A Magical Christmas Eve

This evening after we put Leia to bed (way too late, I might add), she kept talking about wanting to do the "True Story of Santa Claus thing." This is in reference to the book called The True Story of Santa Claus, in which a little boy named Nicholas sneaks downstairs when he thinks everyone else is asleep and meets Santa, who proceeds to tell him the very true story of Saint Nicholas and his love of Jesus. She kept asking for us to "leave my door open, so I can see when all the lights are off, so I can go downstairs to wait for Santa." Little did she know that I would have let her wait on the couch if she wanted to. I finally told Leia Rose that I would open her door when I went to bed so she would know when to go down. Of course, I also knew that Leia Rose is a very heavy sleeper, and that she wouldn't make it until then. : ) So I hatched a plan which I had actually been devising for years (which includes this really cool Santa blanket I bought once upon a time for this exact purpose). : ) I took my cool Santa blanket and pinned a note to it that read (in my best Santa writing, of course), "Leia, came to take you for a ride, but I couldn't wake you. In your sleep, you said you were cold. Left my blanket to warm you. Heard your prayer last night. Check your stocking. And Jesus says "hi." Love, Santa

Then I covered Leia Rose with the blanket right before I went to bed.
This was Leia's reaction to learning the "truth" this morning. Of course, she kept calling the blanket "Santa's candy cane sheet." : )