Joy

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Lying to Your Kids - Repost from Last Christmas

Are we going lie to our child about Santa Claus? Yes, we are, we are going to lie about the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy as well. "But then she will question the truth about Jesus and become an athiest" (or so I have been told.) The truth is though, I have never met the person who responded in that way nor do I believe that has ever happened. If it has, then I think that person must have deeper issues and was not really a true Christian in the first place.
"But then your child will miss the real meaning of Christmas and focus on Santa instead of Jesus." Yesterday, I was told that the virgin birth should be reason enough for Claire to be excited about Christmas. Now, I don't know about you but I have never explained what a virgin is to a young child, let alone a virgin birth and expected them to see the greatness in that. If you want to try, then more power to you.


Growing up my brothers and I were lied to about Santa and I am so thankful. It made Christmas such a (and I hesitate to use this word) magical time. I have no doubt that the reason I get so excited about Christmas is because of how amazing it was as a child. My parents were pretty conservative about Santa compared to our friends. We never had images or characters of Santa and even to this day we don't buy anything that has Santa on it as the Christmas icon. For us, Jesus was of course the reason we have Christmas and Santa was an added bonus.I remember vividly the day my mom told me there was no Santa. I was 6 years old. She called me into the kitchen away from my brothers (both still believed but apparently one of my friends had told me there was no Santa and I began to ask questions). My mom quietly told me that it wasn't Santa that put gifts in our stocking. "Is it Jesus?" I asked. "No, it's me and Dad, but it is fun to pretend and you can't tell the boys because they still think there is a Santa and we don't want to take the fun away from them" I then felt extremely privileged with this classified knowledge and made sure to guard this secret carefully.


A few years later, I was helping in Bryan's Sunday school class (he was 5 at the time) and a girl in the class raised her hand with a prayer request. "I want to pray for all the kids who still believe in Santa - cause we know he is fake" she said. I remember being mortified that now poor young Bryan had his childhood stolen from him. Luckily, he must have not been paying attention because he never brought it up and was still a Santa believer for a couple more years.

I completely understand everyone who is not comfortable with telling their children there is a Santa, as it is a personal, family decision. But please, let your kids know that it is not their duty to make sure they spread their knowledge to the less fortunate children who have dishonest parents.Childhood is a short season... we want to make the most of it.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Stroller Bag

I hate when I go on a walk with Claire and I have to take our enormous travel system stroller. I feel like an inexperienced, yet over-prepared mom that doesn't know what to bring and needs a little bit of everything to make a short walk successful. I especially feel dumb pushing Snoopy around since he is the only one who ends up riding usually.


I recently found this stroller at a thrift store for $4 and absolutely love it. I don't care if it gets dirty or scratched, it is lightweight, easy to push, compact and easy to store. The only problem is that it didn't have a bag to store our water, my keys and phone and a few various toys that Claire decides must come along. I decided to make a custom stroller bag for it. I used a pair of pants I got at a thrift store for $1 about 2 years ago. (I knew they would come in handy one day!)
The bag holds a surprising amount of items and even has built in pockets for my phone and keys. (and b-balls)
We have certainly been enjoying these past few months. The weather is perfect for an afternoon walk to the park.

Apparently, this is how you play when you are an only child and your mom can only go down the slide with you 37 times before getting tired of it.
She found another b-ball. It was a magical time.
Claire loves to run and be chased. She says "Mamma get you?" and squeals in delight when I run after her. She is so fast too! Awana Olympics, here we come!