Angels and Fairies

Last year we started a new tradition at our house during the Christmas season. It's a tradition my husband grew up with. Randomly the Christmas angel would leave hershey's kisses on the windowsill for he and his sisters. I decided to take the idea and run with it.

Like most things in life, I complicated it. Instead of keeping it simple - random kisses on the windowsill - the Christmas angel left all sorts of fun and exciting things - she even had calling cards.

She left things like...

• red and green fingernail polish (which ironically were of the "sinful" collection)
• decorated violins
• gingerbread house

I set a precedent and now my kids have expectations.

Isn't that what we do? Think about a child's first birthday. The normal celebration consists of numerous family and friends, a multitude of gifts and over the top decorations. But the child isn't really aware that it's his or her special day. At year two they still aren't all that aware, but we repeat the celebration. As the child becomes more and more aware, they begin to expect all the fuss and eventually they might begin requesting (demanding) bigger and better parties. Now we're worn out...but it's our own fault for setting the precedent. (I'm not saying that celebrating a child's birthday is a bad thing, but this is why I personally chose to keep it very simple from the beginning).

Back to the Christmas angel. It's fun and my youngest daughter left her a note on Thanksgiving. The Christmas angel left a note telling her she would have to wait. It wasn't time yet.

My youngest LOVES the idea of the Christmas angel. So much that she has found a reason to be the house fairy all year. In August she was the "August fairy" and often I would find my bed made with a special note or candy on it (August is my birthday month). Recently we had the "turkey fairy" visit our house regularly (again,   sweet notes on my bed, bathroom mirror or by the computer). I love to see her sweet spirit and generosity developing through this little game.

Imagine our surprise this morning when we found dollar coins and typed notes on the windowsill today. I saw them first and asked my oldest where she got it. She looked at me with a blank face. Then I looked at the other end of the window and saw a second one.

It appears the Christmas angel is real (or my husband had decided to join in the fun).