I Want To Be Small

Today my mom called me because my niece, Vanessa wanted to talk to me! A lot of times I talk to Vanessa and I don't understand some of what she's saying. Partially because of poor reception with the phone, and even more because she's 4 and doesn't say every word properly, or says it but doesn't know how to phrase it so I can understand.

But as I was talking to her today, this is what she told me:

"Manda (that's what she calls me), today I went to the store and I got to see Santa Claus! I got to talk to Santa and I was telling him what I wanted for Christmas. I was telling him about the Little Pet Shop Toys I wanted and the barbie I wanted and the Dora doll I wanted and the Princess stuff I wanted and I was so happy to see Santa. But But But But...Santa didn't listen to me. And he didn't want to talk to me. And I kept telling him what I wanted and he didn't talk back to me."

You can imagine my confusion at this ridiculous Mall Santa Claus not doing his job...or department store Santa thinking he's so above his holiday job! But then later I talked to my mom, and here's what SHE told me:

"Oh well, I took Vanessa Girl (what my mom calls her) to the store with me today and she saw Santa Claus. And she was talking to the Santa Claus."

To which I interjected: "Yeah I know, she said he wouldn't talk to her"

And then she goes,

"Oh yeah, that's because it was an inflatable Santa that you put in the front yard. But she just kept talking to it and it just kept standing there. But she was really excited to see the Santa."

THEN I BUSTED OUT LAUGHING!!

And my mom was like, "What's so funny?" (she really didn't know???!!!??)

And I told her:

"I'm sorry, I'm just totally picturing her standing there talking to this Santa and getting so frustrated because this 'figure' associated with Christmas won't give her the time of day! Ha Ha Ha! She was so upset when she was telling me about it earlier and I couldn't figure out what she was talking about! Now it's just cute...because she totally expected it to be real! She's so young and so free of any barriers that would keep her from seeing the world through a grown-up's eyes!"

And my mom agreed and said she'd never thought of it that way.

But man, it was just so great for me to have experienced that story! I was like, man... She must have been so upset! She just wants to tell Santa what toys to get her for Christmas and has so many expectations of the world around her, that nothing has popped in her mind to say "oh that doesn't exist" "oh you're just being a child- that's not real" And for some reason, it just made me smile all day! :D

Then I had the chorus to this song stuck in my head for a few hours as I kept thinking about the situation: