Santa is our parenting dilemma. We have always chosen to limit the Santa-y decorations. We really try each Christmas to focus on a service project--some years we do this better than others. Now we are at a point (we really have another year) to figure out if we want to teach Everett about Santa. Now, I know some of you are gasping in horror that I could even think of not building a child's fantasy about this jolly kind gift giver, but in my typical fashion, I do question it. I've heard all the arguments about you are teaching your child to use his imagination, but I question those. When you teach your child that the stove is hot, is that teaching him to use his imagination? No, we only say teaching about Santa is using the imagination because WE have to use our imagination to conceptualize his existence.
I really am not too keen on getting Everett's picture taken on Santa's lap. There isn't any harm in it (except if he is scared of a second rate, stinky, seasonal worker sweating in a Santa suit). The pictures can be really cute. But, I just don't know.
I've heard of parents teaching about the spirit of Christmas, and that Santa is a figure who embodies that. How do you teach a 1-2 year old that? I don't want to socially stunt my kid, "He's the one that has never heard about Santa." Nor do I want to be the spoiler of other parents' work in building up the Santa image by making other kids cry (ie, I don't want him spilling the beans in his kindergarten class that Santa will never, ever come).
I want the phrase "Christmas" to bring images of love, sacrifice, and Christ.---Not the ever growing lists of wants that I even had as a kid.
What about the "magic of Christmas" that Santa brings? Well, isn't love and service toward others really the magical part of the season? Isn't further understanding the birth of Christ, his mission, and his sacrifice the real magic?
I am sure I'll come to terms with this since there are others I am going to have to decide what to do with--(1) Tooth Fairy, (2) Easter Bunny, (3) Boogy Man, and the ever fun and adventurous (4) Snipe Hunting.
Wilson Bentley, a Vermont farmer, took photographs of snowflakes under a microscope as a hobby. These photographs were published in the "Monthly Weather Review" in 1902.
