Christmas is upon us...

5 December 2007

Christmas is upon us. It’s time. And I’m not at all ready. Well, I’m ready, but I’m not ready.

I’m not ready because I still have so many gifts to think about and buy. It’s stressing me out a little. I’m usually done with my shopping by Halloween, but with working this year, it’s just not done yet. It’ll be fine, but I’d be more comfortable if it was already all done.

I’m also not ready because we’re getting questions about Santa. We don’t want to perpetuate something that it is time to let go of, but I also don’t want to dash something she still may want to believe. It’s hard.

I don’t know if you knew this, but we never really had a tooth fairy. From the beginning she said, “I think it’s just you, mom.” Well, I can’t lie, so I confirmed that it was me (us) but it was a way for us to celebrate her getting older and losing her teeth. She’s great with it. In fact, she has in her mind that I dress up in a black dress and a black mask so that I blend in with the dark in her room. How funny is that?

We were at a birthday party the other day and a couple of other girls were talking about how Santa isn’t real. So, she asked and I put her off until later. I figured I would wait and see if she asked again. And she did, but not until the next day.

“Is Santa real?”
“Well, what do you think?”
“I think he is.”
“Hmm. Why is that?”
“Well, because we go and see him and tell him what we want for Christmas.”
“Okay.”

So, now I can’t decide if I answered the right way. Did I lie? I don’t think so, but I’m sure others would disagree. We really are amazed that she hasn’t put it all together considering the tooth fairy thing, but apparently she wants to believe it for now. So, we’re going to go with that and have fun with it for as long as it lasts.

However, I am ready for Christmas. It is my favorite time of the year. It is the one holiday each year that I specifically decorate for and I love it. This is the first year in several that I have been able to fully all-out decorate. In 2005 we were in temporary housing and didn’t have anything other than a tree. In 2006, we had a 1 year old and I just didn’t have it in me to deal with really thinking about it very much. But it was fun this year as he was old enough to help decorate the tree and begin to understand a lot more.

I have also been ready to do some more Christ related things with my kids at Christmas. I’m trying to really celebrate the season of Advent and not just the day. This year we are going through a different prophesy from the Old Testament each day about Jesus and how it was fulfilled in the New Testament. This is something that I am really looking forward to doing in some form each year going forward.

And as we approach this weekend, we have Christmas parties (btw, we are going to both our office parties Friday night), productions at church, recitals, school programs and parties… it’s going to be busy for the next couple of weeks, but I am so looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun.

I pray that you are able to have fun over the next couple of weeks as we approach Christmas Day and celebrate the glorious incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ our Savior.