Another sign of growing up

The cat's out of the proverbial bag around here. In regards to Santa, that is. About a month ago, my ever-observant 8 year old & I are getting cleaning up the house a bit. We go into the little girls' room and she decides she wants to take apart the play tent they got for Christmas (from Santa). I told her that we couldn't do it all that easily because it requires a lot of effort. She ponders this for a minute & then says,"But Mom, it was already set up from Santa, how do YOU know how to take it apart & put it back together?" Ruh-roh. I think I had a stunned look on my face for about a second, and I said....Santa told me.
Yes, my child was 8 years old & yes she still believed in Santa. That's a part of childhood I didn't want to spoil for her too early, so Jeff and I decided to let them figure it out and ask us questions, but we weren't going to be killjoys for our kids.
So, later she comes up to me and asks me, "Mom, tell me the truth, is Santa real or not". Yikes. So, I told her I would talk to her after the babies went to bed.
Jeff & I went into her room and we told her that no, Santa didn't really exist like she does or Daddy or I do, it's more of a way to make the holidays seem magical for little kids. Even though it had been Daddy & I giving her & her sisters presents and not "Santa", did that make it any less special for her? Of course not. We told her that now she could help US be Santa for the little ones next year. She seemed excited about that. She also drew her own conclusions about the Tooth Fairy & the Easter Bunny. But, I told her she would still get money for losing teeth & that she would still get a basket on Easter. Nothing would change. She seemed really ok with it.
One parenting hurdle over with. :D