No miracle workers here when it comes to living creatures. The kids learn the facts.

We do have fun with the magical beings such as Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Elf on a Shelf. They interact and answer letters and leave messages. They can be naughty or nice depending on the circumstances.

Ah! The infamous dog went to live a happy life on a farm where he could run free! We had one of those too. I tried to adopt the neighborhood stray but my Mom "gave her to the milk man who took her to his dairy farm so she could play with his dogs."

While DD was away at camp I accidentally left the lid off the aquarium while I was cleaning it and her 'grow-a-frog' jumped out and disappeared. I called the company and had another one mailed to me and in hopes that she wouldn't notice the size difference I also ordered a 'friend frog'.

I considered telling her the truth but her rat snake had died a few months earlier while she was visiting her cousins and I just didn't have the heart. And I got away with it until we ripped the carpet up in the basement and discovered a dessicated little skeleton.

A 'grow-a-frog' is a little see-through tadpole that grows into a small aquatic frog.

A "miracle"? Well, I guess in my father's eyes, it was.
I've always hated tomatoes. Never eat them.
When I was maybe 11, 12, my dad and I went to Burger King. He told me to order my burger with the tomato on it, just to try it, and that I could give it to him if I didn't like it.
I had a bite or two, decided to take the tomato off and put it on the napkin next to me, then went off to the restroom.
When I came back, I resumed eating. Afterwards, I noticed that the tomato and napkin were missing.
I asked my dad if he ate the tomato or threw it away -- and he told me he'd put the tomato back on my burger and that I had eaten it.
I have no idea whether he was fooling me or not (he's gone now), but it'd be just like him to try to prove to me that the anti-tomato thing was all in my mind and not my tastebuds! (But today, if there's so much as one little tomato seed blob on a burger, I can taste it.)

When her goldfish died, my cousin told her daughter it ran away. It worked for a while....until one of her friends clued her in.

When one of my grandsons was about 4, we were out for a walk and he found a pretty pinecone. He asked if he could plant it and I said 'sure'. He did, and I replaced it with a small pine tree, which delighted him when he discovered his pinecone had grown into a tree. I believe acts like these are called positive reinforcement!

oh gosh yes! My father was a farmer and came across all manner of little critters. Every day he would come home and I would run over to check his shirt pocket to see if he had some surprise for me. I found baby turtles, frogs, a baby nutria, baby birds, even a whole litter of baby foxes, these were NOT in his pocket! He was out working the fields and found the mother fox dead and then later came upon her nest full of young. He picked them all up and wrapped them in a sack and brought them home. We raised all of them, they were so beautiful. I had one that was super tame I would walk it on a leash like a dog. We just left them outside and if they chose to leave they could he stayed till much longer than the others but one day he was gone. He would come back to visit for a while.

Now that baby nutria that is another story! If you don't know what a nutria is well it is in the rat family and they get huge they are a menace to the rice fields and a terrible pest. I have no idea why he brought me that baby. It was so cute though. I had a little cage for it and it was like a hamster. Till one day we came home and the cage was open and it was gone. Everyone "helped" me look for it, yea right. My dad told me years later he never thought the darn thing would live that long and had to take it upon himself to get rid of it.

I had lots of turtles, I even had a baby loggerhead turtle but when it started to get big and very dangerous, they can easily bite off the end of a finger when small and even worse when big and they get giant, he made me take it to the bayou and release it.

I also had a baby owl, it had been injured and we kept it hoping it would heal and we could release it but unfortunately it died and we had a big burial ceremony and buried it in the rose garden. There were a lot of things buried in the rose garden. lol

We did the baking soda footprints by the fireplace for Santa with magically filled stockings and presents under the tree and magically filled Easter baskets. We also had a dog that went to "live on a farm."

No miracle workers here when it comes to living creatures. The kids learn the facts.

We do have fun with the magical beings such as Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Elf on a Shelf. They interact and answer letters and leave messages. They can be naughty or nice depending on the circumstances.

My mind went in a totally different direction when I saw the title of this post. LOL I remembered my parents every fall telling us they had a surprise for us and to go jump into the car. We'd get all excited thinking they were taking us to play putt-putt golf or something, which we did on occasion, or to the A&W Rootbeer stand. Instead, we'd end up at the local doctor/clinic and have to get flu shots! Dirty tricks!!!!! I think we fell for that one twice, at the most.

I had an aquarium but I always knew when a fish died, they just told me. We never had any real pets because my brother was allergic. I did have an outdoor bunny and a hamster that I kept at a friends. They all survived me. LOL

I read recently of someone's friend who always got a $100 bill from the tooth fairy. Everyone in their family got one for each tooth. The rule was that it could not be spent and had to be saved in the bank. When the kids grew up, they learned that there had been only ONE one hundred dollar bill, and it had been used for every tooth lost.

When the kids went to bed and were scared of monsters under the bed, in the closet, etc., I would spray the room with "monster spray," room freshener actually. I think they knew it but played along anyway, and it was fun.

I told them we were having "trees" for dinner (broccoli) and "space ships" (that round, green squash) to keep their minds from thinking "green vegetable."

Dad said he could not pronounce the word "purple," he could only say "poiple." We did not believe it and often tried to trick him into saying it correctly.

One year my folks were between jobs at Christmastime, and I had a favorite doll that was missing a leg and an eye, I believe. On Christmas morning, under our tree, I found her all fixed up with brand new clothes my Mom had sewed, and she said the doll had been taken to the doll hospital to be mended. It was YEARS before I realized there was no such thing as a doll hospital!!

Jafralady, it's very common to call a shop which mends dolls (and there used to be a lot but now only a few), a "doll hospital".

One of my friends told me that after her kids went to bed on Christmas Eve she would sneak into their bedrooms and change their clocks. She would set them back an hour so that she and her DH could get an extra hour of sleep. They had always told the kids they couldn't go downstairs on Christmas morning until 7:00.

While the kids were opening presents she'd sneak back upstairs and correct the time on the clocks.

Jafralady....We have a doll hospital within two miles from our house. And any American Girl doll can be sent to the American Girl Doll Hospital. My granddaughter's came back from the American Girl hospital with a wheelchair and crutches!

I believed in Santa Claus for an awfully long time. I remember, one Christmas eve, I was in bed trying to sleep when I heard a noise on the roof. That kept me believing for another 3-4 years. Finally, my best friend told me the truth. I was broken-hearted. I didn't want my Mom to know I knew so I kept pretending I believed for another two years or so. I finally stopped believing around sixth grade. That year I was allowed to stay up really late on Christmas Eve. I saw my parents set up the Christmas tree and presents. We didn't discuss it. (I still had younger siblings who believed).

These Christmas stories remind me of a story that is told often around our holiday table. My uncle, who is now 90, was quite a handful as a youngster on a small farm in the 1920's. A few days before Christmas he pitched a fit over not washing up before dinner. He was 5 at the time. Grandma warned him that Christmas was right around the corner and he better be good. This had no effect on him. Christmas morning my Mom had a couple small toys and an orange in her stocking. Uncle Donald had a pig turd! But, always one to see the bright side he calls out, "I had a pig but he got away!"

Ron

My brother just took a trip to our home town and visited childhood friends he hadn't seen in decades. One of them, the girl from two houses up the street told him a story about a trick her older brother played on her. When their parents wouid go out, they would leave two cokes in the fridge. The brother would always drink both of them, and refill one of them with water and food coloring. She said that for a long time she thought that was what cokes tasted like, and couldn't understand why people liked them.

Double post-sorry.

This post was edited by jannie on Sun, Sep 8, 13 at 11:33

Triple post-sorry.

This post was edited by jannie on Sun, Sep 8, 13 at 11:34

When we 4 kids were quite little, we had our Christmas tree presents on Christmas morning. Our father would have been up helping assemble toys and liked to sleep in, so the routine in our house was that Santa stopped with gifts on Christmas eve, and then a 2nd time. Santa would stop by again on his way back to the North Pole and leave the larger gifts that were not wrapped.

Dad had to have his coffee first, and then he would announce that he could hear Santa arriving from his last rounds, so we had better go upstairs so Santa could stop by with his gifts. We had to stand at the top of the stairs, and we could not see anything downstairs with the way they were enclosed.

On this last visit of his route, Santa entered our front door. Dad would answer the door, and we could hear Santa jingling around the living room as Dad had a one way conversation. "Yes, Ellen has been a good girl this year and knew her addition table well. Brian was working hard to remember to clean up his room. Sheila was a good girl too, but she needed to eat her vegetables at dinner without complaining. Maureen was being very good taking a nap every afternoon like Mommy says."

Then Dad would wish Santa a safe return trip, and slam the front door. That was the signal that we could dash downstairs. Under the tree were wonders to behold, large, bulky and unwrapped.

Years later as teens assigned to decorate the tree, we came upon the jingle bells, still wired to the store display card. Our Dad was quite the one for telling stories and keeping things lively.

Finally got back online....Wow--I always learn something here--guess maybe she did take it to a doll hospital....This was many years ago, so I don't think there were American Girl dolls yet. Barbies weren't even around. My doll was a Betsy Wetsy--anyone remember them? I think I also had a Revlon doll that must have been a "Pre-Barbie" LOL

'Betsy Wetsy '.....lol! I was never so disappointed on Xmas! My mother had purchased Betsy with great anticipation, even making recieving blankets and clothing for the doll. Even at my very young age, I knew that SHE was excited about the toy so I hid my dislike of this poor, homely doll.

I filled the little bottle with milk and juice and before long NO one liked to be around Betsy Wetsy! (Water seemed like starvation rations.)

I wonder if she went to live on that farm with my snappy, snarly old dog? It sounded like SUCH a wonderful place!

'Betsy Wetsy '.....lol! I was never so disappointed on Xmas! My mother had purchased the doll with great anticipation, even making recieving blankets and clothing for the doll. Even at my very young age, I knew that SHE was excited about the doll so I hid my dislike of this poor doll.

I filled the little bottle with milk and juice and before long NO one liked to be around Betsy Wetsy! Water seemed like starvation rations.

I wonder if she went to live on that farm with my snappy, snarly old dog?

Those old dolls- I lusted after Tiny Tears, Betsy Wetsy, Chatty Cathy and her sister Charmin Chatty. I had a Tiny Tears, she came with her own furniture. My littlest sister got the BEST girls' toy ever, The Easy Bake Oven, which "cooked' with a light bulb. It came with cake and cookie mixes and instructions how to make your own "mixes" .

I did the same as socks, the monster spray. He would wake me up constantly because of the "line people", so I made a label with a big circle with a line through a monster and taped it to some bath body spray I didn't use that much. I handed the spray off to him so he could just spray and then go back to sleep, instead of come find me to get me do it. Boy, his room would sure be smelly sometimes! I woulda used Febreeze (did it exist 12-13 years ago?) if I'd known he was gonna spray it that much. He slept much better after that (just giving him control was enough?). Whew.

jannie, that's the toy I never got for Christmas. You know the one where you ask Santa, but it doesn't come? Mine was an easy-bake oven. My son has reminded me many times, you can just buy your own now, but it is not the same.

My grandmother taught us a trick that she taught our parents as well. She raised banty chickens, who laid tiny little eggs. So you cover the little raw eggs in chocolate and give them away on easter as candy eggs LOLOL!

She was also known to try and convince people that rabbit poops were chocolate covered raisins. Naughty!

Dances.