The Stockings Were Hung

This is my 20th Christmas as a parent, and the first one in which I'm not taking a kid, or kids, to see Santa. Last year Wil and I made the pilgrimage to the mall, and 24-hours later there was a shooting in the same mall, in the same spot, and that was enough to further traumatize me to the point I put my foot down.

I told Wil that this year he'd be e-mailing Santa, and that I would need to proof-read the email before he sent it, just so I could make sure Santa would know what he was talking about. God bless modern technology and the horse it rode in on. The whole thing took less than 2 minutes and he's as happy as a clam knowing Santa will be able to make his dreams come true.

DEAR SANTA I WANT COLLEGE T-SHIRTS PLUS THE OAKLAND RAIDERS AND THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS MY STUFFED ANIMAL FRIENDS WANT AN ELEPHANT AND MY DAD WANTS THREE PIECES OF COAL BECAUSE HES BEEN NAUGHTY LOVE WILSON

Today he said, "Care? Will Santa bring a real elephant or a stuffed elephant for my friends?"

"I hope to God he brings a stuffed elephant," I said.

Then we pulled out the glitter glue pens and wrote ELMO on one side of the cheap-o, off-the-shelf stocking, and BARKY on the other. We hung the stocking with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas, soon would be there.