Confessions of a Second-Grade Abby

Last Saturday Abby had her First Reconciliation (or Confession, or Penance, whatever you want to call it). She was pretty nervous, and kept telling me her tummy hurt. She knew it was just from nerves, but I don't think that helped at all. There were 90 second graders total doing their first reconcilation, but only 45 at her group at 11:00 Saturday morning. She really wanted to go to Fr. Tom, the priest she knows and who did their practice session, but the way they were split up she got Fr. Dan, the new priest who she doesn't know as well. But you know what? She got up there, stood in line (looking for all the world that they were hauling her off to boot camp), walked up there, did what she needed to do and came back a happy girl. Which is better than I did. The parents were welcome to go to confession after all the kids went, but Abby was one of the first ones to go, so there was quite a bit of time to wait before I could go. I asked Abby if she's rather just leave and go to lunch, which she did. Oh darn! :) Not my favorite sacrament, as you can tell. Coming up... Abby's First Communion in April.

After reconciliation, Abby and I headed to lunch. It was really nice, just hanging out with her. We had Ava, but she slept the whole time so I could just talk to her without interruption. It gave me the opportunity to save Santa. A few weeks back Abby went in the store room and saw the pogo sticks that I got her and Nolan for Christmas. I knew she saw them, but she didn't want to tell me because she though I would be mad. But finally she did, I said it was no problem, it was just a gift from Dave and I to them, and now she could share the secret. No problem. BUT... last week before Dave and I went Christmas shopping, I needed to know what we had for everyone. So, while the kids were watching a movie, I hauled out the gifts, put them in piles and made mental notes of it all. The kids went to bed, I put everything away, and that was that. Or so I thought. A few days later, Abby asked me about the toys that were in the piles in the basement. I gave her a blank look and said, "What toys? I don't know what you're talking about." And she went to bed. Well, Saturday those toys came up again. I acted so surprised. I asked her what toys they were, where she thought they came from, where they went? She didn't know. We decided together that the elves must be preparing for Christmas, and that's the only way they can do it. (Did you see Prep and Landing, anyone?) I figured if she believes in the man with a big red suit coming down our chimney, delivering toys to everyone in the world, flying reindeer, eating cookies, I could make up anything and she'd be ok with it. And she was. Phew! I have a feeling that this will be the last Christmas that she believes, so I'm glad she was ok with the story. While it'll be fun to have her as a partner in crime, I'll miss her believing days for sure.

It's snowing again here! Another 1-3 inches they're saying. The kids were delayed 2 hours this morning because of icy roads. It was actually a welcome delay--Ava was up most of the night with tummy issues, so I didn't have to push so hard getting ready. The kids had fun, too, playing Wii, card games and hoarsing around. Maybe they should shorten the school day? :) Nah, maybe not.