In which Santa is stumped

Santa was planning to bring each of the girls a new dress this year, which is especially nice because Christmas is on Sunday, so they can wear them the same day they get them. The big benefit of this is that I don't have to crumple the dresses into a box or bag, making them all wrinkled and messy before they even get worn. Santa just leaves his gifts out on the sofa, unwrapped, next to each child's stocking.

I found a cute dress at Costco (yes, I bought clothes at Costco, don't judge me) last weekend that I thought would be perfect for M. When dh and I came into the house, he smuggled the dress in under his coat so M wouldn't see it. I unloaded groceries in the kitchen, and assumed he had hidden the dress in the closet, our go-to place for gift-stashing.

I went into the bedroom for something a little later, and M followed me. She immediately spied the dress laid out across my bed. "What's this for?" she asked, her hand immediately moving to stroke the satiny fabric. "It's beautiful!"

I grabbed the dress and shoved it halfway under a blanket. "Oh, that's nothing," I said, trying (probably unsuccessfully) for a casual tone. "Don't worry about it."

She still looked intrigued, so I callously made use of her short attention span. "Hey, can you come help me check the food in the oven? I think I forgot to set the timer!"

M skipped happily into the kitchen with me, where we discovered that I had, indeed, forgotten to set the timer. I sneaked back to the bedroom and hid the dress in my closet behind one of my own dresses. She hasn't mentioned it since, but while her attention is short, her memory is long. She won't forget that dress. When it shows up at Christmas she's going to know it's the one that was sitting on my bed, and really, I'm not ready to make up an even more elaborate lie than I'm already telling her about Santa. ("He, uh, brought the dress early to make sure it was the right size/color/style, then took it back to deliver at Christmas...").

So now the dress has to be from me, and it has to be crumpled into a box or bag, and I have to figure out something different for Santa to bring her. I have a couple of ideas, but I'm still bummed because I love the way new Christmas clothes look all spread out on the couch Christmas morning.

This would all be a lot easier if I had just told the truth in the first place. And crushed her dreams.