Santa, if truth be told, I want lots of things for Christmas.

Oh, to be 8 years old and making a Christmas wish list. Especially if that note is addressed to someone magical for whom nothing is impossible. My daughter drew up this list for the fat man in the red suit:

4 dogs. Lab — girl, Lab – boy, Golden retriever — girl, Golden retriever — boy. (Like that’s going to happen.)

Gogos, hot chocolate. (No idea on the gogos.)

Bakugon. (Can’t understand the attraction to these toys. They remind me of those roly-polys we used to find on the playground.)

Camera, phone, cat, fish, friends, 10 inches taller, be friends with Lily, loose three teeth. Get braces. (If Santa pays for teeth hardware, I’m calling for appointment tomorrow.)

Oreo and Daisy to like each other. (Why didn’t I think of this? We have two cats that don’t get along. Let’s add four dogs, another cat and fish. Poor doomed fish.)

$200.99

Blanket, Christmas puppets, a bike. A baby that can do Number 2 and diapers. (Dear Hannah, just wait about 20 years and you can have all the “Number 2 and diapers” experiences you want ~ preferably after a marriage license experience.)

Be rich.

Be tanner. (Finally, something I can relate to.)

Have a garden, a TV, Elf-on-a-Shelf, a remote control racecar, fur real friend, iPod touch, big computer and to be aloud to play in the street.

Wow. Leaves dear old mummy speechless. Santa, if truth be told, I want lots of things for Christmas, but life has beaten the heck out of me thinking that I could draw up a crazy wish list and have any of it come true.

Mary didn’t want to give birth to her son in a stable. Exposure to farm life has long wiped any antiseptic church altar Mary and Joseph manger scene from my reality. No one would want to live in poverty under oppressive governmental control.

But Mary praised God. She was chosen among women. Not tan, not rich, not one with soft warm blanket. She did have a beautiful new baby. But no diapers.

She cradled the Lord. She embraced the bridge between unimaginable unearthly splendor and earthy animal-smelling humanity. No iPod, no bike and no $200.99. She cradled eternity.

Eternity. To live in paradise forever. Dear Santa, got any of that lying around the North Pole?