Christmas 09

This Christmas was pretty darn good. We spent the 22-24 with family and the 25 at home celebrating with our children. We built gingerbread houses with grandparents.

We also got took Super Muscles to the dentist. Well... he went to see the dentist that his grandma works for. We have no pediatric dentists our insurance will allow us to use closer than 70 miles away. We have been VERY fearful of taking SM to the dentist because of the auditory issues he has. So we took him to Dr. W to make sure we don't have to be in a huge hurry to get him dental care. So it was a really laid back trip to the dentist. With a nice man looking in SM's mouth for cavities. No cleaning or machines whirling in his mouth so it was an awesome, safe first experience for him. He has "not even a hint of any cavities" so we really don't have to stress out over his teeth right now. We can deal with the auditory stuff for a little bit before he really NEEDS to see a dentist. He also has a crossbite like we have already known so he will need that fixed probably at around age 7+. So it was a pretty good trip. I think it also helped SM to develop a level of trust with going to the dentist which is always a great thing.

We visited Mr. Wonderful's Nana and Papa that morning as well. It was a good time. MW and I used to go over to their house for dinner once a week when we were in high school and dating. SM loves this Bobby Labonte car that Nana has and zooms it all over her house and eats all the fruit she has. And she let him ride on her scooter and he though that was really really cool. Mostly we just talked and visited and it was nice. We miss them a lot and we miss dinners with them.

Then we had Christmas at my mom's house. Wow, it was one crowded apartment but stuffed full of deliciousness! 6 kids under 4... yum... A great dinner, amazing family, loads of wrapping paper flying all over the place! What more could you possibly want? It was great seeing my brothers and nieces and nephews. And my mom did a great job getting everything ready. She served up a great dinner full of most of our favorites. Though, I had no clue that she always breaks an egg in her mashed potatoes to make them creamier. She swears she has ALWAYS done this but I never remember it before. Slobber Rocket got the most coveted toy of the night. A Little Einsteins ride on toy. Totally a baby toy but all the big kids wanted to ride on it too and play with the people that came with it and make the music play. It was funny. It eventually went to the car so there were no more fights over it!

Christmas Eve was spent with MW mom and brothers (and his brothers gf... she is sweet). We had breakfast together and did stockings and gifts. It was fun watching MW youngest brother open his gifts. He is 12 and he was so excited about everything he got. I hope my kids are like that at 12. It was a good morning.

Then something happened that I have never seen in all the years I have known my husband... He, his dad, both his brothers and his uncle went to watch a movie together. Avatar... they all really liked it and I felt accomplished for convincing both MW and his older youngest brother to go. It was fun seeing them do something together and I hope they get the chance more often.

While those guys were gone I got to spend a little bit of time with my bff who was also in town visiting family. Not nearly enough time and I already miss her like crazy but I was so glad to get to spend a little time with her and her husband. 

After that was Cristmas Eve afternoon with MW dad and family. Also a good time. 4 generations (which is really not a lot of people in MW family, they have a small family) all in one home. Gifts exchanged, silly jokes made, lottery tickets scratched and a good time had by all. Then it was time to go back home so we could have Christmas at home with our boys.

So we crammed ourselves in the car along with lots and lots of gifts (so many gifts that opening the trunk would send things flying out of our vehicle and that Super Muscles had no place to put his feet) and drove the 3.5 hrs home. The boys slept the whole way which has never ever happened with Super Muscles. He always stays awake at least for 90% of the trip. He likes to look out the window and see what is happening and finds it horribly difficult to sleep in the car. But on Christmas Eve... he was out at 6 and slept the whole way home. He was exhausted from all the activities and playing he did the previous 2 days. When we got home we put them to bed and MW and I set off on our adventure of unboxing all the gifts and putting them away so our house was not a disaster area the next morning. Then we got out the Christmas gifts that were wrapped and in the closet and put the stocking together and called it a night.

Christmas morning our children got up and tore into the Christmas gifts and we watched and loved all the responses our 3 yr old made about his gifts. Then we went to IHOP for breakfast as it has become our tradition to do. The rest of the day was devoted to playing with toys and having fun together.

Santa Claus is NOT coming to town...

Well, maybe he is coming to town but he doesn't drop packages off at our home.  I have been considered the odd one out with this since our oldest son had his first Christmas and we announced to our families that we really had no intention of doing Santa. "What! No Santa!?!, That is just mean" or something like that. I don't think they actually *think* we are mean but it was a big part of both my husbands and my Christmases. But as I got older, I realized there were some very distinct things about the big jolly guy that I just didn't like.

The first and foremost reason I don't do Santa is because, as a Christian family, we celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas. This isn't to say those who do Santa don't or that Christmas is only a Christian holiday (I realize we kind of hijacked it anyway). So, in essence, I don't want Santa to take away from why our family celebrates Christmas (and as a season, Advent).

Also, I don't tell my children things that are untrue intentionally. This is just my opinion but I want my integrity to be as consistent as possibe in their lives. I know... this seems overboard and I think this is what my family thinks is interesting. But I try very hard to not let my children believe things are true when they are not (and we don't discriminate against just Santa, we don't pretend other holiday characters are real either). When we talk about Santa in our house, we talk about it as a story about a man who delivers presents to children on Christmas Eve night so they can open gifts in the morning (and we will be introducing SM to St. Nicholas this year too as a way of teaching him how Santa came to be). It is just like any other story to us. We haven't gotten into the whole... some children believe this story is true and you shouldn't ruin it for them yet though. Super Muscles is nearly 4 and still completely oblivious to Santa and other peoples holiday traditions. I just don't really see a valuable reason to be dishonest with them. My husband doesn't really think its overly harmful for them to genuinely believe (and neither do I necessarily but I still don't feel comfortable doing it) but he is respectful of my opinion on the matter.

And here is down right honesty from me... I don't like entitlement and I think Santa is one way our society has taught children to be entitled. Again, not every family does this. This is just what I see as I step back and look at the holiday festivities as a whole. I don't want our whole Christmas season to be about what the kids want from Santa. I don't want every trip to the store to be about what they want or NEED. Or about lists and I don't like telling kids to be good because Santa is watching (they should be obedient to their parents whether they think Santa is watching or not... right?).

I also want my children to know who they get gifts from and to learn to show appreciation for the things they get from others'. This is why we put from mommy and daddy on their stockings and gifts. And I want to focus on giving to others who have so many more needs than we do.

So there you have it... many of the reasons we don't do Santa.

Ah, but Santa is not the only fun to be had on Christmas. We are making our own traditions as we go along. And we are enjoying learning how to make Christmas meaningful in a way that is not typical but suits our family.