Evan woke up today thinking it was Christmas. Really, he did. He jumped out of bed and couldn’t wait to see what Santa Claus brought him. I explained over and over again it was not Christmas, but he insisted on finding out for himself. He held out hope until he walked into our living room. The fact that Santa hadn’t come didn’t phase him all that much. “Let’s just look outside and see if it snowed,” he said as he lifted the blinds. I was happy that he thought Christmas could have come without ribbons, come without tags, come without packages, boxes, or bags, but my poor little guy had such disappointment in his eyes when he looked outside and saw it hadn’t turned to winter overnight. 

It’s my fault, I suppose. We’ve been talking a lot about Christmas travel plans lately, plus I’ve been singing Christmas carols since June. It all started with Madelyn, who was quite the crier when we first brought her home. I sang and sang to try to calm her down. After I went through my repertoire of children’s songs, I turned to Christmas carols. Little Miss developed an affinity for Let it Snow, so I’ve been singing it about four times a day for the past three months.

Then Evan started asking me to sing it to him at bedtime. Little did I know it is apparently the gateway carol. A few weeks ago he started asking for hard-core carols. Last night I did four renditions of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and three of Jolly Old Saint Nicholas with a quick Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer thrown in for good measure (my guy had a hard time settling down last night—hence all the singing). As I was tucking Evan in he told me he couldn’t wait for Santa to come. I had no idea he thought it would be so soon.

I’m going to have to tone down the Christmas talk or else the next few months will be torturous for my little guy. I do love Christmas and I love getting a jumpstart on the planning, but this little episode reminded me not to rush the fall. I think I’ll plan a trip to the pumpkin patch and get some Halloween decorations down from the attic. Time goes by fast enough on its own without wishing it away just so we can get to Christmas.