Grazie Mamma!

grazie mamma! the baby tree smells like Christmas!

and speaking of Christmas, I had a super nice phone conversation today with my friend Sarah. She and I were park ranger partners in Brooklyn until I ran away from New York, but that's a whole nother story.

Sarah has a two year old daughter and we were talking about Santa which led Sarah to tell me the story of how she found out that...NOTE: stop reading here if you're planning on leaving cookies by the fireplace on the 24th and really expect them to be eaten by Santa...

...Sara was telling me about how she stopped consciously believing in Santa (determining the moment you unconsciously stop believing in Santa is much harder).

and do you know what led to the loss of Santa belief? The easter bunny. When she got an Easter basket from a member of her extended family with the explanation that "the easter bunny dropped these off early" she stopped believing. She said, "this is dumb. I don't believe in the Easter bunny."

and from here, the santa myth unravelled. Her dad took her outside and said, "So, you don't believe in the Easter bunny. What do you think about Santa?"

"I totally believe in santa!"

"really?" her dad asked.

hmmm...Sarah thought...and decided Santa didn't make so much sense either.

but had it not been for the unbelievability of the easter bunny, santa might have survived a bit longer in her young imagination. Sarah outlined a few of the weakest points in the Easter Bunny story.

1. The easter bunny has no geographical home base. Santa, of course, has the North Pole. When young Sarah asked her mom if the Easter Bunny lived at the South Pole, her mom said "sure"...but Sarah was never really convinced.

2. Transportation issues: While Santa has a sleigh and reindeer, the easter bunny aint got nothin. How does he get all those baskets and eggs to kids all over the world? If it were an easter Kangaroo, at least he'd have a pouch. And the whole hopping thing doesn't cut it either. With santa, once you belive in the magic of the reindeer, the rest sort of falls into place. but with the easter bunny, you have to buy into the hopping story. How do you hop across an ocean?

3. The mall. When you visit Santa at the mall, you have an encounter with a real person. Santa is a real person. Therefore, that real person at the mall is santa. It's not so easy with the easter bunny. The mall easter bunnies are not bunnies at all. They are people dressed up bunny outfits. Kids know that. It just doesn't add up.

Mall Santa Sidenote: During our phone conversation, we also decided that someone should swipe the laps of santas in malls across America to see just how much e coli and other germs are swimming around on santa's lap. Where is the dirtiest Santa in the country?