Slowly but surely we're getting some decorations up for Christmas. It has been nice just doing a little here and there--no pressure, no stress. We're getting our tree on Saturday and I am looking forward to watching Timothy's expression as we bring it into the house and start to decorate it. I can only imagine he'll consider it a toy--hmmm. I'll have my work cut out for me now that he is scooting around.
Timothy's not going to get the whole holiday thing this year, although I'm sure he'll have a blast tearing paper off of boxes. He LOVES tearing up paper. Could be his favorite activity. Thinking ahead to next year, and the many Christmases to come, I'm really excited about establishing our family traditions and helping to make it a magical time for him. Truth be told though, I don't feel the need to do too much this year. So many of the ways we celebrate Christmas are really there for the children in our lives (and perhaps the child in all of us) and my own little one won't be able to appreciate any of my efforts. I'm so excited about next year, though.
I wish I could remember a time when I truly believed in something magical the way children do. To actually feel the kind of excitement of Santa Claus--reading the Night Before Christmas, leaving cookies out, straining your ears to see if perhaps, you might just hear him creeping down the chimney. My brother feels differently from me here. There is the desire to not lie to his children. But, I don't really see that a lie has to be part of the creation or mystery of Santa. It is pure imagination. And I think there is something to be said about the natural mental process of beginning to wonder and question and actually figure it out, whenever that might happen.
So, what do you think? Santa or no Santa?
2 comments:
I'm all for it. I don't have a good reason why. Dave was originally concerned that it would be weird and confusing to teach Andrew about Santa and God. "So, Mom, if Santa is not real...then what about God?" I'm not really concerned about that. I really, really like the idea of Santa. I the magical part, the imagination part and once he catches on, we won't try to convince him, we'll just let it go away...a little.
And the Santa years don't last long. About half of my Kindergartens were not believers. But, the other half were hard core. It is not as though the non-believers broke the news to the believers. It was more like a "yes he does!" "no he doesn't!" discussion. And when they would ask me I would say "Some people believe that there is a Santa and some people don't. What do you think?" Same answer, I guess, when they would ask about God.
ok. the end.
I'm so glad you added that link, Andrew. It sounded familiar as I was reading it, but felt new at the same time. I think that is the piece I want to share with Timothy--not the 'I want this or that', but rather the joy that such a belief can give our children.
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