I'll be honest. I'm having a Santa dilemma this year. We watched Polar Express with the girls while we were in Branson as part of a fun Christmas family night. It was really the first time that Big Sissy had thought much about Santa, the idea of him checking a "naughty" and "nice" list, etc. It's not really a religious dilemma. I grew up in a household where we did the whole Santa thing, and I emerged from childhood knowing the difference between reality and fantasy. I enjoy the fantastic aspect of Christmas, although I want to stress the nativity above all. The dilemma is that I am committed to never lying to my children. I won't tell them everything, of course, because they just don't need to know everything. But I won't lie to them. So as Big Sissy wants to hear more about the story of Santa, I keep starting it with, "The story goes that Santa lives at the North Pole..." This is a smart girl, though. At one point she asked, "How can Santa be both real and pretend?" This could get tricky.
I told her we could leave some treats out on Christmas Eve for Santa and his reindeer, and she got very concerned, "Mommy," she said, "we have to be careful about what treats we leave out for the reindeer. Animals can't eat too many sweets or it really makes them sick." The lines are very fuzzy between pretend and real for us. So now I guess we're going to have to compromise and leave carrots for the reindeer and something a little more fun for Santa. (Unless she decides he should probably have a salad. She has seen his picture, after all.)
1 comment:
You'd better make sure she doesn't check the veggie bin and count the carrots -- before and AFTER the reindeer are supposed to have eaten their treat!
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