Christmas and all things magical

Alaina recently found out that Santa does not exist nor do any of the other mythical creatures we as parents make up to find an excuse to spoil our kids rotten a few different times a year. She found out a couple of months ago and it went a lot better then I thought it would.
I help out in her second grade classroom two or three times a week and on one particular day I was seated in the back of the room with a group of five kids including Alaina helping them with their math work. When all of the sudden Alaina blurts out to me "Mom Andrew told me that you take my teeth while I'm sleeping and leave money under my pillow and just throw my teeth away". She didn't whisper this in my ear and was in no way discrete about her questioning. At that very exact moment the classroom went completely silent and I had twenty two appalled eight year olds staring at me because I had the nerve to throw Alaina's teeth away before the tooth fairy had the chance to get to them!

And they were waiting for my answer. Of course her teacher who is normally so on top of these kids (this last sentence is for her in case she ever comes across this blog and recognizes our pictures) is completely oblivious that I am having a crisis in her classroom and if she doesn't do something quick this might happen. .

 They will threaten to mutilate me with whatever form of classroom supply is handy. One will poke my eyes out with pencils while another cuts off all of my hair and eyelashes, hopefully the kid with the scissors isn't one of those kids who is in second grade and still can't properly use a pair of scissors and always cuts outside the lines, I was one of those. While another gives me vicious paper cuts and one rubs Elmer's glue all over and sticks sharp staples to my skin.
So in an effort to keep the classroom from going completely nuts I whisper to Alaina we will talk at home and pretend that I didn't even hear the question. After what felt like an eternity the teacher finally started instructing the kids and I figured I was pretty much free from any terrible classroom mishaps for the day.
When I picked Alaina up from school at the end of the day she asked me again if what Andrew had told her was true. I asked her if she was really ready to hear the truth, because once you know the truth you can never believe anything different. She told me she was ready to handle it so I informed her that he was correct. I do sneak in her room at night and leave money under her pillow. That is when I remember and don't fall asleep before I've done this. There have been more then a few occasions where Alaina has woken up to a nasty little tooth still under her pillow. Thank goodness the tooth fairy always found a way sneak in during the day in broad daylight and never actually be seen. For a minute she just thought about it and then asked me why I would do something like that. I wasn't sure how to answer, thank goodness she's never short on words because her next comment was "So the tooth fairy isn't real then is she?". I told her no and she argued with me for a few minutes about if this is the case how could all of the other parents in the whole world know about this LIE. I emphasis the word lie because in her head I have been lying to her her entire life and am now a terrible person who leaves MONEY under her pillow for her gross little teeth!

Because what she is imagining is so much more realistic and possible!


When we arrive home she goes inside to ponder this new knowledge. When I walked in the door a few seconds later a teary eyed Alaina asks me if Christmas is the same way. Again I told her yes and again she argued with me about it, "you can't afford to buy all of those presents for me and Olivia and Mason" she says to me. I then explained that her father and I try to save money all year so that they can have a nice Christmas. She looked like she was going to become enraged at the very thought of us lying to her about such a wonderful magical thing and then she surprised me. "Thank you! That is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I can't believe you would do that for us!"

This one went down in my victory log. I was beaming, to think my darling little girl just thanked me for a huge sacrifice we make for our kids every year. This is the pay off a parent waits their whole life for, some are never lucky enough to receive this huge gift from their children and I just received mine early. I should have known it wouldn't last long. . .

"I always knew you were a liar though. I've always known the Easter bunny wasn't real!"