Making Believers Out of Them

On Sunday morning, a little pointy-eared visitor arrived on the scene. His name is Jingle, he hails from the North Pole, and for the month of December, he's taking notes on who's being good or bad, and reporting back to Santa Claus.

Ingenious? Maybe. The kids barely gave him a passing glance before moving on to the family room for cartoons. Joey gave us a look that can only be described as patient disbelief, like he didn't want to hurt our feelings by calling the whole premise into question.

The only thing that gave them pause? The paragraph in Santa's letter that said that they needed to keep an eye on Jingle, because he's pretty silly, and gets into a lot of trouble.

Joey took a second look at the stuffed felt doll, and appraised his mischief-making abilities.


"Are you SURE he can do silly stuff?? Is he REAL??"

I assured him that yes, Jingle was like Woody and Buzz from Toy Story -- he may look floppy and fake, but he's watching them all the time, and leaps to life when no one is around.

Jingle is a man of much fewer words, and much more emphatic gestures.

He had been here barely 24 hours when Joey woke me up at six o'clock in the morning, whispering, "MOMMY!! The little man -- Jingle Bell! -- knocked our tree over!!"

Shattered ornaments... lights askew...a noble fir on its side stretching from the living room to the dining room. The picture was hideously complete. This was Jingle's handiwork through and through, and despite a messy start to the morning, his downed tree squashed any lingering doubts about his magical abilities. Especially when we finally tracked him down, sheepishly hiding on top of the ceiling fan in the family room.

Any hint of back talk, dilly-dallying, or disobedience has been cut short today by simply calling, "Jingle!! Did you hear that??"

If only we inspired the same awe! In the meantime, we're bracing ourselves for his (or the dogs') next nighttime antic ... but have secured the top of the tree to the ceiling beam just in case!