover how he needed her on Christmas morning to help him do his traditional job of Present Santa. 

The Big Boy Update:  Today was '80's and '90's day at my son's school.  His teachers sent an email that that was a lot of time to represent in clothing styles, but that's what the class voted on.   My son wore some sweatband wrist bands and a thrasher t-shirt.  Other than that, he was a little too cool for school to wear anything else.  Tomorrow, a half-day, and the last day before the holiday break is pajamas day.   He also thought that wasn't something he'd participate in.  I told him to ask his classmates to see if they were going to come to school in their pajamas.   I'll find out in the morning if he's going to wear clothes or pajamas to school. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was upset tonight because she kept losing the runner tape she was using to tape the name tags on presents.   She said she hated asking for help all the time.   We talked about how she felt like a burden and how I could understand.   I told her how I had routines for where I put things, like my keys and purse, so I could find them later.   Still, though, how many times had she heard me ask where my purse was?  Lots, she told me.  I said that routine and planning would help, but that we all needed help from time to time.