Saturday, 10 December 2011

Jesus in a Sleigh?

So now that Elias is 3, Christmas is taking on... meaning. It is an interesting exercise.

Last year I asked René what we were planning on doing about Santa Claus and his immediate response was: “Tell him the truth. I’m not lying to my son.”. Thanks go to Fidel for that one I think. At that point we had time though, seeing as Elias was only 2, so I didn’t pursue the topic too much.

So now here we are again and one year later, a bit more thought needs to go into the Christmas thing. Or does it?

Do you know I never knew until last year that some people wait until the night before Christmas to put all the presents under the tree and then say they ALL came from Santa? My family didn’t. In fact my memories of Santa are pretty vague. The stockings were Santa’s doing but the presents were from mummy, daddy, the cat, the horse and teddy bear and other funny gift-givers. When I asked my mum if Santa was real, she said absolutely yes and told me the story of Saint Nicholas who was, in fact, a real person. So that was a nice transition and in any case, we didn’t have the Santa cult in my household to begin with.

Of course Santa comes up in books and films and so on, people tell us that Santa will be here soon and so on. We don’t talk about it much at home as in we do not say Santa is coming etc. The whole idea of be good or else does not appeal to me (and the Elf of the Shelf creeps me out too). Not that I am a spoil sport, just that I don’t really get it. As for René, there was no Santa at all in his upbringing so it is really completely foreign to him and would be hard to get him to buy into it now.

Now don’t get me wrong. Our tree was up on November 30 thanks to… Daddy!!! The Cuban!!! Christmas was a regular working day in Cuba until around 1999 (thanks to Pope John Paul’s visit) and Cubans are so poor, there is never any chance of being able to buy gifts anyway. But René quite likes the tree idea. OK, he is a bit minimalist in that he thinks it’s quite nice with lights and about ten ornaments on it max, so over the past 2 weeks I have been adding a bit of tinsel here and there and an extra ornament or two… Xavi has been diligently undoing my work so maybe the minimalist idea is a go this year.

Looks like the laid-back attitude to Santa is where we're heading and if so, I have to say I am almost relieved. I will definitely tell the kids (and Daddy) about the whole origin of Christmas – religious, pagan and more. Plus in Italy sometimes it’s the baby Jesus who brings the gifts to the kids (woah – there’s a weird one, does he ride a sleigh?!? Is he not cold? He’s a baby for goodness sake!!) so that takes care of the extreme Santa cult over here. Christmas is Catholic in Italy. It is not half as commercial as it is in Canada so that takes the focus of things a bit.

As for presents, you may think I am weird, I actually asked Elias what he wanted for Christmas. We decided on a scooter, blue please and a police car (sigh…). I asked a few times to make sure it was not a passing phase, and then didn’t bring it up again. Why did I do that? Man, we are not economically in a good way so if I buy something, I want it to be used and enjoyed!!! With a 2 presents max limit and that’s it, if they are not successful, Christmas will be a bummer present-wise!

I guess what is really important is that everyone is happy at least once a year, and why not at Christmas. So whether you have an Elf on the Shelf, or 30 presents under the tree, look out the window for a baby in a sleigh or don’t even have a tree because you think it is a Pagan atrocity, who cares?!? Christmas is a great reason or excuse to eat yummy things, hang out with people you love, give and receive and listen to choirs singing.

So on that note, Merry Christmas everyone!! Oh, and someone give baby Jesus a parka!

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