Santa and other lies we tell

Christmas is the time for spending time with friends and family, for making cookies and for giving gifts.  Christmas is also the time when parents tell the most creative lies to their children.  Tonight, I found myself in the middle of a big one.  Earlier in the day, I got out my toolbox from the living room closet and forgot to close the door.  I got busy around the house and completely forgot about the closet.  So, I'm in the kitchen feeding Nora when Leo starts talking to me about something in the living room.  Honestly, I'm really only half listening, when it dawns on me what is talking about, our Santa presents are hidden in the closet that is wide open.  Thankfully, I have already wrapped them all.  I have no idea what I'm going to say to get out of this mess.  "Who are those presents for?" Leo asks.  I reply with the first thing that comes to mind, "they are for some other kids."  Needless to say this leads to more questions - "What other kids?, Why do you have them?, Can I have lots of presents like these?"  The questions are flying at me like bullets.  I respond again with the first thing that comes to mind "I'm helping out Santa."   Big mistake, why did I bring Santa into this.  We don't stress the Santa part of Christmas but Leo is really starting to pick up the idea from his friends.  He is totally into Santa and his helpers, the gnomes (for some reason Leo refuses to believe they are called elves, not gnomes like the one on the Travelocity commercial).  Now Leo is really concerned because I'm not a elf/gnome.  The lies are starting to grow.  I explain that he doesn't need to worry because he will have plenty of presents for Christmas.  I then suggest to Leo that we could call Santa later to check to make sure that Santa knows what he wants for Christmas, hoping I could put an end to this crazy conversation.  Leo informs me however that "Santa doesn't work like that and besides I don't have his number."  Great, now it's time to ignore him and hope he gets distracted quickly.  After thinking it over for a minute, Leo decides that my friend, Amy "probably has Santa's number."  How else can I respond to that one except, "lets give Amy a call and see."  Thankfully, this worked and Leo is no longer obsessing over the presents in the closet.  Mental note - Don't even think about opening that closet again until Christmas!