An Eternal Optimist

(doesn't she look cute in her curlers?)

I don't know what it is about an upcoming special occasion, but our kids seem to lose all sense of order. With Christmas coming soon, it seems like the kids have had more and more bad days. It always amazes me that at a time when they should be on their very best behavior, they are on their very worst.

After a particularly bad day a couple of days ago, I told Bria that she really better work hard to improve her behavior. I reminded her that Santa makes his list and checks it twice. Very seriously, I told her that right now she is on the naughty list and if I were her, I would work very fast to be good so that on Santa's second go around she could be moved to the nice list. She asked me what happens if you are on the naughty list. I explained that instead of toys, Santa will bring a lump of coal, a cold black rock.

Well, since then, she has been working really hard to be on the nice list. Today, she cleaned the whole basement, ate all of her dinner, and helped with pretty much anything extra we needed. As I was getting her ready for bed, she said, "Mom, do you think I'm on the nice list yet?" Now, I really don't want her to think she gets this easy and have one good day, only to start misbehaving again, so I said that she needs to keep working day after day to stay on the nice list. I guess that didn't sound like a very good deal to her because she said "Well, if I get a black rock, I can at least decorate it!"

Why that surprises me, I don't know. This girl is absolutely an optimist. If we send her to her room as a punishment, she says "Great! I'll go play with my Barbie's!" If she is grounded from friends, she says "No problem! I'll play with Max today!" We can't seem to find a punishment that is so dreadful to her that she'll do anything to avoid it. Apparently, we have to add the threat of no toys from Santa to the list!