Harry Potter, the Tooth Fairy & Santa Claus

Well, I guess I've been busy so far this December, since I haven't posted anything. I confess much time was spent reading the last four Harry Potter books. I'm pretty happy with how the whole series ended.
*Spoiler Alert* (If you haven't read it and don't want to hear more about it, skip this paragraph)
It reminded me of the scripture "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
Now, saying that doesn't give everything away, because all is not as it seems. But, Harry Potter was a true hero and wasn't greedy for the spoils of war, even though a few treasures could've been his.
Also, I was happy that a Mother's love for her son turned out to be greater than her love for the evil leader.
And the double agent hadn't really turned traitor against the good side, even though it seemed that he had and he did have to pay for being in league with evil, by the evil one, not the good ones, which goes to show, "that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell." (Alma 30:60)

Anyway, it was a pretty fun series to read and I've heard that the audio books are really good, too, due to a good narrator.

Geneva lost her first tooth, the morning after Thanksgiving. And we really lost it, left it on the table after breakfast and it probably got swept into the garbage. I'm thinking it's not such a bad thing to not do the tooth fairy thing. That's one of the hardest things to do as a parent. Who's idea was this to have kids hide a tooth under a pillow and then have to sneak it out without waking them up and replacing it with money?! I mean really, someone sticking their hand under your pillow is very likely to wake you up! We felt lucky when the tooth would slip onto the floor.
A good tip for new parents is to have a special place on the fireplace mantel or somewhere visibile to parents, so you don't forget after they go to bed, like an empty candle votive or something. Have them put the tooth in there, then also leave the money in there, that is if you want to carry on this silly tradition with your kids.

Back at the end of Sep./beginning of Oct., Spencer lost a tooth while we were camping, and I didn't have any money with me, except for a few precious quarters to enable us to take very short showers. It was like 2 minutes per quarter. I think after the first night, he put it in one of the pockets of the tent and that's where it still is today.

I know my sister will say, don't fool your kids with lies of Tooth Fairies and Santa Claus, but when you're little it seems magical. Until you get to be about 10-12 and you have your tooth under your pillow for like 2 weeks and the tooth fairy never comes. And it's amazing how many people will ask your kids, "What did the tooth fairy leave you?" Oh, there's a lot of pressure from all sides to be a good parent.
One year when my siblings and I were all teenagers, we stayed up later than 'Santa,' so he didn't come that year. Ha,ha. We didn't think it was so funny at the time, but my parents were early risers, and they couldn't stay up later than us that year.
They always said, "If you don't believe in Santa, then he won't come." They always did something special like adding extra sparkly ornaments to the tree, along with stockings.

A friend of mine has a good definition for Santa that I like; she said, "Santa Claus is just a way for one person to do something nice for someone else, without them knowing who it was." She tells her kids anyone can be Santa, which I think is great.