Christmas
I love Christmas. There...I admit it. I love getting gifts, I love all of the songs, I love getting a tree and then decorating it, I love the lights, I love buying gifts for people I love, I love being with the people I love, and I loved having Santa Claus bring me gifts as a kid.
This year, right around the beginning of November, I started seeing Christmas decorations in stores and advertisements for buying decorations and gifts. I thought, "Wow, already!" I was almost saddened because I knew that just as fast as the season begins, it ends. Is that crazy? I almost didn't want it to start.
So this year, as Elias is over a year and a half, we had to have "the talk". You know...are we going to do the Santa Claus thing with him? I have many fond memories of Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we would all go the candlelight service at church, then on to my grandparents for food and singing with carols with the player piano. We would rush home because we didn't want to miss Santa's bells (my dad ringing them from another room). I remember Christmas morning, waking up my brother and sister and mom and dad and waiting until we could run out the door and see what Santa brought us and what kind of note he left for us (we always wrote him a note about how good we were and left it by the cookies and milk...my dad would always write something clever that rhymed in response).
My husband has hated Christmas all of his adult life...the commercialism, the hype, the not celebrating the REAL reason. He enjoyed Santa when he was little, who wouldn't?? But when faced with deciding if we should do it with Elias... He asked me one question...what do you remember most about Christmas...Santa or Jesus? My answer was so quick, it almost scared me. I had missed why we should celebrate Christmas. I felt like the Grinch in the last scene of the movie where he talks about how the Who's didn't have presents, or trees, or a big turkey dinner, but they were still singing and gathered together, the tall and the small...well, you know the rest. I think I had my answer. But is there a way to do both well where when our kids grow up, they have memories not all about Santa?
Okay, I have to be brutally honest. On Christmas Eve this year, it was time to put Elias to bed and I wanted so bad for my dad to go in the back and ring the bells. And I wanted to write Santa a letter from all us kids and leave him cookies. And the following words flew out of mouth, literally before I could think, "Elias, right now, Santa is coming and Jesus is being born!" Dallas did not hold back the laughter and I joined in with him at the absurdity of my words. I felt like an idiot.
So when Elias is old enough to understand, I will not lie to him and tell him Santa is real. I will probably tell him about how the Santa thing got started,
St. Nicholas and all, but I don't want to lie.
My brother and sister-in-law are kind of doing this. I had to hold back my laughter when one of my aunts asked Will what Santa had brought him for Christmas. His answer, "Nothing". She was taken aback...it was hilarious. My mom quickly said, "What presents did you get?" and he spatted off his favorites.
So, to all of you who post comments...what are your Santa/Christmas thoughts?
This year, right around the beginning of November, I started seeing Christmas decorations in stores and advertisements for buying decorations and gifts. I thought, "Wow, already!" I was almost saddened because I knew that just as fast as the season begins, it ends. Is that crazy? I almost didn't want it to start.
So this year, as Elias is over a year and a half, we had to have "the talk". You know...are we going to do the Santa Claus thing with him? I have many fond memories of Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we would all go the candlelight service at church, then on to my grandparents for food and singing with carols with the player piano. We would rush home because we didn't want to miss Santa's bells (my dad ringing them from another room). I remember Christmas morning, waking up my brother and sister and mom and dad and waiting until we could run out the door and see what Santa brought us and what kind of note he left for us (we always wrote him a note about how good we were and left it by the cookies and milk...my dad would always write something clever that rhymed in response).
My husband has hated Christmas all of his adult life...the commercialism, the hype, the not celebrating the REAL reason. He enjoyed Santa when he was little, who wouldn't?? But when faced with deciding if we should do it with Elias... He asked me one question...what do you remember most about Christmas...Santa or Jesus? My answer was so quick, it almost scared me. I had missed why we should celebrate Christmas. I felt like the Grinch in the last scene of the movie where he talks about how the Who's didn't have presents, or trees, or a big turkey dinner, but they were still singing and gathered together, the tall and the small...well, you know the rest. I think I had my answer. But is there a way to do both well where when our kids grow up, they have memories not all about Santa?
Okay, I have to be brutally honest. On Christmas Eve this year, it was time to put Elias to bed and I wanted so bad for my dad to go in the back and ring the bells. And I wanted to write Santa a letter from all us kids and leave him cookies. And the following words flew out of mouth, literally before I could think, "Elias, right now, Santa is coming and Jesus is being born!" Dallas did not hold back the laughter and I joined in with him at the absurdity of my words. I felt like an idiot.
So when Elias is old enough to understand, I will not lie to him and tell him Santa is real. I will probably tell him about how the Santa thing got started,
St. Nicholas and all, but I don't want to lie.
My brother and sister-in-law are kind of doing this. I had to hold back my laughter when one of my aunts asked Will what Santa had brought him for Christmas. His answer, "Nothing". She was taken aback...it was hilarious. My mom quickly said, "What presents did you get?" and he spatted off his favorites.
So, to all of you who post comments...what are your Santa/Christmas thoughts?
posted by Carrie @ 6:28 PM
7 Comments:
At January 5, 2006 at 9:11 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hi there! Yeah for a new post! :)
We aren't doing the Santa thing either. At least not as in Santa is this real person who lives at the North Pole and comes down our chimney. We do have some decorations that Nolan would call "Father Chirstmas" (meaning, not cutsey) and we plan on telling the girls about the real St. Nicholas (with our last name, it would be hard not too).
We aren't doing presents on Christmas though, so it makes it a bit easier to do away with Santa. We decided to exchange gifts on New Years and leave Christmas Day as a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. We did a high feast this year. (Got dressed up, fancy table linens, the crystal, lots of courses, that sort of thing) And a family worship time. I think it may have been my favorite Christmas of my life. I wish family would have been here to enjoy the fellowship with us, but that was the only thing I would add. We're also keeping the presents prety simple (I'm going to post on that later this week-probably tomorrow). I remember as a child just gettin so many presents that that was what it was all about. I dont' like the whole toys everywhere thing, it is just too much.
Oh-I love the Christmas decoration too! We got a tree this year, our first one, it was great.
At January 6, 2006 at 8:38 AM,
Drew Caperton said…
Here's the unspoken factor that helps me [and probably Dallas] not like Christmas so much: gifts, either giving or receving them, is our love language. In fact, the only reason it's in our love vocabulary is because we're married to women who show love with gifts.
I honestly think for you and Kristy, you interpret the gifts and such as love and so it's easier to view Christmas as a very loving time. I'm realizing this very slowly and now know that gift-giving is something I will never rid Christmas of, it's just something I get to participate in, whether I enjoy it or not is my choice and consequence.
About Santa, I think you're right in line in explaining the whole thing to Elias and still enjoying all the presents. It's great to see your heart for Elias in that you want him to share the things you enjoyed as a child.
What would be really great is if we began working on our own tradition that could include the nostalgic things we all love about Christmas, but also keep Jesus' birth as the focus. Kristy and I are still working on this one, too.
At January 6, 2006 at 10:49 AM,
D said…
I'm not a parent, so take all my advice with a grain of salt. I'm not that into Christmas anymore, mostly because of the commercialism, etc. Although I still see it as an opportunity to connect with family.
But I look back very fondly at Christmas as a child. My family did the whole Santa is real thing. With an older brother, I stopped believing pretty young, but my dad would always require us to admit we believed in Santa Claus before we could open our presents from "Santa." At the same time, I also remember carrying around the baby Jesus from our wooden nativity scene. The birth of Jesus was always an integral part. In my opinion, unlike most people of our generation who are parents, my parents didn't really agonize over it. They just did what they enjoyed. Believing in Santa Claus, even once we knew it was make-believe, was fun. But my parents are devout Christians, so the religioius aspect was never lost. I think the "secular" aspects and the "spiritual" aspects of Christmas can mix naturally without causing anyone harm. Just because Santa might be the first thing you remember about your childhood Christmases doesn't, in my mind, mean there was anything wrong with them. You turned out all right in my book.
At January 6, 2006 at 1:16 PM,
Anonymous said…
Don't forget to leave cookies or Santa might eat baby Jesus!!!
At January 6, 2006 at 8:07 PM,
Jessica said…
I found out there was no Santa pretty early because I was a super sleuth. I was pretty mad that my parents lied to me. They said they'd never do the same to my brother and sister (1 and 4 years old at the time) and from that day on they told my brother and sister that Santa, Easter Bunny and all that were not real that it's just a game they play. My brother and sister did not believe my parents and continued to believe in Santa, etc. for many years. When they finally realized that what my parents were telling them all these years was true they weren't mad at all. They were just like, "Oh."
We always had both though, santa and Jesus. We celebrated advent every year, with an advent wreath and special advent devotionals, my dad reads the christmas story or another Jesus' birth related story from the bible on Christmas morning (still does) and we always knew what Christmas was really about. I think my parents did a great job.
At March 3, 2007 at 6:25 AM,
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At March 27, 2008 at 3:08 PM,
Carrie said…
Hi,
I know this is a little late but, we don't participate in the secular side of Christian Holidays either. My children are 8,5,4, & 4 mo. and they have never missed it. They get gifts and we celebrate what truly needs to be celebrated. I don't ever want to hear the question "well we couldn't see santa and you said he was real so how can I believe you when you say God is real?" Stay strong and do what you know is right. We are called to be set apart, right?
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