Religion & Santa & Christmas Eve

Listening to Santa. The kids didn't think he was real, though.

A couple of months ago:

Annika is roller skating in the living room.  G starts throwing his stuffed Angry Birds at her and she starts screaming.

Me: "G stop!  G stop!  G! STOP! IT!"

G: "I'm doing this because I want her to fall!"

Annika starts screaming even louder: "G WANTS ME TO FALL!"

Me: "WHY would you want to be SO mean to your sister?"

G stops, thinks for a minute then gives me this little gem:

"You know, I can't wait to grow up and leave you, because you are ALWAYS a mean mama.  Well, not always, and I always forgive you, and don't worry, I won't leave you for a long time."

I just couldn't help but laugh and laugh.

Then last night he said: "Mama, even when you are disappointed, you are still nice!  Thank you for EVERYTHING!"

He is unbelievably sweet!

This Fall, G had his soccer practice and Annika was playing with a ball on the sidelines.  She fell and scraped her knee.  She saw that she was bleeding and freaked out, screaming as loud as she could.  I grabbed her and took her to the car to get a band-aid.  G kept playing soccer.
After soccer practice, we all went to the car, and, as he was buckling, G said: "I saw Annika fell down and I prayed to God".
Me: "Um, you prayed to God?"
G: "Yes, I did."
Me: "What did you say?"
G: "I said: Dear God, please make Annika's ouchie feel better.  Thank you."
Me: "Did you say it out loud or did you say it in your head?"
G: "I said it in my head"
Me: "That was very nice of you, G."

Today:

Annika: I am four!

G: And I am six.

A: You are not six!

G: Yes, I am!

A:  No, you are googol!

G: You can't be googol because that's when you die.

A: I don't want to die.

G: But that is when you become an angel.  An angel is like a fairy because they have wings.  And you go to heaven where God lives.

A: I want to be a fairy!

G is very, very interested in religion right now.  We really need to find time to visit local Catholic churches. 

A few weekends ago, we were at a store shopping and G started quietly crying. Tears were just flowing down his cheeks.  
We asked him what was wrong and he asked us: "Why did Prince have to go?  I miss him."
It was heartbreaking.  I said that maybe he should ask Santa to bring him a kitten.  G replied that Santa only brings toys that elves make and he can't bring cats.
So, we told him that it doesn't hurt to ask and Santa can sometimes do magic.
G was ECSTATIC at the possibly and he was now convinced that he was getting a cat from Santa.

-Scanned photo- Visiting Santa at Santa's Village.  Summer 2013.

On Christmas Eve we went to church for the children's service, where Annika was an angel and G was a sheep.  When we were singing about sheep, G would say "That's ME!" (seen in the video) and when the pastor would mention Joseph (and Mary), G would say to Joseph: "That's YOU!"  

He is too cute! 

Then we came home, ate dinner and left some food for reindeers and Santa himself.

REINDEERS, STOP HERE!

Everyone is tired and ready for bed.