So it's December....how the flying crap did that happen?!?!

    The topic of the moment, at least in our house, is Santa. When do we take Nixon to see him? What is Santa bringing Nixon? Who's paying for the pictures with Santa? All the really important burning Santa-related questions. But no conversation would be complete without Mac over-thinking things and making things a bigger issue than they have to be.

   I'll explain.

  Nixon will make his list for Santa, and while there's no limit to what he can ask Santa for, Santa will only bring one gift for Nixon. The gift has already been picked out (will most likely be purchased next week) and might not even be on Nixon's list, but "Santa" knows Nixon will love it!
  Now the over-thinking. We've agreed Santa will only give one or two gifts to Nixon. Mac is worried that Nixon will get hurt and made fun of when he goes to school and learns from other kids that their Santa brought them a whole bunch of gifts! Nixon's not even in school yet, and yes while I'd like to protect him from being made fun of and bullies, we can't run our family to avoid that. The best we can do is make sure Nixon is comfortable at home and confident in himself. Mac and I were both bullied as kids, and it really sucked... a lot, but there is absolutely nothing we can do to prevent it from happening to Nixon that will make him a strong person. Nixon is pretty damned comfortable being who he is, at 4-years old, and if we're really lucky as parents he'll keep that confidence throughout life. And if not, he'll have to learn how to be an individual and not follow the crowd the hard way. Life's not easy.

    Nixon will see Santa at the local Mall. It's not going to be as cheap as the last 3 years, because it's not going to be by donation only. But the mall Santa looks like someone's grandpa and we can go on one of Mac's days off during the week and avoid the wicked weekend lines. Nixon's even excited about seeing Santa this year!

   And one more, super local exciting thing is the Jolly Express Cruise. A 45-minute cruise on a small vessel, adorned with antlers, red nose and playing carols! With Santa at the helm! I know Mac might not truly be into this, but Nixon will go ape-shit over it and I'll be honest, I'm a little ape-shit about it too! Mac missed out on hayrides and the pumpkin patch with us, so I think this will be extra special for the 3 of us.

   Really....how on earth did December just sneak up on us??