Gametes In Love

I have tried. I have tried telling the story of the real St. Nicholas to the kids. But I’m going up against The Night Before Christmas Santa (hereafter referred to as “fake Santa”), and he’s FAR more glamorous than my real story. Plus “fake Santa” is the one the kids in pre-school talk about, make wish-lists out to, and have books read and songs sung in honor of. So, of course, G’s been asking about “fake Santa”!

I’ve been very honest with him, trying to redirect him back to history, while trying to be very cautious not to use terms like “made up” or “make believe”. I’m trying to be sensitive to what other parents want their kids to believe, but it kinda irks me that I’m not getting the same favor in return. You see, now when I tell G that Santa doesn’t REALLY live on the North Pole, he yells at me saying “YES HE DOES!” He WANTS to believe in THAT Santa. Not my version Santa.

And this is now where I have officially reached my line on faith and religion. I have promised myself to support my kids in whatever faith they choose for themselves. I want to expose them to all beliefs, but leave their final decision to what they associate themselves most with: whether they become, Buddhists, Christians or Muslim, or none of the above (although, I’ll be honest, I’ll have a hard time if they go evangelical in ANY sect). And right now? At the age of 4, G is choosing the Santa religion. It’s not what I would have wanted for him, but I have to respect it. He asked to go see Santa. I told him that it won’t be the REAL Santa, just someone dressed as Santa, and he still wanted to do it. My friends M hosted a brunch for the kids, and her dad dressed up. It was awesome, to be honest. I got to see friends, G got to see his Santa. I took pictures.

I will continue to answer Santa questions as honestly as they apply to history. But I’m not pushing this anymore.

Now onto the pictures:
Santa’s in the house, and my monkeys wanted to sit/stand as far away as they could:

… and eat fruit

G finally warmed up, issued Hi-5’s and insisted he show “fake Santa” the specific tow truck he wants (Thank you, Amazon Storefront app)

Amazingly S2 wouldn’t go anywhere near the man until I said “Hey, Go give him a hug”. And then this happened:

(yep, that was a kiss!)

Waving “Good Bye” as Santa loads up in his SUV. Reindeer are on strike ;p

Oh, and this is H: S2’s future wife. She’s awesome, adorable, and a perfect match for his personality. And look! They like each other already. HA! (yes, of course, I prompted them to hug!)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 at 10:19 am and is filed under Raising Pre-schooler, Raising Toddler. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.