Secret Stash - JFF

My son when he was little was looking for a flashlight in our night stands and came out with my electric "friend", shaking it saying, "Mommy, this flashlight isn't working"... oopsie....

We have Elf on the Shelf and my 4 year old found the elf in a tote of Christmas stuff. I sorta panicked and told him that the Elf was really tired from flying back and forth to the North Pole so many times, so he was resting in there for a few days and then would fly back to join Santa until Christmastime next year. I think he bought it cuz he sneeked and looked in the tote again and Oh my! The Elf was gone. I think he really believes he is back at the North Pole again.

Another Christmas one. They found a stash of coloring books, crayons, puzzles etc before Christmas. I told them they were for other kids that didn't have as much as we did so Mommy was helping Santa out and did some shopping for him. So, off we went to donate them to a local ministry. I actually am happy they found them. I got so much joy seeing them so willing to help other kids.

And, yes, the hiding spots have been changed!

I have a trunk full of Easter stuff right now. My husband left the trunk open while tinkering in the driveway and my son found all of it. He came in the house with an armload of goodies. "Mom, why is all this stuff in the car? There's not really an Easter Bunny, is there?" And he's looking up at me with hopeful eyes that say "please say there is" Busted!

My daughter was going through my jewelry drawer, where I have safely kept the 8 teeth she has lost. When I remembered they were in there, I halfway tackled her away from the drawer until they were hidden better.

Phew!! Tooth Fairy is overrated anyways! ;)

HAHA AWWW POOR DUDE!! I hide Santa letters with the boring stuff: birth certificates, car titles, social security cards, marriage license, etc.

My bridal shower was a bit on the naughty side (MOM, THAT'S WEIRD!)... I threw all the trashy stuff in a bag and stuffed in my room. My 6 and 8 year old daughters found the candy necklace panties and titty tassels. They didn't know what they heck they were, they just wanted the candy. Whew. Close one!

I always have a secret stash of booze (not that I hide that I have a drink once in a while, my husband [which I'm now separated from] is a functioning alcoholic and I HAD to hide it from him), and I always have a secret stash of candy. CHOCOLATE candy. And I don't share it with ANYone ;)

Aaaw, I love your story. So true how they are 'triumphant and sad at the same time', well put.

Many years ago my oldest, also 8 at the time, came downstairs night before Easter around 10 or 11 while I was putting their three baskets together. And the look on his face was just like you said!

So I said something like, 'James do you REALLY think a giant fluffy bunny hops around the whole world bringing baskets to kids on Easter?'

He hesitated, probably thought it was a trick question, can't be to careful, you know?

So I said, well good then, come help me with this.

Which he did, then and every year after. In fact he BECAME the Easter Bunny, even planning the egg hunts and filling the plastic eggs himself.

His senior year in HS, he was working at CVS, so he actually BOUGHT all the goodies with his own money without prompting.

So cool.

Sadly (well not REALLY sad, but still) this will be his second year away at college for Easter so he can't do it anymore.

Great post, thanks!

:)

If you want to try to preserve Santa for your sons, you could say you only had Santa's E-mail address (or you thought Santa would get it quicker by e-mail), so you typed the letters into the computer and sent them that way! Eight is a bit young to give up Santa, in my opinion. In 2-3 more years he will figure it out by himself, and them you can make it into a conspiracy between you and him to give younger kids the magic of Santa.