Creeping forward
This is one of those scenarios where I wished for something and got it. My two boys, now 4.5 and 3 are really into Christmas this year. No matter how much I tell them we can’t start worrying about snow and Christmas until after Thanksgiving it is no use. In the very active minds of the boys, Christmas is occupying a big chunk of their attention.
During the day, the kids will always randomly drift back to questions about Christmas. Well, mainly one: “When will it be Christmas?” BigBrother woke up early the other day, after a fitful night of sleep. He has a cold and it’s throwing him off a little bit. He wandered bleary eyed into our room - more asleep than awake. He stared blankly at DearWife and said “When is going to Christmas Eve? When is it going to snow?” Their excitement is really starting to build.
You’d think (or at least I would) that the main focus about Christmas would be the stuff. When we go through the toy section, they routinely ask if they can have this or that toy for Christmas, and I tell them to put it on their list (except for the NASCAR truck. I don’t encourage them to put that on the list). But their excitement, at least for now, is about the season and the decorations and the stories and maybe being with family. It’s about the event.
I know pretty soon that it will be more and more about stuff. But right now, I am going to enjoy this one little moment in time that I know I will never get back. Young kids at Christmas with all of their energy focused on being excited and happy about Christmas, and focused on the truly magical parts of the season.
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November 25, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Apologies if this is a double post. Hit “send” once and it disappeared…
Wondering about your sense that it is inevitable kids will become obsessed with the getting during the Christmas season.
I certainly was as a little kid. I kept my lists. Went through catalogs to circle things I hoped parents or grandparents (or Santa) would pick for me. I remember being up all night Christmas Eve, playing board games with my little brothers until the allotted hour of 7AM, when parents said it was OK to make our way downstairs to the tree.
In part, I don’t want to cheat my son of that kind of anticipation and excitement. At the same time, we are inspired by the example of a family from our church, where middle and elementary-aged kids led the charge to take back Christmas - foregoing presents entirely. Instead, directing $’s that might have been spent on toys or clothes towards charities they care about and choose as a family. So, Christmas becomes all about family, friends, service, and reflection on the significance of the day. It sounds a little radical, but also attractive - in the face of our annual regret about the commercialization of the Holiday.
Also know my hypocrisy is clear - as my wife and I ready again for the Holiday tour of our various families, and stand poised to relish the getting of more adult loot than we could ever deserve.
So, there is some balance we are looking for. Knowing, at last, it will take some deliberateness to counteract the gravitational pull of our prevailing culture in the season of getting (and giving).