I came across something we had done for / to our kids several years ago and thought I would share it again… Note that these photos are not intended to be portfolio or anything. More to document as family snaps. (I must really like you all in order to let these be seen on the web, haha!)
The story as told in 2008:
I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but in elementary schools across the US they really push the Santa thing. Now I don’t think it is a big deal, and I am not even remotely upset about it. But I don’t necessarily want my kids to believe in something that is not real. We have always dealt with it by telling our kids the historical truth about Saint Nick and then enjoyed Christmas the traditional way with gifts and the usual. Well, this year my 2nd grader (Grace) decided that she wasn’t sure about it one way or the other. Add to that the fact that for the last couple of months our family has been really enjoying Mythbusters a great deal. Put 2 and 2 together and we ended up doing a home version of Mythbusters… on Santa.
Now it is important to point out that we were not planning to celebrate our Christmas on Christmas Day because Mason (my husband) had to work that day. But the kids thought that Santa would not be aware of the information, and would bring the gifts at his regularly scheduled delivery time. This fact is the only way I could ever have considered pulling this on the kids.
-The Set up-
We talked about our experiment for days ahead of time. We decided we would need a couple of things to get ready.
-First off, we needed to figure out when we thought Santa would come so we could intercept him. Grace took a poll among our family and 4 out of 5 of us guessed that he would come around Midnight, since North Pole, Alaska is only about 300 miles from here. We made sure to set up a clock to record the time when Santa came, if he came at all.
-We set up the camera on tripod to take a photo every 1/2 hour, with a 3 second shutter speed since it would be dark (and for the fun motion effect I knew we would need).
-The night before Christmas, the kids wrote Santa some really cute notes inviting him to enjoy the refreshments, and let him know about the camera and requested that he let it take some photos of him.
.jpg "Santa's note")
-Then they set up the cookies and egg nog in front of the area of possible activity. (Egg nog because they thought it would be even more enticing for Santa.) Note the clock. That was to verify the time.
-The kids also extracted promises from each family member to NOT EAT THE COOKIES AND DRINK THE EGGNOG. This was the set up:
In the morning the kids were so excited. The cookies and milk were gone!
And Santa had written back!
Grace read her note. Which takes time when you are in second grade and not very good at reading Santa’s fancy cursive.
And when she got to the part in Santa’s note when he said:
“I am so glad you have been such a good girl your whole life! I know you will enjoy the presents I picked out JUST FOR YOU!”,
she jumped up and looked over at the tree. She immediately noticed something wrong. There were NO presents. (Remember, we weren’t going to celebrate that day, so don’t hate me.)
I suggested she review the photos that “the camera” took the night before.
So we snuggled together on the couch and looked at the LCD on the Camera.
This is what she saw:
And then in the next frame, she saw this:
At that point, she jumped up and yelled that Santa was for real and he was really there!
But where were all the gifts under the tree now? We looked back to the camera for info.
The next couple frames didn’t explain. And all those presents were clearly there in the photos.
And then she was shocked with this next frame:
That explained everything. The camera dutifully told the tale with each photo after that showing no gifts under the tree. Even the gifts the kids had put under the tree themselves…. were gone.
This was my sons response to the new development:
.jpg "(c)Ambience Photography")
Backstory:
You have to understand that after the kids went to bed, I went to work. Though I am not usually ornery to small children on Christmas, I had concocted a plan and it was going to be fun. REAL FUN. Besides, I was presented with a great opportunity and I just couldn’t resist.
My camera doesn’t really do time lapse at all. All I did was wait for them to go to bed, turn the hands on the clock and take a photo. Change the circumstances, move hands on the clock and then take another photo.
Important note: I didn’t break my promise about the cookies and eggnog. I just put the cookies back into the tin and poured the eggnog back into the jug. Sneaky, huh.
The kids thought that there was NO WAY the Grinch could be so mean to take all their gifts on Christmas. They thought that perhaps he had hid them somewhere in the house. They began to search. They looked everywhere. (I was sure glad I had hidden them so well.)
Under the stairs:
In the play kitchen fridge:
.jpg "(c)Ambience Photography")
Under the sink:
.jpg "(c)Ambience Photography")
Mercy was so happy to find her bag of candy from Grandma’s house the night before. Somehow the Grinch had missed it.
They found a few gifts here and there that the Grinch had forgotten. There was one for everyone, except Gracie.
Gracie said that next Christmas Eve she planned to hide behind the kitchen counter all night and wait for the Grinch…. with a baseball bat ready for action.
Then I noticed that Grace was starting to show signs of… shall we say… wearing thin. So I asked her how she was doing and she sort of crumpled.
I set the camera aside and snuggled her for a while. It was so hard not to cave in and tell them about the hoax. But I had promised Mason that I would wait and follow our really fun plan to completion. It really was hard.
A little while later Mason called from work. The kids told him all about the situation. His response was typical for him. (Mason is in Law Enforcement, nuff said.) He told the kids to have me go email Santa and request the Special Force Elf Squad (SFES) a request to pick up the Grinch and make him confess where he put the gifts. He asked the kids if they had any leads. Andrew (age 10) suggested they look in the mountains, since that is where the Grinch’s hideout has been rumored to be. Andrew went so far as to look for outside for footprints in the snow, but the wind had blown them all away during the night. (Go figure!)
Then the kids and I packed up to spend the rest of the day at Grandma and Grandpa’s house with all the cousins, aunts and uncles. The adults spent the first couple hours telling and retelling the story of the mornings events, and then hatching the plan for the grand finale’. My kids spent their time proving to thier cousins that Santa and the Grinch were REAL and they had the photos and letters to prove it. Everyone under 12 was self proclaimed believers after just a few minutes with such convincing evidence.
After my hubbie arrived, we began the next stage of our plan.
I had the kids do a video interview about the nights events. And at the end of the interview the door bell rang and to the delight of my kids…
In came Santa. And he was leading the Grinch in handcuffs.
Now it must be pointed out that at the kids were such strong believers in what had occured that they thought that this was the REAL Santa and Grinch. They were positive that these were the real guys.
Santa scolded the Grinch for ruining the kids’ Christmas, being generally naughty and having his heart two sizes too small. The Grinch said he was sorry and he would never be so naughty again.
The kids (and especially dear Uncle Jamiin) were so happy when Santa told them he put their gifts into the hall closet back at their house.
And then to all the children’s extreme shock, Santa took off his beard and hat. It was Grandpa under there. The Grinch took his off too, and it was only uncle AJ. (Who, I might add, had been a little nervous about jeopardizing his relationship with the children by playing this role.)
In the end, all was well.
The kids forgave uncle AJ after I explained what had happened and that it was actually me dressed up as Santa and the Grinch in the photos.
And when we got home, the children helped me bring the gifts out of the closet. We snuggled up on the couch and talked about the real meaning of Christmas. And in the morning the children were all so happy that the gifts were still there.
The End.
Hope you all enjoyed this little story. We had the best Christmas ever, and I bet my kids will love to remember and tell their kids about it when they are 50.
Update to Christmas 2010.
Mercy is now the one in second grade… and she still believes in Santa. Though she is convinced that Grandpa is Santa for real.
Gracie still thinks it was a dirty trick… but pretty funny too.
Andrew just told me that it really WAS the best Christmas ever… but we shouldn’t feel the need to repeat it. However, he would like to teach Mercy all about Christmas in some sneaky way now that she might be old enough to understand.
