The kid view of holidays

We wade through the remanents of Christmas here at my house - the piles of unwrapped toys that slowly make their way from tree skirt to new resting place, the decorations that will eventually come down, the left-over food in the fridge, the birthday decorations the kids insisted we put up on Christmas Eve. (Including a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday banner because Baby Jesus is a boy so he'll like Thomas.)

And now we prepare for New Year's.

Logan 'got' Santa a few years ago. This year he's asking questions that start my wheels turning fast. "Doesn't Santa get full?"

"Huh?"

"He gets cookies at every house. Doesn't he get full?" he asks with one eye partially squinted at me in way that tells me the question is really about him analyzing every itty bitty detail.

"Well, all that hard work makes him very hungry."

"I'm leaving him one cookie. He's going to get fat eating too many at every house."

"Honey, Santa is fat. That's party of his charm."

"Yeah, but I think he needs an apple."

There was the discussion Santa coming to his school: Mommy? Is it the *real* Santa coming to preschool or just a fake one?

WHAT?!

And finally, "Why can't I stay up to see Santa on Christmas Eve?"

"Well, Santa is shy," I say with a wink to Dad as we sit in the front seats of the darkened car.

"He wasn't so shy when he talked to me at school," Logan quips back.

Crap.

Megan caught on to Santa too. She requested a big, fat, squishy red Veggie Tale tomato. Ask her today why she begged Santa for one.

"Because Mommy said no. I tell Santa can bring it."

Mommy said no to a lot of things leading up to Christmas. Apparently Santa hasn't learned that word. (For the record, Grandma bought the tomato and gave it to us to stick it with the rest of the Santa loot.)

Yes, they both "got" Christmas. This year, however, Logan actually 'gets' New Years Eve. He's understood days of the week prior to this. He'd even had an understanding of the months. This year, though, he's got a full appreciation of a year change beyond the realm of his own birthday. To boot, this year he wants to party, baby.

And so we are.

No. The preschooler and the toddler will not welcome the year with the drop of the sparkley ball in Times Square. But they will get party hats, noise makers, confetti and sparkling apple cider in fake champagne glasses before their natural bedtime. I've told Logan to start thinking - during the celebration he's to share one thing that was special during 2006 (his soccer team, he's already decided) and one thing he looks forward to in 2007 (the school bus and Kindergarten.)

It'll be a nice start to a new tradition.