BerthaBlog

The NORAD Santa Tracker shows him over Wulumuqi, China, and working his way westward. In another twelve hours or so he’ll be visiting our house.

I think my youngest started to suspect Santa wasn’t real at an early age. Every year he would say thoughtfully, “I think you and Daddy are Santa.”

“That’s an interesting theory,” I would reply.

I think he was eight or nine when he decided to ask the question straight out. We were driving home from school when he asked, “Is Santa Claus really parents?”

I’d been willing to dance as long as he wanted, but if a parent wants to have any credibility with her kids, a direct question requires a direct answer. I glanced over at him. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes.”

I nodded. “Yes, Santa Claus is parents.”

“I thought so,” he declared, looking satisfied. For the rest of the drive we talked about why the Santa Claus mythos was so popular, and what Santa represented to different people, how other cultures celebrated the holiday, the origins of various holiday traditions, and so forth.

We still look for Santa every year, of course. I think my little control freak enjoys the game even more now that he’s in on the Big Secret.

I continue to send off résumés to likely-looking openings on CareerBuilder, Monster, TriangleJobs, and a number of other job-posting sites. So far no more nibbles.

I even considered responding to one of the numerous “tax preparer” ads—the ones that exclaim “no experience needed! we’ll train you!”—although the combination of taxes and retail makes me want to shove a pencil in my ear and stab my brain. The Alpha Geek quickly put a damper on that idea, by pointing out that these services are less likely to be about helping people prepare their taxes than about pushing high-interest loans to people who are desperate to get their returns as soon as possible. This is not why I just spent three years acquiring an Accounting degree.

Alpha Geek advises me to relax about the job hunt. “You’re in the rare position that you don’t have to get a job right away,” he pointed out. “Once January rolls around and people realize the sky hasn’t fallen, the job market should open up again.”

Hope he’s right.