The kind of stuff that happens in this town while you're eating
dinner on a casual, low key Monday night.....
If it's December and you hear the sirens you know you better get your butt outside quick
cuz blink and you'll miss him! Every year this goes down all around our little town and it's always
a jolt of excitement :)
We've never taught our kids that Santa is real and have never done the whole "naughty or nice" bit with them.
Everything they know is from movies, other kids and such so of course while the fire engine was cruising by
Sarah was yellin in all earnestness, "Are you real or not?! Tell me!!! Teeeelllll meeeee!!!!......"
He just smiled and waved as Mrs. Clause threw candy at her.
Poor gal ;)
haha, what a cute tradition! and poor sarah, at least she got some candy!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun deal for your town and you tell Miss Sarah that Santa is as real as she wants him to be. : )
ReplyDeleteWe play the whole Santa thing to the max. We go all out. We don't do the whole naughty/nice behavioral leverage thing, but the kids sort of know that's part of the schtick from TV/Movies/books, etc. My daughter doesn't believe in Santa anymore, but she has some fun (and I believe some deep down jealousy) watching the boys get excited.
ReplyDeleteMy wife was a Jehovah's Witness growing up, and she turned away from it in high school. It left her feeling a little disillusioned... but also left her craving Holidays like a drug. She goes nuts for everything. Santa is a big part of that for her.
I LOVE that you guys have someone in your area that does this. Not to reinforce the whole belief-in-Santa thing, but to reinforce the magic of the season. Or even just the magic of childhood I guess. When we're kids, Santa is still a possibility. Seeing that truck whiz by and seeing someone you can call out to and beg to know if they're really real or not... To give the kids that extra memory that they'll share with their own children someday. Those are memories that really make childhood special.
These are memories that make my adulthood special, too ;)
DeleteHer yelling at him like that was so AWESOME! Too funny!!! She could have won an Oscar.....
This will sound pretty unbelievable but talking about the Santa aspect of Christmas has never once occurred to me since having kids. He's not vilified or "preached" against as some evil, subtle distraction against the birth of Christ as I know a lot of people do. I just honestly never have had that urge to do it, I feel like the most indifferent person when it comes to traditional or cultural things. We have dozens of Santa ornaments, go to a tree lighting with Santa every year, let the kids get a free pic with him every year at a Bass Pro Shop and all that. There's just never been any home dialogue about him. We even took our kids on a Polar Express train ride 3 years ago and Sarah was hugging him and yelling "King Morpheus!" (from Little Nemo in Dreamland)..... we're sounding SO weird right now, right?
Gabe's currently wearing a singing Santa hat as I write this.
There is really no box that we fit in, I guess. And I totally get your wife. I would feel disillusioned with that, too. Jehovah witness is extremely religious, a lot of "do's and don'ts" and not any freedom or intimacy with our Maker. I respect their discipline and zeal for their beliefs but I think of it this way..... I love my children simply because they are mine. If they don't "perform" certain ways they are still my children and my love is unwavering. I would be very disheartened as a parent if they didn't feel free to be joyous, childlike and uninhibited in my love for them. I would be disheartened if they felt that my love wavered with the condition of their works for me.
That is religion in a nutshell, traditions and rules without freedom in His love. It's extremely disillusioning.
Aw, that's awesome :D We do something similar in our area later in the month, may have to drag myself out to it for memory's sake.
ReplyDeleteI love that they do that! That is so amazing! That Santa goes all out. How awesome.
ReplyDelete