my 6 yr old found the christmas list???

Can you let her know it was a list you kept just in case Santa forgot something, needed a reminder, you ran into him or one of his elves, etc.? I don't think it's a lost cause yet....

how about "Santa sent the list to make sure it was OK with Mommy".  or "Santa wanted to make sure Aunt Bootygirl didn't get you the same things".

Aunt Bootygirl.  Wouldn't that be funny if she called me that.

Read a good story last night from a woman who brought her son to my daughter's preschool a couple of years ago to see Santa.  He was a doubter.  They have a great Santa.  Without anything being pre-arranged Santa gets the kid on his knee and looks at the mom for a moment and hesitates.  The he says "What's your name?"  She tells him, he peers a little closer and then smiles real big and exclaims "My, how you've grown!  I haven't seen you since you were 6 years old!"  Well the boy goes wide-eyed at this.  Doubt erased. 

If there's any way you could stage something along those lines it could have a big impact.

There's more to story that's almost tri-related.  Short version:  kid asks for a bike for his dad because his dad was teaching him how to ride his bike but now can't keep up when they go out together because dad doesn't have a bike.  Dad ends up getting a bike for Christmas.  At the end of reading it I'm all choked up and my wife says "Isn't that a good story."  I said "Yeah, that's such a beautiful thing.  The thought of a son getting his dad a bike just hits me right here <sniff>".

This is an easy one - play the Santa angle like some others have mentioned already.  Backup list, elf list, you were thinking of writing Santa a letter to tell him what wonderful kids you have and didn't want to forget something list. 

But it also depends on your reaction when you found out about your child reading the list.  A casual - oh yeah...that's my backup list for Santa might just blow right through the memory banks.  Now if you snatched it out of their hands and made any sort of fuss will cost you - that kind of stuff gets stored in long term memory.

did it have her and her brother's names on it?

You could always tell her that it was your list of things you wanted and you just haven't mailed it off to Santa yet.

I can remember finding the list a number of times in my mothers notepad.  It didn't make a difference to me.

I would just create another list as a decoy and make sure she finds it.  It will leave her confused. 

Ohh, that's a good idea!

Aunt Bootygirl <snort> that's funny.

A fellow BT'er called my work today and asked for "hangloose".  Great, thanks. 

I think I was about that age when I found the list too.  Maybe 7.  I was sooo disappointed in a weird way.  I liked the surprise factor and it really ruined it knowing what I was getting from 'santa'.

Ever since then (30+ years later) I am still a won't look type.  I love the surprise and hate when I accidentally figure it out early.

And I'm sure you're a good list-maker, with names and whatnot.  Can you reshop?  Mix it up a bit? 

Ok guys ,time for a history lesson here.

Santa Claus started out as a boy named Nicolas, back a long time ago.his parents had died so he was liveing with his aunt and uncle in a little saeport called Patara. His uncle gave most of his money to nicolas,so that he could go to a sort of school . before he went to that school though he had to tell one of his uncle`s friends that his ships full of trading stuff had sunk.then he went to the school ,got trained and became a bishop . ( church bishop ,not chess bishop)he was a very kind man ,and gave gifts to poor poeple.(blankets ,carved toys ect.). His  uncle`s friend had three girls, who were about the standered marrying age.(16)He knew that the girls couldn`t get married without a dowery, a portian of money the dad was suposted to give his son in law, to help the new cupole get started.Nicolas sliped in bags of gold for all three girl`s dowery`s but got caught the third time .

 tell that to your daughter ,after Cristmas. 

It would be bad enough if someone called my work and asked for bootygirl, but I have the feeling the gal who answers the phones would figure out it was me.....   then I would realize I have an image problem.