Dear Santa

A strand of lights went out on our Christmas tree this evening...and those of you who know me will understand the stress that this brought me! I was CONSUMED with fixing the lights! Afterall a dysfunctional strand of lights on the tree might very well ruin Christmas in our world!

So, I was fixing the lights...Eric was working on something for school on the computer...Ella was playing on the floor...and Grayson, well, he was coloring in PERMANENT marker all over the legs of our dining table! (Mind you, we are all busy in the same room and the two adults should have been watching the children...but...)

Grayson asks, "Mommy, does it look pretty?"

Not taking my eyes off the light tester..."Of course it does, I love it G!" I thought that he had some playdough...

He continues his art between the intricate wood carving of the table...

"Daddy, do you think that it looks pretty?"

Of course Daddy does not look up either..."Yes, Grayson it is very pretty."

"Mommy, come and see what I did for you."

"G, I am trying to fix the lights, and I will be there in one minute...I really want to see the pretty thing you made from the playdough."

"Playdough?" He seemed confused, "I colored for you..."

Ding, dong! Earth to me...

It was then that I looked up and see the "pretty" things he had been coloring and was horrified. (One would think that I would have at least wondered...see post called Oh, So Blue for why...)

Me in what I would call and abrupt tone of voice say, "G I am so disappointed in you, I cannot believe you colored on the table! What do we color on? Is it ever okay to color on a table?"

"Paper...but I wanted to make your table pretty and special," he says sadly.

"Thank you, but I am disappointed...you know you cannot color on anything but paper unless Mommy or Daddy says that it is okay."

He begins apologize over and over again...

Daddy tells him to brush his teeth while he starts to scrub the table with the magic permanent marker eraser solution (toothpaste), so I follow Grayson to the bathroom.

"I am so sorry that disappointed you Mommy. I wanted you to smile."

How could a mother really be mad? But I say... "G, your actions disappointed me. It was a bad choice to color on a table and not on paper." I felt like he needed to learn...

It was then that he loses the grip he has on the toothbrush he was holding, and his entire body begins to shake as the biggest tear I have ever seen begins to roll down his cheek...

I raise his sunken chin, and he says with sheer sincerity and all of the heart a three-year-old could possess, "Santa will not come see me now...I loved Santa..."

What does a mother say? If he only knew how much Santa loved him!

"Baby, Santa forgives...just like Jesus. Remember baby Jesus and the reason we have Christmas...I know Santa know Jesus and believes in forgiveness..."

I am sure Grayson did not understand...so I put him in bed an went to MY room to cry.

I think Santa just might need to make some more toys for such a sweet boy.