It seems that after a very successful run in the parenting game Nikki and I have had our first breach of security.  It’s a huge embarrassment for our organization as you can imagine.  A debriefing on this incident follows:

I did some almost last-minute shopping last night and returned home late.  The lads were still up with Nikki, so I left the parcels in the van and went inside.  After we finally wound the night down, Nikki and I were so tired we decided to leave the gifts in the van for the night. (you can easily see where this is going)

This morning Nik stayed home from work to take Jordy to an appointment, and was taking the boys to daycare for the duration so they wouldn’t be bored.  She got their coats on, and told them to get into the van ahead of her.  Needless to say when she got to the van the boys’ eyeballs were practically popping out of their heads from ogling the skateboards and video games that didn’t even have shopping bags to conceal their very identifiable shapes.

Nikki realized what had happened, and bowed her head in defeat.  The only thing that really has saved us so far is as far as we know they haven’t put it together that one of these things was actually on their Santa list.  Incredibly Quinn still believes, which for a kid as logical and rational as him is rather a surprise.

We went to Bayshore a few days ago and Cael wanted to go and see the mall Santa there.  Quinn would have none of it, and went so far as to call him a “fake Santa”, and mentioning that he would not be tricked this year.  I bent down and mentioned that while he may not believe, other kids in the line (including his brother, somehow) probably still did believe, and that maybe he could keep his opinions to himself for a time.  His muttered response?

“That guy isn’t the real Santa.  The real Santa lives on the North Pole, this is just a guy in a suit.”

So, Quinn is for the moment still hanging on to it.  Cael as you already know believes with the clear-eyed conviction of a zealot.

Time will tell if this morning’s discovery will disturb this faith.