dear santa

Ella and Lauren were in a particularly talkative mood at bedtime tonight. So, I decided to launch the inquiry.

"Lauren, what are you going to ask Santa to bring you this year?"

"A dog," she smiled. "A real one."

"We can't have a dog, Lauren. We don't have a yard." A familiar phrase.

"We can still have a dog," Ella pined.

"How?"

"Grandma and Grandpa can keep him at their house!" Brilliant, I told her. But the answer was still no.

"What else do you want Santa to bring you, Lauren?" She answered instantaneously.

"A huge eyeball!" She clasped her hands over her head to indicate its enormous size.

I asked the obvious question,"Why?" She wasn't listening.

"And it will have a nose, so that it can sniff me, like a dog. Dogs like to sniff my feet, or any part of me I put under the table. And especially my butt." Ella erupted into laughter. "I know!" Lauren continued,"I know a lot about dogs!"

"What else, Lauren?" She fired back immediately.

"A giant fan for our room!"

"You have a fan in your room."

"But it's not a giant one!"

"Lauren, it's a ceiling fan. How big do you want it?"

"Giant."

"Okay. What else." She didn't hesitate.

"A pogo stick," she said, then added matter-of-factly, "I want to have a collection of pogo sticks." I was so confused.

"Anything else, Lauren?"

"Underwear."

Satisfied, I turned to Ella, "And what would you like?"

"A desk for my room so that I can do my homework." She joyfully imitated herself writing and completing endless pages. "And a computer! So I can write my first story, and print it!" As I gazed at her with wonder and gratitude, Lauren interrupted,

"And I want a hairball!" She raised her arms above her head again, then laughed. "It's gonna be huge."

"And," Ella added, "I want my own bathroom."

Underwear it is.