The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

I have been known to tell my children, “Put it on your Christmas list,” in July. 

They’re kids. They want everything. Every new toy they see advertised on TV. Every cool thing a friend, neighbor, classmate or cousin has.

They want a dog, a laptop computer, a Blackberry and a Darth Vader mask with a built-in voice changer. 

When they’ve made their requests over Rice Krispies on a hot August morning or a chilly February afternoon, I’d always say “Put it on your Christmas list.”

It was the ultimate solution. I wasn’t saying no to the $2,000 laptop or the expensive plastic Star Wars toy that would be broken within a week. I wasn’t even saying I would buy it some day. I was simply telling them that they could ask for the object of their momentary affection from Santa.

And they were satisfied with that. 

More recently, this has become a problem. I’ve discovered that the memories and attention spans of 6 and 7-year-old boys are quite remarkable compared to 4 and 5-year-old boys. THEY REMEMBER.

When the big toy store catalog came a few weeks ago, they pulled out fresh sheets of paper and a couple of markers. They RESEARCHED the toys they have been asking for for several months now online. They wrote down the name of the toy, then reported the cost and what web site they found it on to me.

 I swear. 

My boys even discussed which toys to put on their “Santa” list, because those items were expensive and they weren’t likely to receive them from Mom and Dad.

Can you believe it? 
Can you believe they did this in October? 
What happened to fall? 

 Don’t get me wrong, my kids love Halloween. They, again, spent weeks after the start of school looking for really good Star Wars costumes online. When they discovered that none of those outrageously cool and pricey get-ups were available in local stores, they settled for Transformer costumes - which are actually kind of awesome.

We went to the pumpkin farm, drank apple cider, carved pumpkins - including one we grew in our garden this year - and have put away some of the summer toys and bikes that have littered the yard for the past few months.

Earlier this week the boys helped my husband rake leaves and clean out the vegetable garden. 

It smells like fall (wet earth and cinnamon). It sounds like fall (crunch, crunch). It feels like fall (crisp winds and chilly nights).

 So why is Christmas intruding on one of my favorite seasons already!? That’s what I was thinking, in a huff, the other day when my sons presented me with their wish lists.

I made a big stink about putting the lists on the kitchen desk in the spot where I keep important papers. But I really wanted to throw them away. Isn’t that awful? My kids spent so much time on those long, long, long lists, and I didn’t even want to look at them.

But I did.

They won’t get half the things on them, but I’m sure they won’t be disappointed come December 25. Heck, they might not even remember.

Then again ...