When your children are sick for a week, this seems to put everything off kilter for the same amount of time - if not more. I wish I had more to report on what I did during this blogging break, but really - nothing much of interest. Christmas cards are sent, educational requirements for my CPA license completed, bills are paid, some stuff completed for the Big Idea (which is going AWESOME, BTW), some Christmas shopping endured, various paperwork has been completed, slow progress on Anjali's blanket has been made, a book was read (Jenny McCarthy's book Louder Than Words about her son's autism. It was okay. A little dramatic, but that is McCarthy's usual style of writing. I did find her connections with food and diet fascinating - I wholeheartedly believe there is a connection/solution there. Her experiences only confirmed that for me. The part that broke my heart the most is that she is able to do all these special therapies with her son that normal folks simply cannot afford.) and I began another book (Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics which is absolutely stunning, compelling and beautiful thus far!) Anyway.....
For whatever reason, whenever I mention Santa, Arun immediately pipes up with the word "trumpet". I do not know if they have one at preschool or if it is something he has picked up from Jack's Big Music Show, but the kid is associating Santa and trumpets for whatever reason. Lucky for him, I finally found one. Who knew that such a simple kid toy would be so fucking hard to find? I searched everywhere - Restoration Hardware, ToysRUs, Walmart, Target, and online..... I found one at the Toy Store in downtown Lawrence.
So, yes. We are going to do Santa with our kids. X thinks it is silly since in India, Christmas is actually about a Mass for Christ (for reals? Who woulda thunk?) However, I suspect when he sees how much fun the kids have with Believing, he will be on board with the white-bearded geezer. I will admit, I am still not sure how I will answer the inevitable questioning of the veracity of Santa from my kids. I do not remember the exact moment when I found out Santa was a fraud, so I must not have been too broken-hearted (or perhaps, I have merely repressed the trauma?) Regardless, I still found him a lovable old coot, even if he was a figment of my imagination. Besides, the concept of Santa is fun, so what is the harm?? We will not go overboard with the "naughty or nice" theme and Santa will only bring a toy or two, not the entire Yuletide Bounty. I do not see that this is a big deal.
Anyway.....in other spaces, I have posted at the FoodieBytes blog about the "one and only one" Christmas food you would choose. We are getting some really cool mentions out in the Blue Nowhere so I talk about that as well. At the BoobLog, I am talking about how useless baby cereal was for us and how I do not see myself going that route much with Anjali. Bring on the lentil soup!
9 comments:
I deduced that Santa was a fraud at a very young age (definitely before kindergarten), and according to my mom, it didn't bother me at all. My brother, on the other hand, had a quite traumatic experience when he realized all at the same time that the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, AND Santa were all fictional, and claimed he could never trust my parents again. He was probably 8 or 9 at the time, but I'm pretty sure even he got over that in a day or so.
What I have sort of thought of doing, in the very vague sense as I have no children nor will there be any in the near future, is just treating Santa like any other character out there. When you think about it Santa is just as "real" as Dora or Big Bird or whomever all the kiddos are into these days. No idea if that'll actually work, though, since children don't receive gifts from Big Bird under their tree. Maybe you can test that theory out for me. :-)
We are running into the part where Drew has several friends who don't believe, but I don't want him to ruin it for his younger brother. That's going to get tricky.
I really respect that you are trying to keep it a little more sane with the Santa gifts. I wish we had been able to do that, but we set a precedent years ago. Sigh.
It is really funny because Abby knows that I am the tooth fairy and suspects that I am the Easter Bunny but believes without a shadow of doubt that Santa is real. Audrey realized last year and thinks it is cool to be in on the secret. We keep our loot to the minimum as well - one thing that is high up in the want dept (within reason) and usually some much needed winter clothes that I would have bought regardless. We try to keep it simple as possible.
I feel very much the same way about Santa. It's just a fun magical story and yes, I am encouraging my kids in that belief. This year, though, I do want to show them that we get them gifts, too. Rachel can read the gift tags this year, so that should make a difference. I like the idea that Santa gives you one or two things you really wanted and your parents and siblings give the rest. And actually, my kids have only ever asked Santa for one or two things (so far), so that works well.
Sorry your kids were sick all week. Hopefully they are feeling better now. Guess they got it over with before Christmas, eh?
I own Calamity Physics and was not a fan...but that's not the point. I would have given it to you for free!! Check my GoodReads list and hoard yo Borders money. You can always mail it back (although I would have encouraged you to keep Calamity Physics!)
Santa is fun for kids. When I was teaching, I would often talk about Santa with my students. It was so exciting for them. We are definitely doing Santa in my house.
I have to side with X on the Santa issue. However, I endure (but not endorse) Santa with the eventual hope that Goofy Junior will know that the 'spirit' of Santa is the spirit of GIVING. That gets forgotten all too often this time of year. Oh yeah, and the fact that the holiday is about that Christ guy, not how much crap we can buy for others. (end soapbox)
Stephanie,
That is a good approach - treating Santa as a "character". Hmmm....
Jenny,
I never ruined it for my sister - I knew somehow that if I did, Santa would not bring presents FOR ME, either. hee hee
Flybunny,
Okay - that is just too damned funny that Abby has not caught onto your Santa gig yet!!
Colleen,
I was a little shocked when I learned that in some families, Santa brings EVERYTHING under the tree! In my mind, I always thought that Santa would not have such room to bring tons of toys for everyone and that is why we got just 1 or 2. That was logical in my mind.
Monkey,
Will email you about Calamity Physics.....
Christy,
EXACTLY. No harm. No foul. Santa is FUN.
Goofy Girl,
Ah, I sorta expected your response. ;-) Speaking of giving, I am always shocked at how kids are not expected to give presents - I remember as early as 3rd grade, carefully wrapping gifts that I had purchased with my own money. Of course, we lived in a small town where I could actually go to the store BY MYSELF, but still.... My kids will be buying gifts at early ages, too.
I have two tidbits on this :)
1) my discovery of the Santa scheme: I started noticing that the handwriting on the gift tags was the same, the paper was the same as some of our other family members gifts and that occasionally... the presents would be out before christmas eve (i think my parents may have been doing that intentionally lol)-- anyway-- i wasnt all that broken hearted- i found their attempts at explaining my questions amusing...
2)The santa myth (along with many other childhood myths) serves as a buffer for when you try to instill values that are rather intangible and not really based on any inherent "right" in the world (ie: the concepts of justice, peace, unity, generosity etc etc..) as it fosters the ability to believe in something that does not exist-- (because i truely believe you have to convince children to believe in the beginning (since santa is different every year and he is everywhere and so on and so forth- the extreme lengths that some parents will go to start the belief is amazing :) )and then they later have the ingrained belief that shatters :) ) aanyway :) could be way off base- but it is a concept i picked up from this really long and REALLY strange movie (its called hogfather if you have any interest ;) )and it made a lot of sense at the time :)-- ok that turned out longer than i intended :) sorry! :)
Post a Comment