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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) slatts | |
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• • • • • • • • •Christmas Day 2009: Sometime this afternoon,
I retold this holiday story to my oldest son...
$ELLING of $ANTA
My oldest son once quizzed me shortly after Christmas. He must have been seven or eight, maybe older—he was a believer for a long time. He wondered why Santa gave more presents to some children than others. He used the neighbors as an example. He felt that he and his little brother had behaved just as well as the two boys of similar ages who lived next door and yet they seemed to have received more gifts.
"Is that fair?" he asked.
This is one of those times when a parent must quickly put on their thinking cap. So, I started by assessing what Shawn's definition was of Santa. He explained that he figured there wasn't much about Santa that was magical outside of his sled and and his flying reindeer. The way he saw it, the whole chimney-thing was just a "fairy tale." Even though we had a fireplace, most of his friends didn't. And Shawn continued to guess that the "ole North Pole workshop" had to be a bit more sophisticated than the "wood shop" always shown in books and on TV--in order, to make He-Man action figures and Nintendo games, etc.
So, now that we had determined that Santa was pretty much a "regular guy" and probably had a toy- factory--not a "workshop" or maybe he even bought all those gifts at a store.
With that, I continued, "Yes, Santa is a very generous guy who comes out on Christmas eve and delivers all the gifts to good boys and girls all over the world."
I told Shawn, Santa does not come down chimneys but rather walks through the front door. It's one of the reasons parents are always prompting their children to "go to bed early" so "Santa can come."
"We adults need to stay up to greet Santa and let him in. Not only that, we need to help out. We often have to wrap and label presents, too." I continued. I added this part because it was the very clue that let me in on "something suspicious about Santa" when I was a kid. (I mean, HOW could Santa have the same "horrible" handwriting my mother had?)
My son agreed when I asked "How would Santa get all the toys delivered if he had to stay at every house and put together Castle Greyskulls and Barbie Dream Houses--if the parents didn't help out?"
Now, that I had laid the basic groundwork that Santa worked with parents, it was time to try explain the "gift difference."
"Yes, Shawn, Santa is that great guy who every year makes that trip on Christmas eve to DELIVER all the presents." I said, "But he doesn't PAY for them. The parents do."
His eyes grew big with question.
He found logic in my rhetorical question, "How could one person afford to buy that many presents every year for every child?"
"No, Santa requests a budget from every parent and uses that figure to buy the gifts on each child's wish list--what you get is always a surprise--even to the parents. But there's only so much money he's allowed to spend--depending on what the parents make at their jobs or can afford that year."
"He sends me a bill around April 15th." I concluded, figuring the craziness of tax-time seemed like a logical date for yet another financial responsibility to show up and be taken care of.
"Can I see the bill?" Shawn asked.
"Of course!" I answered immediately knowing this was going to be the easiest part of the explanation to produce. Hello? I'm a graphic artist. You don't think I could come up with a convincing invoice from the North Pole?
Although, my son never asked for that proof come Spring, he also never questioned again why some got more, either.
• • • • • • • • •
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mrs_nice | |
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клавиатура грязновата, и русские буквы на ней- те что в центре- почти стерлись. Латинские более стойкие- интересно, это потому что они больше, или черная краска более устойчивая? У мышки пропала одна галошина- такая силиконовая накладка, чтобы мягче скользила. Мой монитор- 19" Daewoo неизвестной модели- стоит на отломанной ноге, которую разобрали, убрали крепления, прикрутили металлическую накладку с шурупами и намертво их завернули. Его теперь и не разобрать. Системный блок... боже мой, сколько же лет этому компьютеру? его покупали мне на 3-м... нет, на 2-м курсе, на 3-м я уже неплохо освоила 3д Макс и устроилась на вторую работу. У малыша маленький корпус, дисковод для флоппиков- интересно, их еще делают?; 2 пишущих дисковода, один не подключен- раньше работали оба, но один сняла и отдала маме, и купила новый, а при подключении обоих стал глючить Виндоус. пришлось старый отключить. Памяти 225 Мб. Да, не смейтесь. один раз я даже попыталась докупить... пришла в магазин, но не смогда ответить на банальный вопрос о модели памяти, ушла и больше попыток не делала. 2 винта- один на 120, другой на 250 Гигов. Конечно же, с появлением торрентов его перестало хватать. Вечная борьба за freespace. Самой смешно. Этот комп не тянет 7-й Макс, автокад старше 2007, как он уживается с фотошопом- не спрашивайте. Ах да. Фотошоп. Моя радость- Ваком Интуос А4- уже 3 месяца после переезда нераспакован. Да, и я не люблю ноутбуки. Я ОЧЕНЬ ПРОТИВОРЕЧИВОЕ СУЩЕСТВО. Tags: благоглупости
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ranimamarina | |
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 дедушка мороз, не знаю уж как там я хорошо себя вела или нет, но видимо явно всё это заслужила! спасибо тебе за нью-йорк, за день рождение в апреле, за за новых друзей, за уроки от старых, и за macbook, за свалившийся на голову полугодовой шенген, и авансом за будущую барселону, и за все, что я ещё не вспомнила, за снег конечно же тоже!! и пошли мне пожалуйста в следующем году, что-нибудь опять из несбыточных мечт :)) Tags: devouti, flycard, illustration, new ear
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