A few people have asked me lately whether we are ‘doing’ Santa with Mayana.
In a word, the answer is no.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-Santa, but for me it’s just not really what Christmas is about, and I don’t want my child(ren) growing up with some rotund bearded man in a red (and totally climate unfriendly) suit taking the credit for my carefully chosen gifts.
Christmas for me is about two things: Jesus, and family. And in that order. It’s important to me that we remember the real Reason for the season, first and foremost, and to not get so caught up in all the hype that the thing that is most important gets lost. Christmas day is a day to spend with family, making memories, having fun.
Gift giving for me is a labour of love. I’m the sort of person who thinks carefully about the gifts I give, and puts a lot of consideration into knowing what the people I love will love, and choosing gifts accordingly. I almost get a great pleasure watching people’s reactions to the gifts I’ve chosen than I do opening my own! Gift opening in our house takes hours. Literally. We do one gift at a time, and watch every person open each of their gifts. I LOVE it.
As a child, we weren’t really sold on the Santa myth. Being Dutch, my dad introduced us to the story of Saint Nicholas, and as far as we were concerned, that’s where Santa Clause came from. Peter and I have both decided that that’s what we’ll do with our children, too. Plus, it will save us a fortune in therapist’s bills in years to come; our children won’t be traumatised by the fact that their parents lied to them for their whole childhoods! Ha.
We do the same thing with our kids too Zoey - Rach actually calls santa Sinterklass! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing lots of people I know deciding to do this. Luke is a bit (understatement of the century) anit- santa, so I assume that's what we'll be doing one day as well!
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