Why does it always seem like the Christmas season goes by in a blur? I know some people are ready to get be over with, but it never seems long enough to me. I feel like Advent should have just started, but alas there are discarded Christmas trees lining the curbs on my street. I always choose to leave my decorations up until at least the beginning or mid part of January. One, because I like enjoying them for a while, but also because in the Catholic church Christmas isn't over until the Epiphany {when the Magi reached the Christ child} on January 6th. That is actually when most Catholic churches have their Christmas parties {at least, that's how our church did it growing up and ours here in Birmingham does the same thing}. So I never take any of my decorations down until after January 6th, even if my tree looks so dry that it might spontaneously ignite.
Curran enjoyed all things "Christmas" this year! She, of course, was obsessed with the tree because of the lights, and then quickly became enthralled by all of the ornaments. Her favorite thing to do was to be held up so she could point them all out to us.
Curran enjoyed all things "Christmas" this year! She, of course, was obsessed with the tree because of the lights, and then quickly became enthralled by all of the ornaments. Her favorite thing to do was to be held up so she could point them all out to us.
Here she is checking out a panda ornament.
And here is her favorite snowman ornament. I tried to teach her to only touch the ornaments with one finger, and she was pretty good about it most of the time, but sometimes she got carried away. Miraculously only one ornament got broken, and it was a cheap one from the dollar store, I think.
She learned that Santa says "Ho Ho Ho," although most of the time she only managed to get two "ho's" out. A lot of people struggle with what to teach their children about Santa, and I do wonder how I will explain things. I'll admit that before I had a child, I thought it was a bit ridiculous when people would say they didn't want to tell their kids about Santa because they didn't want to lie them. But now that I have a child, I do understand that logic. And it does kind of make me sad thinking about the day when our children find out Santa isn't real {because I still remember how sad I was in the 4th grade! :) }.
But I personally think there is nothing wrong with children believing in Santa {but everyone is obviously entitled to their own beliefs}. Santa Claus is, after all, a Christian-based figure {St. Nicholas}, so I think as long as Christ's birth is made known that that is the only reason we celebrate Christmas, then I am fine with Santa being a part of the holiday season.
As far as presents go, at first I thought I went a little overboard with her gifts this year. But when I saw it all laid out on Christmas, I didn't feel like it was too much. Granted, she got her "big" things the week before. And if you factor in what she got from grandparents and extended family, it certainly was a lot. But I got most of her things on sale, even the bigger things. I mean, I got her kitchen for $88 when it was originally around $220! Even her monogrammed chair was on sale! So I didn't do too bad. But I definitely don't want the presents to overshadow why we are celebrating in the first place. So I don't have all of that figured out quite yet.
Even though Curran is young, I still talked to her about Jesus this year. Of course she really had no idea what I was talking about, but she had fun playing with her Nativity scene my mom gave her. She knows which one is Baby Jesus, Mary, or Joseph {or just "Joe" to her :)}.
It will be interesting to see how our family traditions evolve as she gets older.
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