norad

The car radio segued from the news and suddenly Pook was attentive. "Shh" he asked Bug. ["Santa's sleigh is tracked by satellite and radar..."] They were both very quiet in the back seat while the newscaster explained the technology involved in the project.

As it finished, I could tell Pook was impressed, as he mumbled "radar..." aloud. Bug, however, completely surprised me. "I have two ideas about Santa" he began. I smiled to myself at what I expected to be a cute comment. "Number one I think Santa is real." Ok. He had my attention now. "Number two I think Mama and Daddy come downstairs in the middle of the night and fill our stockings." I gasped silently and waited, concentrating on my driving, but not wanting to miss a word. "But we always put things in the stockings before we ring the bells" pointed out Pook. Bug agreed and Pook continued, "But Santa puts in candy and stuff later." The conversation ended.

Now the conversation itself doesn't surprise me a ton, but the roles are completely reversed. Pook is Mr. Logical, Mr. Enumerate-Your-Points. Bug is Mr. Pretend, Mr. Random-Thoughts. And plus, he's only four!

Fortunately the topic never came up again. Santa arrived, enjoyed his cookies and milk, fed the carrots to the reindeer and left treats and gifts. All was well. Silent Night.


*****
addendum 12/31/08

Bug was getting some candy from his stocking after lunch. I was in the middle of poorly multitasking and not paying much attention.
"Mama, is Santa real?"
"Yes."

ulp. I wasn't supposed to answer that. He wasn't supposed to be the child who was going to ask me that. I was going to be prepared. What did I do with "We're all Santa"? What did he do with his role as the baby brother? One more year! Give me one more year!