You need to gently remind your kiddo's dad that childhood fantasies are about playing, having fun and tradition--although, having also grown up Catholic, I might have to agree with his notion of the resurrection as myth (again, another post). Kiddo can believe in all the silly animals and fairies and fat men bearing gifts and still be based firmly in the solid world of reality...Jeez, we get so much friggin' reality later on in life...just fill the kid's stocking would you.
Hey, kids need to have something to believe in. As an adult now, I'm glad my parents sent Santa. Sure, some of the kids never believed in it, but I always felt kind of sorry for them.
And as a practicing Catholic who's marrying a non-religious person, I'd say my Fiance wouldn't go so far as to call the Resurrection a myth, but he does often refer to "Your God" - which makes me giggle.
I love the image of the haunted house costume. Had to laugh about the brushes. I was a fine art major in college and did lots of oil painting. I never used turp to clean my brushes. Just a bar of Dove soap. You mush the brush around on the bar of soap, stroke it back and forth then squish the tips under running water. Better for your hands and for the environment.
Also, to mix brown: red+yellow in equal parts for orange, then 1/8 to 1/4 that amount in blue. To darken and dull. Too much blue will get you black. you can get a great black with a dark blue and a brown paint.
I had a wonderful tooth fairy pillow growing up. I loved that custom.
@OTRgirl: Dove soap? Really? Hmm. The paint I picked up was Rustoleum (yeah, I didn't think about it at all), so maybe it's especially more difficult to clean up than traditional oil paints...? I don't think a bar of soap would have cut it in this situation, but I'm all for going with the least caustic solution possible. 
Commenting by HaloScan
