The Christmas Lie

Two years ago my Aunt got me a fantastic advent calendar. It's a big, huge house, decorated for Christmas, complete with snow, carolers and a tree. Each window and door are numbered 1-24 and they open to reveal a spot big enough for a couple of treats. I attempted to use the calendar that Christmas with my then 21-month-old and 3-month-old. As you can imagine, that went over like a lead balloon. About 2 days in, I decided to give up and just enjoy the calendar as a decoration until the kids were old enough to (kind of) understand.

This year is the year! Not only do Elijah and Micah "get" that they can open a door every day and find a treat, I hear about it almost hourly. I'm beginning to think I could skip the buying of presents and just give them each a Hershey's Kiss a day for the rest of their lives and they would be perfectly happy.

On Saturday when we decorated for the season, I came up with what I thought was a genius idea. In order to avoid little hands opening up the calendar doors prior to the appropriate day, I would leave them all empty and then sneak the next morning's Kisses in each night after they had gone to bed. I was then able to tell them that if they open the doors ahead of time, the treats won't come. It's worked brilliantly. Elijah is old enough to understand, so he stays away from the calendar until he is given permission to open a door. Micah, of course, because he's only 2 (and because he is ornery), has opened doors early on many occasions, only to be disappointed by the lack of chocolate and reprimanded by his older brother for compromising their chance at future treats.

I thought my plan was flawless. We were enjoying the fun of the Advent calendar and the "magic" of the treats "appearing" every morning, while at the same time saving myself the frustration of policing the thing. This morning, only three days in, I stumbled upon a problem. Myself. I forgot to put the kisses in last night before hitting the sack!! I let the boys out of their room this morning and the first thing they did was make a beeline for the empty calendar. I had to think fast, and let me tell you, people....thinking fast is not my strong suit when I still have fuzz on my teeth and sleep in my eyes (and no coffee in my system). So I lied. I lied a Christmas lie. I told them that the treats wouldn't appear until the lights on the Christmas tree were turned on and they couldn't turn on until their beds were made (I was desperate, people). So they ran as fast as they could to their bedroom and I ran as fast as I could to the pantry to find the Kisses and get them in place.

So my children were saved from a tragic Christmas disappointment by a mother who is (apparently) not above lying through her teeth.