Taking away a piece of innocence

As I said before, being a mother is one of my greatest joys and accomplishments, but it is also a tough and exhausting job!  This past Christmas was the toughest, my twins are 10 1/2 and are in an intermediate school.  They had asked for the past few years about whether Santa was real of not, of course I did what every mom would do, I would either ignore their questions or reassure them in some way that he was.  No one wants to be the one to end that magical feeling.  Well this year was it, they had been asking questions for 2 weeks and had even informed me that their friends were making fun of them for still believeing.  I can hear you now, "no!! You didn't!" But yes, I had to, they were no longer in elementary school and I hate the thought of them being the kids people make fun of because they still believe this magical man comes to their house.  I did the best that I could, kept the dream alive in them for 10 years.  So I told them the true story of St. Nicholas and explained that I, to this very day, still believe in him, he was once a real man. He brought joy to many people and that we continue to honor him every Christmas, just as we do the birth of Jesus.  Of course I could hear the heartbreak in their voices, and it broke my heart to tell them.  I cried for half and hour after that, but we will still continue our traditions, letters to Santa, milk and cookies, I told them that even after they are grown I will still continue with them.   As for the Tooth Fairy and Eater Bunny, they are still real!  Aub said that she didn't want to know about that! Love that girl!