The Dollhouse AKA Santa Listens

2010 - The Year of the Dollhouse

To say she wanted a dollhouse this year would be an understatement.  From the first time I asked what she wanted from Santa, she decisively stated "a dollhouse" and never wavered in her certainty.  I asked her what else she wanted, and she said just a dollhouse (except for the time she added a puppy, but everyone knows there's no way Santa can risk bringing a puppy on a sleigh ride through the sky!)

I knew exactly what she was picturing, because her eyes drank in pictures of oversized, multi-room houses, ready for Barbie-type dolls, too large for our already packed house.  So we wavered, first purchasing a small substitute, trying to be practical. 

But the thing about Santa is that the magic of Christmas isn't always practical, and when I opened the the little toy dollhouse to put it together, Ryan and I realized it was even smaller than we expected, and suddenly practicality went out the window.  And Mommy went out the door, two days before Christmas, one of those crazy people piling into Toys R Us in the dark.

Don't tell me Santa doesn't exist, because one of his elves found the dollhouse we needed, still in the brown packaging box, looking carefully for it even after she told me she thought they were out of stock.

Don't tell me Santa doesn't exist, because Ryan and I were up until two in the morning (again) carefully assembling the four thousand pieces packed into that little box.  He didn't even get (too) annoyed when I tried to start it myself and put a level on backwards, which meant we had to take it apart and start over.

Don't tell me Santa doesn't exist, because when Abbey walked into the room, her words weren't even words, but sounds of pure excitement and joy.

Don't tell me Santa doesn't exist, because even though she might not fully grasp the concept of appreciation, she gets excited each time we come home and she walks into the dining room and says, "My dollhouse is still here!"

Christmas isn't about presents, and I have non-gift memories from this year that I will roll out another day.  Yet the magic of this Christmas might not have been any more obvious than it was in the split second she realized Santa had read her letter and listened to her request.

I had grand plans of a farewell to 2010 post, but time marched on, so I'm left with Christmas posts and a sincere wish to you that 2011 brings you some wonderful and amazing things.

Happy New Year!

that's Belle, from Beauty and the Beast

I'm not ready for Barbies quite yet