Winnie is very interested in dying lately. She talks about it every day, several times a day. She says, "I want to die to so that I can go to heaven and be with Grandpa Adkins and Abby" (My parents yellow lab who died a month or so ago). The other day in the car she asked, "Where is heaven?" To which Christopher Robin replied, "In the sky." She's almost 4 and that's the best we could come up with on the spot. Winnie thought about this for a second and then said, "Well, then when I die we'll fly up in an airplane to go to heaven and see Grandpa and Abby, ok?"
We will be flying in an airplane in March to go to Disneyland. I can only imagine the conversations we will be having on the plane!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Santa or no Santa...what do you do?
As Christian parents, we have struggled over the years with how to treat the Santa Claus story in our household. When we had Eeyore (our first daughter), we were very new Christians and were figuring a lot out as we went and decided to do Santa with gusto because, well, that was how it was done in our homes when we were growing up and we were ok, right?
So, we proceeded with stockings, letters to Santa, stories about Santa, setting out gifts under the tree from Santa, going to visit Santa, and then we'd throw in a few nativity scene's and stories about the birth of Jesus for good measure. All of this seemed to work just fine until...
Miss Eeyore started asking questions, and we were not quite ready to let the whole Santa thing go. So, we continued to promote the story of Santa being "real" in our home. At around this same time, I noticed that while Eeyore was asking questions about the validity of Santa, she was also asking some questions about Jesus too. Suddenly, I realized that what we had thought was innocent and fun, was really opening her and us up to a lot of confusion and explaining later on. Christmas became a time of stress, frustration and a lot of questions and dancing around the subject of Santa. Why weren't we just upfront and honest from the start? I have no idea. She was still so young and I think it was more about me not being ready to give up on the childlike joy of Santa, than her not being ready to hear that Santa was make believe.
Jump ahead a couple of years...we survived that experience and now here we are again with a soon to be 4 year old Winnie and 2 1/2 year old Tigger. This time, we have decided to downplay Santa. It's impossible to ignore him in our society, but we are not pretending he is real at all. Instead, we are talking about Jesus and celebrating His birthday. We do talk about Santa, but I always follow up with what Christmas is really about. We don't go into too much detail yet because the girls are young, but Winnie has started asking the more pressing questions this year and I am so thankful that we have not backed ourselves into a corner with the whole Santa thing.
I'm always looking for new and creative ways to navigate this subject with my children and my family. As the years have gone by and we've experimented with different methods, I have noticed that this is the first year that I feel virtually no anxiety. It feels really good to not jump through the Santa hoops. I always felt like such a liar! Like I was doing my child some grave injustice by placing her hopes in something that is not real when the real reason for Christmas is Jesus who is very much alive and real in all of us.
Not everyone feels as conflicted as I did and I certainly don't think that everyone should toss Santa out the window. I'd love to hear how you do it in your household. There are as many different ways to celebrate this time of year as there are families who celebrate it. So, if you feel led, please share your story here in the comments section. We can all learn a little something about each other and get ideas to try for our own families!
Blessings and Merry Christmas!
Kim
So, we proceeded with stockings, letters to Santa, stories about Santa, setting out gifts under the tree from Santa, going to visit Santa, and then we'd throw in a few nativity scene's and stories about the birth of Jesus for good measure. All of this seemed to work just fine until...
Miss Eeyore started asking questions, and we were not quite ready to let the whole Santa thing go. So, we continued to promote the story of Santa being "real" in our home. At around this same time, I noticed that while Eeyore was asking questions about the validity of Santa, she was also asking some questions about Jesus too. Suddenly, I realized that what we had thought was innocent and fun, was really opening her and us up to a lot of confusion and explaining later on. Christmas became a time of stress, frustration and a lot of questions and dancing around the subject of Santa. Why weren't we just upfront and honest from the start? I have no idea. She was still so young and I think it was more about me not being ready to give up on the childlike joy of Santa, than her not being ready to hear that Santa was make believe.
Jump ahead a couple of years...we survived that experience and now here we are again with a soon to be 4 year old Winnie and 2 1/2 year old Tigger. This time, we have decided to downplay Santa. It's impossible to ignore him in our society, but we are not pretending he is real at all. Instead, we are talking about Jesus and celebrating His birthday. We do talk about Santa, but I always follow up with what Christmas is really about. We don't go into too much detail yet because the girls are young, but Winnie has started asking the more pressing questions this year and I am so thankful that we have not backed ourselves into a corner with the whole Santa thing.
I'm always looking for new and creative ways to navigate this subject with my children and my family. As the years have gone by and we've experimented with different methods, I have noticed that this is the first year that I feel virtually no anxiety. It feels really good to not jump through the Santa hoops. I always felt like such a liar! Like I was doing my child some grave injustice by placing her hopes in something that is not real when the real reason for Christmas is Jesus who is very much alive and real in all of us.
Not everyone feels as conflicted as I did and I certainly don't think that everyone should toss Santa out the window. I'd love to hear how you do it in your household. There are as many different ways to celebrate this time of year as there are families who celebrate it. So, if you feel led, please share your story here in the comments section. We can all learn a little something about each other and get ideas to try for our own families!
Blessings and Merry Christmas!
Kim
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