#1: Write a Letter to Santa Claus

This morning we opened the first advent calendar bag (I had told Beatrice about the calendar the night before and she was very, very excited about it despite having no idea what it was.) In fact, the very first thing she did when she opened her eyes this morning was demand to see the advent calendar. We pulled out the first activity and I told her we'd do the letter after nap time. All through breakfast, all the way to and from school she pondered what this letter might be: "I will tell him I love him," "I will tell him a story," "I will give him a dog and a coat."

Beatrice has some idea what letters are because she loves receiving cards and other mail from her grandparents (the Snoopy Thanksgiving from my parents was a particular favorite). And she more or less knows who Santa is.

And yet, naturally, there was some confusion. For awhile Beatrice thought the small paper slip inside the calendar bag was the letter to Santa, and she cried bitterly when she accidentally tore it while sleeping with it during her nap. "I ruined it!" she cried. (I had to print out another slip for her.) She also seemed to think that she was supposed to give gifts to Santa. And of course she confuses Christmas with Halloween and thinks it involves trick or treating and costumes. (Santa's costume, she explained, is a hat and a red jacket.)

We took her to our local Macy's where they have a Santa letter mailing station (for each stamped letter you send they donate $1 to charity) and we got down to letter-writing at last. Her first draft?

"Dear Santa,

Please."

After some coaxing, she continued:

"Dear Santa,

Please.

Thank you.

Dear Santa Claus,

I want Madeline. Arthur wants an owl.*

Books

Dinosaurs

Color cool

Bye-bye.

[P.S. - ] My name is Beatrice."

*These, of course, were their Halloween costumes.