Merry Christmas!

December has flown by and we couldn't be more excited that Christmas is just 5 short days away.  This holiday season has felt unique because it's the first Christmas that Nicole has been able to actively participate in.  I wasn't prepared for how many decisions we would need to make about how to celebrate or how we talk about those celebrations now that Nicole is eagerly learning everything she possibly can about the world around her. 

Our first decision was about how we would approach gifts.  Nicole doesn't yet know that Christmas is a time of year when she can expect to receive presents so we decided to focus our conversations about Christmas gifts around giving.  We have had frequent and extensive conversations about who we are giving gifts to and Nicole is extremely excited to hand presents out on Christmas day.    We know that she will be the enthusiastic recipient of many gifts this year but instead of taking about getting presents in advance, we're letting those gifts accompany the connection and the shared memory between her and the gift giver. 

Our next big decision was on how we would navigate Santa and the birth of Jesus in our household.  We haven't completely solidified what we are going to teach our children about Santa in particular but we came up with enough of a framework that we've been able to make it through this holiday season with shared values and truth at the forefront. 

We've asked a lot of questions about the topic of Santa in particular and I'm so glad we took the time to listen to the answers people gave us.  A friend of mine who was completely set on celebrating Santa with her young daughter, recently told me that every time she gets ready to tell her daughter about Santa she feels like she's getting ready to lie to her.  She explained that she loved Santa as a kid and wants her daughter to love him too but she's not comfortable making up stories to make him come to life in her home just yet.  She decided that she would rather have her daughter learn about Santa from her friends as she grows up.  I loved that idea too, so even though we have a book we regularly read about Santa and have had a few Santa sightings as we have participated in holiday events, we haven't elaborated on who he is or what he does.  In years to come, we hope to learn more about St.Nicholas, the historical figure that modern day Santa stems from.  I have 11 months to gather my info in order to be ready for St.Nicholas to visit our house on December 6th instead of Christmas Day.   

With Santa's visit early in December we know that he always gets to come to our house when we're home and not traveling and we get to leave December 25th as a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  This year we are celebrating by reading a children's book about the Christmas story found in the Bible and having a birthday cake for Jesus complete with candles to blow out and a birthday song to sing.  

However you are celebrating this year we hope it's warm and wonderful!
Merry Christmas!

Love, 

Erica