I think I'm going to try this all week....short little posts.
1. Do you have a favorite Christmas gift from your childhood? I think mine was a three story Barbie house with an elevator. Not electric. It was manual. But, I loved it. My parents had a tradition of always giving a big non-wrapped gift. It was pretty magical to walk downstairs and see the huge display of gifts and lights and my super rad Barbie mansion.
2. Are you going to do a Christmas card this year? I really want to because I LOVE getting Christmas cards. And I really enjoy composing a Christmas letter and reading our friends' updates. But, how am I going to have the time to gather, address and stamp those cards? And WHEN am I going to get a picture with all of us? I know it's not realistic for me to get one done this year, but I'm still holding out hope. It sure would be fun to exchange Christmas cards with some of my blogging friends, too. dang...still hoping....
3. Do your kids believe in Santa Clause? I don't think ours do. We've pretty much never really gotten into it. I don't remember believing in Santa, and feel like it doesn't enhance Christmas necessarily. I'm not super opinionated about this, though. How do you handle this? And is there anyone out there who caved after their kids reported that the kids at school informed them that Santa is not real. Our kids fully believed in the tooth fairy until recently. Kids at school gave Avery the scoop and we initially did not confirm or deny those allegations. But, within 24 hours, he was informed that WE were the tooth fairy. He was so bummed and--because he is so frugal--tried to give the money back to Brent!
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11 comments:
I'm totally sending you guys a Christmas card.
And we're having the Santa discussion currently, although I think we've settled with doing Santa and emphasizing the real meaning of Christmas.
When asked what Christmas is, Sams says, "a celebration!" "Of what?" I ask... "Jesus birfday!" Cute, cute.
My favorite Christmas gift would have to be the boom box I got when I was 7 or so. I could play my very own Paula Abdul cassette tapes in my very own room!
I, too, love receiving Christmas cards, but I'm horrible about getting them out. Soon my friends will stop sending them to me. Also, I think cards for blog friends is a GREAT idea. If you feel comfortable giving me your mailing address, I will attempt to get you one. ;)
3. We don't have kids yet, but I don't think we'll do the whole Santa thing. I think we'll just say, "Some people believe..." and leave it at that. You can still have fun with it without deceiving them, I think. But, what do I know?
no favorite christmas gift.
but here is a christmas card tip. during the summer or sometime way before christmas, compile your entire list of names and addresses that you would send cards to. if you are even a tiny bit excel savvy then put them in excel and save it. then at christmas time if you are excel and word savvy do a merge for envelopes and just print those puppies off. i'm not all that savvy (i'll keep using savvy since i already have it broken in) but it took me some time to figure it all out but once i did then i just save it in the computer for the next year. then the next year all you have to do is just update any address changes, etc. this is just what i do.
now on to santa. we don't have our kids "believe" in santa. we aren't like pyscho anti-santa but we also say why would we push santa being "real" and jesus being real when santa isn't really real. does that make sense? so whenever we talk about santa we just say "...but santa is just pretend." but the other day eva saw a plastic santa decoration outside of some business and she said "look, it's SANTA! i guess he is real afterall!" i thought it was cute. i probably wrote too much for a blog comment, but you have probably stopped reading by now anyway. :)
your kids are adorable.
1. Favorite christmas gift is probably ice skates...my grandparents live on a lake so for multiple years I got a pair of skates that fit! :-)
2. Sending a Christmas card, but also posted a Christmas letter on the blog because the cards really are a TON of work!!
3. We're not doing the santa thing...I was one of those kids at school who told the other kids at school that he was only a mythological figure. We're still doing stockings though!
HAHA!! That's so funny that your son tried to give the money back!! :-)
1. I might have had that same Barbie mansion with non-electric elevator. I wore it out!
2. If I can get MER to sit still in front of our tree tomorrow, I'm going to upload & order some cards from Vistaprint where there are some pretty good deals). I've been meaning to do this for about 3 weeks. I LOVE receiving Christmas cards, especially with pictures of kids.
3. I don't want to do the Santa thing with our children. Today our pediatrician asked my 1 year old if Santa was going to come see her and if she's been a "good girl" this year. I wanted to respond with something about her just displaying her sin nature, but I refrained.
Hi there. I was introduced to your blog by my mom and have thoroughly enjoyed it. One idea I have about Christmas cards is instead of Christmas cards doing New Years cards??? I haven't done it yet but I thought it might be something fun to do and really fun to receive after all the holiday rush is over.
I must've been 8, 10? Can't remember exactly. I wanted one of these mini arcade games (http://www.miniarcade.com/coleco/frogger.htm) SO FLIPPIN BAD. I opened up my first gift which was about the size of a CD (only thicker). It was Frogger alright but it was a cartridge that needed an Atari which we didn't have. I stammered as I tried to explain to my parents they had gotten the wrong thing and that it wouldn't work all the while trying not to come across ungrateful. It didn't help that they had huge "I just made my child the happiest kid in the world" smiles on their faces. They kept saying, "Yeah, that's 'Frogger', just what you asked for!" They go upstairs. My sister and I enter into deep discussion trying to figure out what to do and how to explain to my parents in a way they would understand without hurting their feelings. Down comes dad with a big honkin box with an Atari inside!!!
Turns out they were hip after all. It's funny because although my parents had a sense of humor, the "pranking" type stuff by playing dumb seems so out of character for them looking back. Fond memory.
Not to get all cheese ball but it really is like what God does. We ask for something that seems so huge to us but in reality is so small compared to what he really has to offer. It often seems like he's giving us a cartridge without a console. We think his timing is off or he didn't hear us correctly. Then, he surprises us by giving us more than we could have ever dreamed. I don't mean this in a health and wealth way but rather something (often spiritual) he knows is better for us and in the end, more fulfilling. He did it ultimately in his gift of Christ (makes me think of Piper's recent sermon where the disciples only wanted to fill their bellies and Jesus was trying to tell them what they really needed which was, himself, the "bread of life") but he continues to do it on a smaller scale in our lives through sanctification, suffering, relationships, circumstances etc.
O.k., sorry for the after school Christian Christmas special. I'll blame in on the fact that Sara's been making us read "Our Daily Bread" too much.
We've always told our boys that Santa isn't a real person, but is based on St. Nicholas. They've never believed us until this year. (They always believed their friends!) Now, at 6 and 5, they've finally gotten it ... I buy all their presents. :) Our 2-year-old, of course, is still oblivious to the whole thing.
I've just asked our boys not to ruin it for other kids whose parents are doing the Santa thing. I don't want our kids to be the spoilsports for others, but we just felt like we didn't want to lie to our kids about the existence of Santa. If my husband had had a big "thing" about Santa, though, I would have gotten on board. It's not that big of a deal to me!
Jenna, keep up the blog posts!
1. My favorite Christmas gift as a kid was this big mat that laid on the floor that had roads and houses and stores and such and you could drive matchbox cars and trucks all over it. Am I that easy to please? Yes. As a grown up I still like maps a lot. Nerd.
2. Refer to wife on Christmas cards.
3. Refer to wife on Santa, although I don't want to be a no-Santa nazi. Like... when other people are around, we'll act like Santa's all right I guess.
1. 8-Track tape of Olivia Newton John's "Physical." I still remember my sister and I jumping up and down screaming.
2. you know the answer to #2
3. we have fun with it...the biggest thing is just reminding them that we don't ever want to take the focus off of sweet Jesus and our hope. I sign gifts to Kurt sometimes "From Santa" just because I always thought it was funny when my dad did that to my mom.
In reverse order. (Man, I'm all of the sudden wishing I was on wordpress so that I could reply to each comment separately!)
Sarah-It's comments like yours about "Physical" which make blogging worth it. Seriously. That's hilarious. I remember singing that on the way to a--wait for it--PHYSICAL...y'know a dr's exam. I was like seven years old.
B-Rob-...but when people aren't around who are pro-Santa, you'll curse his name and tell your kids that north pole is basically like hell frozen over and...okay, nevermind.
Katherine-I like that you've had a plan and not waffled around the subject like me. The boys will ask, "Is Santa real?" And I'll say, "eh...I don't know. What do you think?"
Josh-Seriously. I had completely forgotten about those mini-arcade things. I think we had one. And, I love your Christian after school special comments. That's how were supposed to look at life, right? It seems like it's all a shadow of something more.
Tara-Ha! I could imagine the look I'd get from our pediatrician if I told him that all my children are totally depraved. And what if I told him how Jesus is so much better than Santa, because you have to get your ducks in a row for Santa, but JESUS? While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!
Hey TAB! Welcome! I poked around your blog, too. Is your Mom Laurie Lynn? I've gotten New Year's cards before. I like them, but I totally run out of steam after Christmas. What's up w/ that?
Lisa-One of my FAVORITE gifts of all time was a pair of RED rollerskates (I didn't grow up this far north!). Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived as they were too small for me. Such a let down.
danielle-I read the WHOLE thing. promise. you sound VERY savvy. and ORGANIZED. i'm not supposed to covet, but you got skillz that pay the billz.
chelsea- i love that you said boom box, which reminds me of the term ghetto blaster, which is something we had...but we didn't live in the ghetto. so funny. straight up now tell me....
Greta-From my experience and hearing from others, kids WANT to believe in Santa. It didn't mess with my faith, or my perception of reality. Go for it! Maybe, we'll do it with the second set of kids?!
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