Christmas in August

I made a horrible mistake on Saturday.  It started out innocently enough, but was obviously not very well thought out on my part.  The innocent part involved Mommy making dinner small talk with Samantha at the table while she ate.  It involved asking her the usual, "did you have fun today?" which was, as usual, followed by "no."  Ummm...Sweet Pea, we went to the water park where you had a ball and were so tired you didn't make it out of the parking lot awake...  Of course, the more tired she is, the more likely she is to answer "no" to everything that's asked of her.  So I tried a different tactic.  I thought I'd ask her something more abstract, something that she might be inclined to answer, or at least think about.

I asked her what she wanted for Christmas.  I figured, what the heck, let's get a jump on it this year, and see if she'll actually tell me what she wants.  After a slightly blank look, I re-phrased the question.  "What do you want Santa to bring for you this year at Christmas?" 

And her response??  "Santa coming!!!"  She went on to tell me that when she woke up in the morning, Santa would come.  And something about cookies.  Ahhhhhh. 

Me:  Santa's not coming tomorrow.  Santa's coming at Christmas, when it's cold outside.

Samantha (very excited):  Christmas is cold!  Snowing!

Me:  Yes, when it snows.  Santa will come at Christmas, after we put up the Christmas tree, when it snows.

Samantha (jumping down from her chair and running to the front door, trying to open it):  Santa coming! 

So we went outside, to sit on the front steps, and wait for Santa.  She finally determined that Santa was sleeping, and I seized the opportunity to explain that yes, Santa is sleeping, until Christmas, when our Christmas tree is up, after it's cold and when it's snowing.  Yesssss!

I felt that it had passed.  We were safe, I was in the clear.  Whew!

Until bedtime, when she told me that when she woke up, Santa would come.  *sigh*

Morning would bring a new day, I thought, and I wouldn't mention Santa, and she will have forgotten about him.  Until morning.  First thing she said when she woke up was, "I wake up!  Santa coming!"  Yep.  Then on Sunday afternoon she proceeded to make up a song that she danced around her room singing, while shaking (coincidentally, I think) some jingle bells that she pulled out of a drawer.  The song, while I couldn't catch all the words, was something about good morning, wake up, Santa coming. 

I never did find out what she wants for Christmas.