Santa, where art thou?

This is the first year that all 3 of my kids do not believe in Santa. DD seems very excited for Christmas, although I can tell that she thinks she is cashing in much more than reality. We continue to talk about cutting back and how we are trying to give to others in these tough times. Then, it hit me - she may think she is the person weathering the tough times. She's not a normal, happy-go-lucky kid. She carries a lot of stress and worry about things. Last night I was working with them on Christmas carols. They don't actually know a lot and I try to teach them a couple of new ones each year (like actually knowing the right lyrics...which I often have to look up)...so she had just finished homework. A deck of cards that she had used for homework was sitting near us on the counter. She could not contain herself. There was no attention to what we were doing and everytime I would even pause for a breath, she would jump up to put the cards away. Many of you are thinking - wow, a kid who cleans up after herself. It's so much more than that - it's control. She wanted to put them away NOW, because that is what she wanted. She didn't enjoy our time together, but I didn't feel I could give in. I try to explain that she shouldn't/can't worry about anything that isn't going to physically harm her and anything that is more than 24 hours away...it doesn't work. I wonder what it must be like in her head and then I wonder if the information about Santa not being real got lost up there. She's expecting a Christmas full of filet mignon and we're having ground beef! Yippee...it should be fun!