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"When I heard the siren nearing the house, I shouted to my kids, &amp;quot;Santa&amp;#039;s coming!&amp;quot; Every year, Santa makes the rounds in our neighborhood atop a fire truck, stopping along the way to hand out candy to all the good little girls and boys. Only, this year we nearly missed him \u2013 and not just because the fireman was driving the truck too fast.  My boys are old enough to know that the Santa who rides by our house each December isn&amp;#039;t really Santa, but one of the neighborhood dads who probably gave them hot dogs after a swim meet down at the lake last summer. So you can imagine why my 10-year-old might think twice about standing on the curb with a bunch of kindergarteners waiting for a free candy cane from our neighbor, er, Santa. &amp;quot;Hurry!&amp;quot; I shouted. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s going to pass the house!&amp;quot;  My third grader raced to the closet to get his coat, but his big brother didn&amp;#039;t move \u2013 except for a slight, but noticeable eye roll and a smirk. I wondered when this day would come. I had inklings of its arrival after St. Nicholas Day, a German holiday in early December where kids put out shoes at night to be filled by Santa. My mother-in-law insisted that St. Nicholas had left my boys bags full of goodies at her house this year, but my son acted as though she&amp;#039;d just suggested that we all roller skate to the malt shop together or play records in the basement.  So not cool. And then there was the lack of concern over our new location for the Christmas tree three rooms away from the fireplace. &amp;quot;Do you think Santa will find the tree?&amp;quot; I asked. &amp;quot;Yeah,&amp;quot; he answered with about as much enthusiasm as a man in a purse shop. As in, &amp;quot;Yeah, Mom. Knock it off.&amp;quot; But when Santa raced by our house on the fire truck on Saturday, we didn&amp;#039;t have a chance to flag him down. Luckily, though, we live on a circular road, so he&amp;#039;d have come back. I waited at the curb with my third grader and our neighbors, who have a first grader and a pre-schooler. A few minutes later, my 10-year-old appeared. He waited quietly behind us, and then reluctantly accepted a candy cane from Santa. As I watched him return to our house, I realized he was hanging on to childhood just a little bit longer, whether it&amp;#039;s cool or not. Next year, though, I have a feeling we&amp;#039;ll all miss Santa. Note: I&amp;#039;m going to take a holiday break from Good Grief! But once I get all the wrapping paper cleaned up and the batteries in the toys, I will return. Stop by on January 2nd for all new entries. Happy Holidays! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a2308/good-grief-122007/?src=shelter_footer>