The Christmas Excitement begins…
I really haven’t gotten this excited about Christmas in a while. I think its so neat to be sharing this holiday with a little one, especially when its your son! I have had one really big concern though. I don’t want to do Santa Claus. A lot of people have been telling me that I NEED to do Santa, but I hate the idea that I’m lying to him. But then again, I do want to tell him about baby Jesus.
Things get a little tricky here because while Jeff goes to church (Presbyterian) with me, he has extreme doubts about God, souls, the afterlife and all that. If there were any doubts to his doubts, we have a subscription to Skeptical Inquirer. He basically believes that when you die, there is no where further to move on from that. You’re just dead. So for Jeff, I guess it would be lying to talk about Christmas and the Christmas story.
I, on the otherhand, want to believe that there’s something. I guess vision of the after life is a little foggy, but I think that there’s something. Anyway, I just think that if you are going to celebrate Christmas, you should celebrate Christmas, not Santa Claus. I guess that I’m going to try and explain to Jack that while we don’t think that Santa Claus is real, that doesn’t mean that other kids don’t and we need to respect that. I think this whole thing is tricky, but I want Christmas to be special, not that whole commercialized Christmas thing. Everyone gets presents, but they are special and meaningful, not just the very best and newest toys.
It’s hard trying to be a really great parent. I want Jack to appreciate what he has and what he gets for Christmas, but I also want it to be a special and magical time. I guess I need to learn how to balance everything.