Hi stranger!

It's been a while. I thought I might be stopping doing these, but here I am again. This one kind of welled up out of me as I wondered just how much longer our fourth grader will sustain her belief in the Santa story—especially given the fact that her brother left all of that behind about four years ago, when he was in second grade.

Trigger warning: this week's essay does mention Elf on a Shelf. Perhaps you'll be surprised to see that the subject doesn't make me cranky. Far from it...

Enjoy, and I hope you have a great holiday season! (And maybe I'll see you next week, too.)

-Otto