Christmas 2008 was the year...
...we stayed home and celebrated Christmas as a family for the first time. Last year, I was 8 months pregnant with Anna, so we were really home for that Christmas, too, but Greg's family was with us. This was the first year we celebrated actual Christmas with just the four of us. It was nice. Different, but nice. We are hoping to stay home every other year for Christmas, so that we can have some family traditions on Christmas morning. My family was always, and I mean always, traveling for Christmas. While that was fun, too, I did miss having a traditional Christmas morning experience.
...we played up Santa. We've always been borderline ambivalent about the whole Santa thing, and I just don't like the idea of lying to my kids about anything...but this year, what with our train ride with Santa, the Santa who rode through our neighborhood on a big fire truck, and the Santas that our neighbors had in their yards...let's just say, Santa came up a lot. Luke was very convinced that Santa was going to bring him Murdoch the train, which we hadn't planned to get....so of course, we ended up getting it for him. We also put out cookies for Santa.
What a lovely smile:).
On Christmas Eve, we read both The Night Before Christmas and the story of Jesus' birth in Luke's Toddler Bible. Afterward, we talked about how Santa only lives in our imaginations, but Jesus really lived on earth, and how He was born here so that he could save us from our sins. And how Christmas is a celebration of his birth. Next year, I hope to emphasize that theme a lot more.
...we discovered that pictures with Santa are WAY overpriced and overrated. Greg thought it would be free...like, Santa would be there and you could take your own pictures. If only. They did volunteer that while you weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the rope, they "couldn't do anything" if you took pics outside. So Greg got a few, and we bought one of the cheaper (but still expensive) packages.
...we needed eggs. First, I needed an egg on Christmas eve, when Luke and I made cookies for Santa. We borrowed it from a neighbor. Then, on Christmas morning, we decided to have a pancake breakfast...and, of course, had no eggs. This time, Greg went to Walgreens, making us "those people" who shop on Christmas. The cashier said that everyone was buying eggs. And Greg noticed they were completely out of maple syrup and pancake mix. I guess everyone had the same idea we did!
...we got each other vacuums...and liked them! Greg had been wanting and needing a shopvac, and he had found a light, cordless upright that he thought would be good downstairs so that I wouldn't have to sweep so much. Sadly, we were very happy with these gifts. How boring is that??
...it felt like spring outside. After Anna napped, we all walked to a nearby playground in short sleeves and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
...we ate like there was no tomorrow. Seriously. I know that it's the holidays and everything, but this year seemed a little excessive even by holiday standards. I guess I'm not used to so many sweets in the house and didn't know how to handle it! The worst offenders were my mom's delicious iced sugar cookies, my apple pie, and a red velvet cake baked by a family friend. Oh, and the M&M machine mom brought for Luke.
So that was Christmas for us. We hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday, and a that you have a wonderful year in 2009!
3 comments:
I love the look on Anna's face..she is getting the idea! Great explanation of Santa and Jesus. I love the fantasy of Santa, but he definitely neednt take over any "God roles" or distract from what is really the point.
Glad you guys had such a great Christmas ...all of them! :)
Santa always came to my house as a child, and he still does- and as far as I can tell, our children are fine and had suffered no long-term effects. :o) So no worries. And when they asked us point-blank about Santa, we shared how Santa works through us and that YOU can help Santa with us, sshhh!
I like to think of Santa as the concrete idea of "giving" since children have such trouble with the abstract. And Jesus has a whole history book written about him- so no confusions there!
Ann, those are good points. My mom, too, suggested that Santa is the representation of the Christmas spirit, which I took to mean, of giving. When I asked my dad point blank about santa at around age 4 (specifically, I said I didn't think he existed), my dad told me I was right and congratulated me for being so smart:). From then on, we "pretended" about Santa, but I never really believed in him. So it is good to hear a case where you do play up Santa, and there isn't this crushing revelation where the kids find out it's fake. I like your explanation...and no one can argue about how you or your kids turned out:). I've taught all three of them in Sunday school, and they are amazing!
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